Case studies

Learn about some of the current examples of processes and practises of professionals working on repatriation throughout Aotearoa.

Photos of staff at Te Awamutu Museum looking at the remains of Walter Herford

Repatriation case study: A soldier returned

Four years after human remains were deposited at the Te Awamutu Museum, the Museum team went about repatriating a soldier who fell at the Battle of Orākāu 158 years after his passing.

Repatriation case study: Auckland Museum | Tāmaki Paenga Hira

During the 19th century, many Western museums and universities collected human remains and Auckland’s Tāmaki Paenga Hira was no exception, with this type of collection happening from the mid-1800s and continuing up until the 1990s.

A man in a police uniform holding a small wooden box in gloved hands

Repatriation case study: New Zealand Police Museum

After being appointed Director of the Police Museum in 2011, Rowan Carroll discovered the remains of 39 individuals in the collection that had been used as educational tools for recruits and detectives. Over four years, she returned several ancestors to their families.