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Ahakoa te whakaaro kē o ētahi o tōna whānau e kore ia e ora, e ai ki tōna āhua anō, inarā, he kiriuka, he pūkeke nōna i ora ai ia i tana mate. Otirā, nō ngā tau tōmua o te tekau tau atu i 1930 i whiwhi mahi a ia, he tunu kai nei mā tētahi rōpū whakahiato hipi i tētahi teihana hipi i te moutere rā.
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After being diagnosed with tuberculosis, Kia Riwai returned to the Chatham Islands to convalesce. Although some family members were not hopeful of a recovery, with characteristic determination and fortitude she overcame her illness, and in the early 1930s secured a job on a Chatham Islands’ sheep station as a musterers’ cook. Strict orders forbade her from investigating a certain cupboard in the homestead. Alone, unable to contain her curiosity, she opened the cupboard. To her horror a pile of skulls, believed to be of Moriori, tumbled to the floor, sending a terrified Kia screaming from the house, never to return.
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