Bob Pratt was stunned when he turned on the radio last week and heard a moa egg was being returned to New Zealand from overseas.
The news took the 82-year-old back six decades, when he played a key role in helping return what remains the largest known intact moa egg to his homeland.
As a 22-year-old, Bob travelled to England with his best mate, keen to connect with the country where his father and grandparents were born.
He found himself working in the Onslow Arms pub in Cranleigh, Surrey and made interesting connections with those that frequented the private bar.
One such punter, Mr James, picked up on Bob’s Kiwi accent and asked for his help selling a moa egg at auction, promising him a 10 per cent cut for his help.
Bob, knowing the importance of such a taonga to his homeland, contacted the Dominion Museum in Wellington, before it became the National Museum, and later Te Papa.
“I was lucky, as a boy growing up in Wellington, we visited the museum often, so I knew exactly who to contact,” Bob recalls.
That person was Robert Falla, director of the Dominion Museum, who replied in a letter that took three weeks to arrive. Robert initially assumed the specimen was more likely an emu egg.
Annoyed by the response, Mr James invited Bob to inspect the egg himself. Bob quickly became convinced it was genuine and wrote back to Robert.
The egg was housed in a protective glass display case and accompanied by a note stating it had been found in Kaikōura.
Robert advised Mr James to take the egg to the British Museum for verification.
Not long afterwards, Bob left the pub and spent time travelling through Europe. He recalls attending the Monaco Grand Prix before eventually returning home to Wellington, unaware of what had become of the egg.
“Not long after I got home, I remember I went into town one Friday night, and picked up a newspaper, and there on the back was my moa egg! It had come home to Wellington. I was stunned.”
The egg, measuring 10 inches long and seven inches wide, remains the largest recorded intact moa egg. Its history is well documented, including its discovery during the digging for the foundation of a building on the Fyffe property in Kaikōura in 1859.
It was the first egg to be discovered in association with a burial of human remains, which were discovered in a sitting posture with the egg placed in the hands and positioned directly in front of the mouth.
In 1865 the Times of London, reported the egg’s arrival in England by the ship Ravenscraig. It was then sold at auction and changed hands multiple times before ending up with a former neighbour of Mr James, who left it to him in a bequest.
By September 1966, the Dominion Museum management committee had approved buying the egg from Mr James for £300 and arranged for it to be flown back to New Zealand.
After reading the newspaper report, Bob contacted Robert, who had since retired. The pair shared afternoon tea, where Robert filled him in on the journey that brought the egg back to Wellington, where it remains today.
From his home at Summerset Richmond Ranges, he jokes that he never did get his 10 per cent cut, while his wife Sue laughs that she’s heard enough about moa eggs to last a lifetime.
