28 Nov 2016

Graverobber: the story of Andreas Reischek

From Black Sheep, 9:00 am on 28 November 2016

In the 1880s Andreas Reischek stole four mummified corpses from an urupa near Kawhia so he could sell them to a museum in his native Austria.

The bodies made up just a fraction of a gigantic collection of preserved birds, lizards and Māori artifacts which Andreas collected while travelling around New Zealand.

Andreas Reischek poster by Massey University Student Liam Pattinson

Andreas Reischek poster by Massey University Student Liam Pattinson Photo: Liam Pattinson

Unsurprisingly the theft of the bodies has seen Reischek branded an arch-villain of history, but researcher and translator Dr Sascha Nolden has uncovered new information about Reischek which, while not excusing his actions, does shed some light on his motivations.