Portrait coming home to whanau | Manawatu-Wanganui News | Local News in Manawatu-Wanganui

A Wanganui family  has bought  a portrait of an ancestor painted by famed colonial artist Gottfried Lindauer.

 Members of the Metekingi whanau  were approached by Webb's Premier Auction House in Auckland to buy the painting after it was passed in at auction on December 1.  The asking price was between $120,00 and $160,000.

The ancestor, Here Hunia, also known as Here Te Upokoiri, or Princess Sarah, was well known in Hawke's Bay during the 1800s.

She worked as an advocate for her people through the courts over Maori land acquired by dubious means. Her portrait was produced between 1850 and 1913.

  Chris Shenton of Wanganui said the family would take possession of the painting in June, possibly putting it  in family ownership for the first time.

"We had been aware it had been sold in the past. We weren't tracking it but we had been aware of it for about the last decade," he said.

   Many Maori taonga ended up in museums and it was important for whanau to develop the capacity to look after their own (taonga), he said.

The portrait was originally presented by Hera Hunia to Donald McLean, cousin of Sir Donald McLean of Maraekakaho, and  the painting had passed to  Mr McLean's descendants.

"Hera didn't have any children of her own. She had an elder sister, and there must be 300 to 400 relatives. We come from the branch where there's about 140 people," Mr Shenton said.

Here Hunia was born in 1830 and died in 1913.

Her grave is  in the Maraekakaho district, south of Hastings, and historians and family members  are interested in working towards preserving the site.

 Her mother's people were Ngai Te Upokoiri at Ngatarawa, west of Hastings, and her father was Kawana Hunia, chief of the Ngati Apa, Rangitikei.