Western Bay Museum unveils powerful toki exhibition

Western Bay Museum is about to open a new exhibition unlike anything the facility has presented before. Called Toki – the edge of tradition, it takes visitors on a journey exploring traditional Māori knowledge through one of the culture's most significant taonga: the toki (adze).

Leading the project is the museum's Pou Mātauranga Māori, Hingangaroa Smith, whose father Takirirangi Smith — a well-known tohunga whakairo (master carver) — created the centrepiece display, a Toki Poutangata. The exhibition marks the first time Western Bay Museum has placed traditional Māori knowledge so firmly at the heart of its kaupapa.

Both Smith and facility manager Paula Gaelic describe it as the most powerful exhibition the museum has ever delivered. For Hingangaroa Smith, the deeper purpose is about restoring mana to the toki itself. "The purpose of this exhibition is educating people how special and sacred the taonga of toki are," he said. The exhibition is expected to open to the public in the coming months.

Originally published in Katikati News (Sun Media).