Taonga

A taonga in Māori culture is a treasured thing, whether tangible or intangible. Tangible examples are all sorts of heirlooms and artifacts, land and fisheries. Intangible examples may include language, spiritual beliefs, radio frequencies and riparian rights.

Taonga have constitutional significance in New Zealand, as the second Article of the Treaty of Waitangi guaranteed that the Māori signatories would retain the possession and enjoyment of their taonga under British rule. Section 6(e) of the Resource Management Act 1991 mandates decision makers to ‘recognise and provide for the relationship of Māori and their culture and traditions with their ancestral lands, water, sites, wahi tapu, and other taonga’ as a matter of national importance.

What constitutes a taonga has been the subject of fierce debate, as have the implications for policies regarding such things as intellectual property (such as in the case of the names used in the LEGO Bionicle toy line) and genetic engineering.

The Māori names of many New Zealand museums contain the term Whare taonga— literally “treasure house”. The Ministry for Culture and Heritage is also called Te Manatū Taonga.