The Otago Museum has largely completed its preparations to host Mo Tatou, a Ngai Tahu cultural exhibition which will be the biggest Maori touring show to visit the museum since Te Maori in the 1980s.
The exhibition of about 110 Maori artefacts will arrive at the museum early next week, and will be displayed in the museum's 1877 Gallery from December 4 to April 3.
A further 20 Maori items from the museum's own collection will also be displayed.
The name of the show, Mo Tatou ("For Us"), is derived from a tribal saying: Mo tatou, a, mo ka uri, a muri ake nei ("For us and our children after us").
The exhibition tells the story of the South Island's Ngai Tahu people, museum organisers say.
Developed in partnership by Te Papa and the Ngai Tahu Iwi Steering Group, Mo Tatou is being toured by Te Papa.
Matapura Ellison, the chairman of the museum's Maori advisory committee and the local Mo Tatou project committee, said organisers were "excited" to bringthe Ngai Tahu story to the people of Otago.
Museum officials said most preparations, including making display cases and repainting the gallery area, had been completed.
The touring exhibition had been initially displayed at Te Papa, then at the Canterbury Museum and Southland Museum and Art Gallery.
• About 620,000 people visited the Te Maori touring exhibition in the United States (1984-86) and a further 920,000 people also saw the show when it later toured New Zealand, including the Otago Museum (1986-87).
