The intricate patterns of the tapa cloth, which Sesi Mausia says could be older than 50 years. Photo: RNZ / Jimmy Ellingham
A Tongan tapa cloth presented to prime minister Norman Kirk has come out of storage to show off its full beauty.
Fifty years to the day after Kirk's state funeral, another ceremony was held in Palmerston North on Wednesday.
A couple of dozen people turned out to remember Kirk and unveil the special piece of Pacific art in its new home, in city MP Tangi Utikere's electorate office.
It was a gift from Kirk's private secretary Margaret Hayward.
"In those days - this is in the 1970s - there was no person to curate any gifts at parliament," she said.
"Parliament was very backward because no extra money was spent on anything."
This included the carpet. Hayward recalls the threadbare floors people had to avoid tripping on.
"When notables like prime ministers and leaders of the opposition were given gifts, they were sometimes not able to be put up in their homes.
"They didn't know what to do with them, to be quite frank. Mr Kirk used to hand them to staff and say: 'Could you do something with this or could you look after this?'."
Hayward has looked after the tapa cloth for 51 years. Kirk received it at the South Pacific forum in Apia, Samoa, in 1973.
"I never actually saw it presented to him. It was probably in one of the sessions.
"When I saw Tangi and showed it to him he said it's definitely Tongan. He picked it in one. It's so big and it's taken so much work that it would just be criminal, I think, if it was lost."
Hayward initially hung it on the wall of her place in Wellington, but when she moved she did not have a space big enough, so lately it has been in storage at her Kāpiti Coast home.
She recently asked if parliament had a Pasifika room where it might hang, but it does not.
Margaret Hayward, left, says she was delighted to learn of the cloth's history from Sesi Mausia. Photo: RNZ / Jimmy Ellingham
Utikere - who is of Cook Islands heritage and a Labour MP like Kirk - said he would take it and put it on display.
Hayward said she was delighted to learn the meaning of the intricate patterns on the tapa cloth, which stands about 2x4 metres and depicts a Tongan shield, doves, trees and lions.
She worked for Kirk for eight years until his death, aged 51, on 31 August 1974. It shocked the nation.
He had won office in a Labour landslide in 1972 and in two years was racing through his policy agenda on the home front and abroad.
His government recognised China and protested French nuclear testing in the Pacific, although New Zealand was facing uncertain economic times.
His last public appearance was in Palmerston North, opening a school.
Kirk was firmly of the working class, building his Canterbury family home brick by brick.
So it is likely he would have appreciated the artistry that went into turning the bark of mulberry trees into a tapa cloth.
Reverend Sesi Mausia - who blessed the cloth in Utikere's office on Wednesday - said the work that went into creating them was immense.
The plants were grown, cut down, and their skins pulled off and dried. After a couple of weeks or a month they are soaked in water to soften, then beaten and stretched to become a piece of tapa.
Then the pieces are joined together and the pictures hand drawn.
Mausia said the cloth Kirk was given could be a lot older than 50 years, judging by its style, and it made her as a Pasifika woman feel welcome, offering a silent greeting.
Tangi Utikere says he's honoured to have the cloth hang in his office. Photo: RNZ / Jimmy Ellingham
Utikere said he looked back at Kirk's focus on education, support for trade unions and the importance he placed on security in the Pacific - so he was delighted to have a marker of the former prime minister so close.
"It's pretty special, and learning the history and provenance today makes it even more so."
The ceremony on Wednesday was held 50 years to the day of Kirk's state funeral in Wellington, which Hayward said was an unforgettable occasion.
"The thing about Mr Kirk is he never thought anyone really cared very much about what he did. I kept thinking if he could have been there he wouldn't have believed it.
"The Queen sent Prince Charles out and that was very nice too. A whole lot of things happened that day that were mind-blowing.
"There was a wonderful Māori choir. It was absolutely fantastic - very moving."
