Published by the Communications
and Development Department
3 December 2003
Future University of Canterbury Ngata Centenary Doctoral Scholars
will have the opportunity to graduate wearing a feathered head dress
gifted to the Maori Department by Dr Patricia Wallace.
This year Dr Wallace became the first Ngata scholar to graduate from
Canterbury with a PhD in Maori. The scholarship, tenable for study
towards the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University, was
set up in 1994 to mark the centenary of the graduation of the first
New Zealand Maori graduate, Apirana Ngata.
Dr Wallace said she decided to present the taonga to the department
as her way of giving something back to the University.
" I’m giving this to the department to be offered to future
Ngata scholars to wear at their graduation if they so wish."
The headdress – Te Kura o Hikuraki – signifies learning
and achievement. It is made from amokura and albatross feathers. The
red amokura feathers come from the tail of the phaeton rubricauda
and were traditionally worn by Maori of chiefly or learned status.
" I thought it fitting to adapt the traditional into a modern
context," said Dr Wallace.
" It also links back to my own doctoral thesis which examined
traditional Maori dress."
Dr Wallace’s doctoral achievement was honoured last month at
the 2003 National Maori Academic Excellence Awards. She received the
Te Tohu Mätauranga Mäori Award for her doctoral thesis,
"Traditional Mäori Dress: rediscovering forgotten elements
of pre 1820 practice". The awards, hosted by Waikato University,
celebrated the success of 27 Maori students who have graduated with
PhDs from New Zealand Universities in the past year.
Dr Wallace said she felt humbled to have been selected for the award.
" It is pleasing that those in the Maori academic community see
my work as having value."
Dr Wallace’s thesis examined ephemeral elements of hairstyle
and head adornment, drawing on evidence from oral tradition, early
European graphic images and material collections.
" The last major work in this area was done by Sid Mead 30 years
ago and even then it was done from a different perspective as he was
trained at a different time."
Dr Wallace is currently based at the Macmillan Brown Centre and is
working on a number of projects including identifying the origins
of a feathered head dress held by the British Museum and an oral history
of 80-year-old Maori weaver Whai Pooti Hitchiner. She has just completed
a project for the Pacific Pathways website of the Pitt Rivers Museum
at Oxford University, commenting on Maori weaving and items from the
Forster Collection gathered during Captain Cook’s second Pacific
voyage.
For more information contact:
Dr Patricia Wallace
Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies
University of Canterbury
Christchurch
Ph 03 364 2957
Email patricia.wallace@canterbury.ac.nz
Website www.pacs.canterbury.ac.nz
