Two Ngapuhi kaumatua (elders), Raumoa Kawiti, Te Rore Neho, and kuia (female elder) Winika Heihei and Claire Nodder, the acting director of the Whangarei Museum and Heritage Park, attended the ceremony, during which Ms Wigley, the former Whangarei Museum director, was bade farewell from the North and welcomed to the South.
Several senior Ngapuhi representatives living in Invercargill also took part in the event, which included a blessing, and waiata (songs)Mr Neho, who is a member of the Whangarei Museum's Maori committee, said English-born Ms Wigley was a fine communicator about museum treasures.
She had also helped to deepen relationships between the Whangarei Museum and the Ngapuhi people of Northland, and would be greatly missed, Mr Neho said in an interview.
During a ceremony at the settlers museum yesterday, Ngai Tahu kaumatua Matt Ellison, Associate Prof John Broughton and Dunedin Mayor Peter Chin welcomed Ms Wigley to the museum.
On behalf of staff, museum curator and historian Sean Brosnahan said the museum would benefit from her leadership, including over the museum redevelopment.
In an address, Ms Wigley said she had three great passions: museums, working with textiles, and her husband, Johnny Morris, who was a professional singer and musician.
"It was just an amazing welcome here," Ms Wigley said in an interview.
She had been keenly interested in museums since her early years growing up in Birmingham.
Since then, Ms Wigley had worked to help establish museums, plus she had applied herself to several different museum redevelopment projects, in both England and in New Zealand.
The settlers museum redevelopment, which was already under way, was a major priority for her.
The project would free up more space, allowing better display of museum treasures, she said.
