The partnership was marked with a mihi whakatau to welcome Ngāi Tahu taonga, and archive staff, to the new state-of-the-art Archives New Zealand facility in Wigram.
Most of the Ngāi Tahu Archive, which includes the collections of the Ngaitahu Maori Trust Board, the records of Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, and the personal papers of several tribal leaders, has been moved to the new purpose-built site.
Tā Tipene O’Regan is the chair of Te Pae Korako, the Ngāi Tahu Archive governance group. He said the relocation was an important step in Ngāi Tahu's development and sincerely thanked Archives New Zealand for its continued support.
"If Ngāi Tahu want to be a tribal nation, if we truly want to own ourselves, we have to own our own memory. We have to be the primary proprietors of our own heritage and identity."