UNESCO honours New Zealand heritage items

UNESCO honours New Zealand heritage items

The UNESCO Memory of the World New Zealand Trust has announced the inscription of He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni (the Declaration of Independence ofthe United Tribes of New Zealand) and the Pickerill Papers on Plastic Surgery onto the New Zealand documentary heritage register for 2015.

The Memory of the World New Zealand Trust Chairperson, Dianne Macaskill, said, “These two new inscriptions onto the New Zealand register and the inscription of the Sir Edmund Hillary Archive onto the UNESCO Memory of the World International register make 2015 a significant year for the recognition of the importance of documentary heritage in New Zealand.

UNESCO recognition draws attention to the significance of documentary heritage and the institutions that are its custodians. Inscription on the register raises awareness of the custodian’s institutions and promotes the importance of caring for our documentary heritage

He Whakaputanga is housed at Archives New Zealand in Wellington and the Pickerill Papers are in the Hocken Library in Dunedin.

The Auckland Museum holds the Sir Edmund Hillary Archive.

Chief Archivist Marilyn Little says, “Everyone at Archives New Zealand was overjoyed that He Whakaputanga is to be added to the New Zealand Register of UNESCO’s Memory of the World Programme.”

The document is two sheets of medium-weight cream laid paper with different watermarks on each sheet. Sheet 1 has written information on both sides, while Sheet 2 is a single-sided codicil added after the initial signings on 28 October 1835.

He Whakaputanga is on permanent display in the secure, climate controlled Constitution Room at Archives New Zealand in Wellington. Digital versions are available to view or download on the Archives New Zealand Flickr page. Held in high cultural esteem the document was signed by 52 Māori rangatira. Beside each name is a signature, a tohu (mark), or a simplified part of their moko (facial tattoo, often from the nose).

The Hocken Collections Curator Anna Blackman says “We are absolutely delighted to have been successful in our application for the inscription of the Pickerill Papers on Plastic Surgery. “The inscription is especially timely as one of the University’s WW1 projects this year has been to digitise a portion of the collection relating to Dr Henry Percival Pickerill’s WW1 work on the treatment of wounded NZ soldiers.”

Doctors Henry Percival (1879-1956) and Cecily Pickerill (1903-1988) pioneered significant developments in facial plastic surgery especially for soldiers wounded in warfare, and for children with cleft palate and hare lip deformities.

This important medical archive charts the history of the modern specialty of plastic surgery and the pioneering work of the surgeons involved. It is the only collection documenting the history of plastic surgery in a public collection in NZ and has been used by NZ and international researchers.

It contains many case files, illustrated with watercolours and photographs that were used both as a medical record and for teaching purposes and now have significance for the families of patients. There is additional aesthetic value in the watercolours of the NZ artist Herbert R. Cole recording the progress of the treatment of WW1 patients.

UNESCO launched the Memory of the World Programme in 1992. It sits alongside UNESCO’s better-known World Heritage List and Register of Intangible Cultural Heritage. The Memory of the World register is the Programme’s flagship and promotes the value and safekeeping of documentary heritage. The New Zealand Programme was established in 2010. Further information about Memory of the World and the inscriptions on the register can be viewed on www.unescomow.org.nz.

ENDS

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