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15 Apr, 2014

Maori haka protest against auction of a slice of their history – Sydney Morning Herald

Sydney Maori let loose their traditional ancestral war cry on Monday night to warn the discreetly upmarket auction house Sotheby’s to back off selling one of their proudest heirlooms. The Te Pahi silver medal may be one of the most outstanding vestiges of the early story of Australia and New Zealand.

Philip Gidley King, the third governor of the colony of NSW, presented the silver medal to the Maori chief Te Pahi (whose name was Anglicised to Tippahee) in January 1806, when the two friends were attempting to reduce Maori hostility towards the British.

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