Skip to main content
  • Select your preferred language:

The ‘Te Ara Taonga’ approach

We established the Te Ara Taonga approach in response to iwi and hapū who sought a more streamlined and effective way to engage with the Crown collective of culture and heritage agencies, also referred to as the Te Ara Taonga collective.

Tiaki Taonga framework

Tiaki Taonga is a framework that informs and guides our taonga relationships with iwi.

It shifts the focus from individual agency-specific redress instruments and bilateral arrangements to cross-agency roles and responsibilities with a focus on the care, protection and preservation of iwi taonga and heritage.

The advantages of a tiaki taonga-centred approach are that it:

  • provides for an enduring partnership between iwi and the agencies
  • lessens the administrative burden for iwi looking to engage with agencies
  • allows for greater collaboration across agencies to meet the cultural and heritage aspirations of iwi, hapū and whānau.

Te Ara Taonga collective agencies

Parties to the Te Ara Taonga collective are:

  • Manatū Taonga, Ministry for Culture and Heritage
  • Te Tari Taiwhenua, Department of Internal Affairs, including; 
    • Archives New Zealand
    • National Library 
    • Alexander Turnbull Library
  • Pouhere Taonga, Heritage New Zealand
  • Te Papa Tongarewa, Museum of New Zealand
  • Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision.

We take a lead co-ordination role within this approach.

Te Ara Taonga in Treaty Settlement negotiations

Below is a summary of the Te Ara Taonga process when agencies have individual agreements with iwi on projects. Note that this is a general guide to the process, not all agreements follow each step in the order listed.

  1. Before agreement in principle
  2. Agencies meet together with iwi to hear their aspirations
  3. Agreement in principle is signed
  4. Discussions with the agencies about the Whakaaetanga Tiaki Taonga relationships agreement
  5. Deed of settlement is signed/settlement legislation
  6. Agencies meet to help iwi consider Tiaki Taonga priorities, resources and possibly develop a plan(s).

Treaty settlement agreements

We work with iwi Māori on partnership agreements and commitments relating to iwi Māori taonga and heritage aspirations.

How Te Ara Taonga agencies support iwi Māori taonga and heritage aspirations

Preservation

The Te Ara Taonga agencies facilitate the care, preservation, protection and management of taonga and heritage – whether held by iwi, whānau and hapū or Crown parties.

Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga

Heritage New Zealand’s Pouārahi and Tira staff provide advice to whānau hapū, iwi and marae on the preservation, conservation, recognition and management of Māori heritage places and Ngā Tapuwae o Ngā Tupuna – ancestral footprints. They can also provide advice on strategies, mechanisms and management tools.

The kaupapa for Māori heritage within Pouhere Taonga is to support the management and kaitiakitanga by whānau, hapū and iwi of their heritage places, whether through hands-on preservation, statutory recognition, education, wānanga, workshops, research, liaison or advocacy.

Pouārahi | Māori Heritage Advisors (Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga)

National Library of New Zealand

The National Library of New Zealand is responsible for the care and preservation of many of New Zealand’s most important books, archives, photographs, sound recordings and artworks. Find out what you can do to preserve your own precious items and how the National Library can help.

Caring for your collections (National Library of New Zealand)

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision offers preservation tips for caring for audio-visual collections at home.

Preservation advice (Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision)

Te Papa

Learn how to look after your taonga, with easy-to-follow advice from Te Papa’s experts for textiles, photographs, wooden, paper, metal, glass and stone objects.

Guides to caring for objects (Te Papa)

Historical resources

Te Ara Taonga agencies provide opportunities for iwi to develop and tell stories and share the rich history within the iwi, to wider New Zealand and internationally.

Archives New Zealand

Archives New Zealand is entrusted with the care of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the 1835 Declaration of Northern Chiefs, and thousands of other archives such as Māori Land Court records that are taonga for Māori. Both the Crown and claimants make extensive use of nineteenth-century documents that are regularly cited in claims to the Waitangi Tribunal. On Archives New Zealand’s website, you will find guides specific to te ao Māori, including how to research your whakapapa and find information about land blocks.

Māori guide (Archives New Zealand)

Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga

The New Zealand Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero (the List) is Aotearoa New Zealand’s national record of our rich and diverse place-based heritage. Recognition on the Rārangi Kōrero is a way to actively care for Māori heritage by promoting the associated stories and tribal connections of those places.

Māori heritage on the List (Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga)

Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Oral History guide

Oral history is a method of gathering information. It is the sound or video recording of an interview with someone who speaks from personal experience about a subject of historical interest. It can be in any language and can include whakapapa, waiata, karakia, genealogical recitation, song, dance and prayer.

Oral History Guide on NZHistory (Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage)

28th Māori Battalion website

The 28th Māori Battalion website is dedicated to the men who served with New Zealand’s 28th (Māori) Battalion during the Second World War, and to their whānau and friends. Discover more about Māori servicemen who served in the First World War and the 3,600 men of the 28th who served in the Second World War through the fully searchable Battalion roll.

28th Māori Battalion website (Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage)

Te Ara the Encyclopedia of New Zealand

Te Ara the Encyclopaedia of New Zealand is a guide to our peoples, environment, history, culture and society. Te Ara also contains over 3,000 biographies from the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography.

