The ancestral remains of more than 60 Māori and Moriori people have returned to Aotearoa from Austria.
Most were stolen in the 1800s, from places like caves and battlefields, by a notorious grave-robber and taxidermist.
There was an emotional repatriation ceremony for them at Te Papa in Wellington.
On the misty shores of Te Whanganui-a-Tara is where the Māori and Moriori remains are finally home.
The remains of about 64 people have returned from Austria, including skulls and craniums.
They were at the Natural History Museum in Vienna for more than a century, and their return ends 77 years of negotiations between our two countries.
"Finally in Europe these issues are getting really discussed at museums," said Natural History Museum anthropologist Dr Sabine Eggers.
Forty-nine of the ancestral remains were taken by notorious Austrian grave robber Andreas Reischek between 1877 and 1889.
His diary entries boasted of stealing Māori and Moriori remains from caves and battlefields, even writing: "It is one of the most difficult tasks, because all these places are tapu, holy and no one is allowed to enter them."
"The grief and the hurt is inside our hearts, and you heard it with the descendants this morning," said Te Papa's kaihautū Dr Arapata Hakiwai.
Descendants travelled from around the country to see the return of their ancestors.
"It breaks everyone's heart that is here today, you can hear the sobbing and crying," one person said.
The Māori and Moriori remains are in the temporary care of Te Papa Museum until researchers decide where they belong.
"It's a great day because at long last our ancestors have come home," Dr Hakiwai said.
The end to a long overdue journey.
