On a recent field trip to Rēkohu, I had anticipated seeing flora and fauna found only in these remote islands, but I had underestimated its rich history and vibrant cultural landscape until I stepped onto the Kōpinga Marae.
On a wall adorned with Moriori carvings and pictures of karāpuna (ancestors) is a framed document – an apology.
Signed by Andrew Little, former minister for Treaty of Waitangi negotiations, it acknowledges how “historical Crown actions or omissions caused prejudice to Moriori and breached the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles”.
Dated February 14 2020, the apology details the Crown’s failure to protect Moriori, release them from enslavement and address the dispossession of their land. It references the Colonial Museum’s removal of, and trade in, kōimi t’chakat Moriori (human remains).
The Crown also apologised for its role in propagating the false history that Moriori were extinct and had been a racially inferior people – and for the violence and enslavement that caused the loss of language :
By the beginning of the twentieth century ta rē Moriori (the Moriori language) as a living language had been lost to Moriori and Aotearoa New Zealand. For its failure to actively protect this miheke (taonga), the Crown apologises sincerely.
False histories
Rēkohu – the Chatham Islands in English, Wharekauri in te reo Māori – is a small corner of Aotearoa New Zealand, 800 kilometres east of the South Island. Its isolation undoubtedly contributed to the persistence of this mythical history.
The false narrative was spread through the quarterly New Zealand School Journal , established by the Department of Education in 1907 and distributed to children aged 7 to 13. The initiative of the inspector-general of schools George Hogben, it was an alternative to separate textbooks for history, geography and civics.
In July 1916, the journal published “The Passing of the Mouriuri” (sic), an article claiming the Moriori were a primitive Melanesian people at the bottom of a racial hierarchy.
It promoted the myth they had been driven from Aotearoa New Zealand to Rēkohu by the racially superior Māori. In this version, the 1835 Māori invasion of Rēkohu resulted in the extinction of the Moriori.
In fact, according to their own traditions, the first Moriori arrived directly from Eastern Polynesia , and later from Aotearoa New Zealand around the 1400s.
But the contrived non-history informed the way generations of schoolchildren learned about the Moriori until a revised set of journals was published with a correct account in 2010.
The voice of Moriori
One of the last native speakers of ta rē Moriori, Hirawanu Tapu , died in 1900. He was 11 when raiders from Ngāti Mutunga and Ngāti Tama invaded Rēkohu 1835.
Tapu was enslaved by Ngāti Tama until 1860 when he was freed. He became an influential figure because he was literate and understood ta rē Moriori, was fluent in te reo Māori and spoke some English.
In 1862, he acted as a de facto leader of the Moriori and recorded the proceedings of the second great council at Te Awapātiki.
With Moriori elders, Tapu prepared a 131-page petition to Governor George Grey in New Zealand that detailed Moriori traditions, genealogies and their opposition to the Māori occupation of Rēkohu.
A note included with the petition in ta rē Moriori emphasised the importance of language to Moriori:
Ko te reo tenei o nga Moriori ara o nga tangata o tenei motu o Rekohu nei ko tona reo tipu ake (This is the voice of Moriori, that is, of the people of this island, of Rekohu. It is their real language).
The petition is historically significant as one of the few documents that recorded ta rē Moriori, Moriori oral traditions and history. A collaborative project at the University of Auckland and the Hokotehi Moriori Trust has worked to recover the grammar and properties of ta rē Moriori from texts like this.
Building on this progress, the trust launched the first Ta wik’ a ta rē Moriori ( Moriori language week ) in 2025. Publicity for this year’s event, beginning October 12, promises it will be “filled with festivities across the motchu [ motu , land] and beyond, honouring and revitalising ta rē Moriori”.
Momentum and preservation
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) estimates 40% of the world’s 7,000 languages are endangered , with an average of one language disappearing every two weeks.
Language loss is not just about replacing one means of communication with another. It means the cultural and intellectual heritage of those communities are at risk of disappearing.
Reconnecting with dormant languages restores connections with culture and history. On Rēkohu, the reawakening of ta rē Moriori also benefits Aotearoa New Zealand – through linguistic diversity and by providing a new perspective on early history.
In 2024, a double-hulled canoe now known as the Rangihoua Waka was discovered on Rēkohu. Radiocarbon testing of samples from the waka indicate the materials date from 1440-1470. This makes it one of the most important archaeological finds in Aotearoa New Zealand – although the government has said funding is not available to complete the excavation.
At the mouth of a river, the site is vulnerable to storm damage from wind and waves. Partial excavation may also cause degradation through exposure to the air until the archaeological work is finished.
In some ways, it is a metaphor for the language, too. But initiatives such as Ta wik’ a ta rē Moriori and the untapped potential of the Rangihoua Waka site are a chance to generate a renewed interest in the history and culture of Rēkohu, and encourage their preservation for future generations.