Te Ara (te Reo Māori) (Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage)

Te Ara (English) (Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage)

Te Tai Treaty Settlement Stories

Te Tai is a digital storytelling programme that aims to increase understanding of our past by exploring Treaty settlements and their enduring impact. It preserves the stories of iwi and people who played key roles in settlements through audio-visual interviews, and publishes well-researched, reliable and accessible multimedia histories online.

Te Tai Treaty Settlement Stories (Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage)

Vietnam War Oral History Project

This website is the hub for memories of New Zealand and the Vietnam War. It was created as part of the Vietnam War Oral History Project we ran between 2008 and 2012 with a collection of oral history interviews. The website includes a searchable list of Vietnam veterans.

Vietnam War Oral History Project (Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage)

National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga Aotearoa

The National Library of New Zealand has information about whakapapa resources it has available online as well as from other sources. On Tiaki, the Alexander Turnbull Library’s catalogue for unpublished collections, you can search “iwi/hapū”.

Whakapapa guide (National Library of New Zealand)

Tiaki (National Library of New Zealand)

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision Taonga Māori Collection

The Taonga Māori Collection is comprised of both audio and visual material that originates in Aotearoa. It covers a range of genres, events and subjects including records of karanga, whaikōrero, iwi and hapū histories, pōwhiri, marae and kapa haka, Waitangi Day events (dating from 1913), weaving demonstrations, tukutuku, whakairo and many more.

Taonga Māori Collection (Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision)

Te Papa Tongarewa

Te Papa Tongarewa has more than 30,000 taonga (cultural treasures) registered in the Taonga Māori Collection. This spans a diverse range of material, from the most highly prized tribal —  taonga such as ancestral carvings, personal ornaments, garments, and weaponry — to ‘worked’ material such as fragments of flaked stone from archaeological excavations, bird bone, mammal bones and shell.

Mātauranga Māori research (Te Papa website)

Taonga Māori at Te Papa (Te Papa website)

Funding

The Te Ara Taonga agencies provide some contestable funding for cultural projects.

Department of Internal Affairs

Community Matters is an initiative of the Department of Internal Affairs with the sole focus on strengthening communities in New Zealand. Although a key part of its role is offering funding and grant applications, Community Matters also acts to encourage action from individuals and groups to engage with their community and make a social difference.

Community Matters (Department of Internal Affairs)

Department of Internal Affairs and Te Puni Kōkiri

Oranga Marae

Oranga Marae is a programme of support, advice and investment for marae. It gives whānau and hapū advice and support to help develop their marae and achieve their goals. This support may include building projects and activities to revitalise cultural knowledge. Oranga Marae is provided by Te Puni Kōkiri and the Department of Internal Affairs. It replaces the Lottery Marae Heritage and Facilities Fund.

Oranga Marae (Te Puni Kōkiri)

Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga

National Heritage Preservation Incentive Fund

The National Heritage Preservation Incentive Fund is an annual grant that provides funding for the conservation of privately owned places on the New Zealand Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero.

National Heritage Preservation Incentive Fund (Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga)

Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Celebrating Te Kāhui o Matariki – The Matariki Ahunga Nui Fund

The Matariki Ahunga Nui Fund celebrates and supports the regeneration of mātauranga associated with Te Kāhui o Matariki. The contestable funding is designed to support Māori communities in leading the development of Te Kāhui o Matariki focused initiatives that recognise, not only Te Rā Aro ki a Matariki, the public holiday, but also the wider kaupapa and principles of Matariki.

Matariki Ahunga Nui Fund

The Matariki Ahunga Nui Fund supports Māori communities to develop initiatives that recognise the wider kaupapa and principles of Matariki, the Māori New Year.

Commemorating Waitangi Day Fund

The Commemorating Waitangi Day Fund supports events that commemorate the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi and that promote nation and community building. The fund aims to encourage a wider mix of communities to take part in Waitangi Day events.

Commemorating Waitangi Day Fund

This fund supports events that commemorate the signing of the Treaty and increase awareness and knowledge of the treaty through celebrations and local storytelling.

Ngā Kōrero Tuku Iho, Piki Ake! Kake Ake! New Zealand Oral History Grants

Ngā Kōrero Tuku Iho New Zealand Oral History Grants are available for community-led projects reflecting diverse identities and perspectives. This funding provides financial help for oral history projects relating to the history of Aotearoa New Zealand and our close relationships with the Pacific.

Regional Culture and Heritage Fund

The Regional Culture and Heritage Fund enables central government to make strategic one-off grants to assist the completion of major regional arts, culture and heritage capital projects. Grants will be for the purpose of renovating, restoring, adding to, and constructing buildings in the broader art gallery and museums sector including iwi museums/whare taonga.

Regional Culture and Heritage Fund 

We administer the Regional Cultural Heritage Fund to help communities meet fundraising shortfalls for capital constructions projects in the cultural sector. 

Whiria Te Mahara New Zealand History Grants

Whiria Te Mahara New Zealand History Grants support historians, researchers and writers working on non-fiction projects that will significantly enhance our understanding of New Zealand’s past.

National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga Aotearoa

The National Library of New Zealand has details about scholarships and awards it has available for digital knowledge, research and librarianship.

Scholarships and awards (National Library of New Zealand).

Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand (Te Papa)

National Services Te Paerangi offers funding through its Helping Hands, Travel Subsidy and Professional Development grants. It invests in museums, galleries and iwi to foster growth and new connections across the sector.

Funding and grants (Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand)