They have been in her family for more than 100 years, but Linda Wheeler feels it is time four traditional Rarotongan oars go home.
The four oars are Pukapukan paddles used to get around the islands in the 1800s.
They are set to be exhibited in the Cook Islands Museum in Taputapuatea next Wednesday.
Mrs Wheeler (75) said the museum was rebuilding its collection and was thrilled to have the oars as a part of its catalogue.
"All their stuff in the museum in Rarotonga got burnt down in a fire, so I got in touch with them and asked if they would like them, because the wood and everything is from Rarotonga and they were absolutely thrilled about it.
"All our family and children are going over, and they’re going to put on a morning tea for us for when we do the presentation — so it’s quite exciting, I reckon."
Her husband’s grandfather, Ernest Wheeler, brought the four oars with him to New Zealand in the late 1800s after managing Are Manuiri, an accommodation lodge for travellers on Rarotonga, which he had been sent to do by then England high commissioner William Pratt.
"The place is still there — it’s now called Banana Court — and it was like a boarding house sort of thing and all the people that came off the ships went and stayed there, so he managed that and that’s the oldest building in Rarotonga that’s left."
The oars had been passed down to her husband from his mother and had been displayed in a gallery he used to run in Mosgiel, Mrs Wheeler said.
Mrs Wheeler’s husband died 10 years ago and she wanted to honour him by returning the oars to Rarotonga.
"I just feel they belong there and I just wanted to do it in honour of my husband."
