(Re)Storying the Possum & Pelts With Purpose Skinning Workshops

For thousands of years Aboriginal peoples across south-eastern Australia created possum skin cloaks, garments that carry identity, genealogy, story and place. Cloaks were made from many pelts carefully stitched together, with each skin inscribed with symbols marking the life journeys of the wearer. They were worn in ceremony, used for warmth, and passed down through generations.

Colonisation disrupted these practices. Cloaks were taken, traditions suppressed, and possum populations in many areas declined. In recent decades Aboriginal communities have been reviving this cultural practice, but access to possum pelts in Australia remains extremely limited because the animals are protected.

Meanwhile in Aotearoa, possums, introduced in the nineteenth century, have become one of the most destructive invasive mammals in our ecosystems. Millions are culled every year as part of conservation efforts to protect native forests and wildlife.

(Re)storying the Possum was sparked, in part, during a Predator Free 2050 gathering Te Tira Whakamātaki (TTW) hosted in Ōtautahi in 2023, when a from a Mātaki network member shifted our thinking: “If possums are taonga to Aboriginal mob, what might it mean to return the skins?”

This question opened our minds to new possibilities. We were already removing possums from our taiao, but what if we could also be serving another purpose at the same time? What if we could return these animals to their rightful spots while contributing to a cultural revitilisation for our brothers and sisters across Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa?

TTW acted on these possibilities and in 2024, through our long-held relationships shaped by trust, care, and shared visions, the idea of returning possum skins to Aboriginal peoples became reality.

At Pipitea, we hosted a two-day wānanga titled Te Whare Māta o ngā Kirearea: (Re)storying the Possum where Māori and Aboriginal peoples explored the complex and evolving role of the possum, from taonga to colonial commodity, from pest to a catalyst for Indigenous collaboration.

At this event, Māori kaitiaki gifted possum pelts to Aboriginal cloakmakers from southeastern Australia. Representatives of a Mob where possum-skin cloaks hold deep ancestral and spiritual significance, and where their making is an act of honouring and living in tradition.

Pelts With Purpose

In late 2025, Te Tira Whakamātaki continued to (re)story the possum by launching the Pelts with Purpose campaign – a crowdfunded initiative that sent possum skins to Aboriginal mobs.

The idea was simple. Many Māori hunters, trappers, and kaitiaki are in the bush every single day and removing possums, often on their own time and will. Building off of the first exchange at Pipitea, this campaign sought to reframe possum eradication in Aotearoa. Pelts with Purpose was designed to help fund, gather and prepare possum pelts for Aboriginal possum-skin cloaks, drums, and other cultural items. Through this, TTW can support the transformation of pest control in Aotearoa (something that can come with great spiritual weight) into Indigenous-led, community-powered cultural healing and revitalisation.

In December 2025, representatives from Te Tira Whakamātaki were invited to stand with the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria during the cultural assent of their Statewide Treaty, marking the first Treaty between Indigenous peoples and a state government in Australia. We were honoured to lead the only international delegation invited to participate. Our presence reflected the growing relationship between Māori and Aboriginal communities.This would be the site of the second exchange, where we would use skins from Aotearoa and return them to tell a powerful story in Te Whenua Moemoea. We were able to gift 80 possum pelts from Aotearoa to First Guardians in Te Whenua Moemoea. It was a small act in the grand sweep of history, but one filled with meaning.

The Next Steps - Skinning Workshops & Infrastructure

However, in the first stages of our Pelts with Purpose campaign we found that many of our donated possum skins were unusable because they have been damaged during hunting, not skinned well enough to make clothing out of, or stored incorrectly before preservation. Unfortunately, this limited the number of pelts that can be gifted onward for clothing and possum skin cloak-making, even when there is strong community willingness to contribute.

We want to run several possum skinning workshops throughout Aotearoa to respond directly to that gap. It will bring hunters, harvesters, and whānau together for two days of in-person learning that covers the entire chain from field selection to final pelt storage. By pairing practical hunting knowledge with hands-on skinning and preservation training, the workshop will help reduce waste, improve pelt usability, and strengthen the cultural purpose attached to possum control.

The workshop will be held over two days at strategic locations throughout Aotearoa (based on current gaps in skinning and freezer infrastructure we know about). At each part of the workshop, we propose sending a member from TTW’s social media team to film our facilitator so that we can publish educational videos online. The goal behind filming is to make these workshops more accessible for hunters across the country.

Leading up to the workshop, our facilitator would set traps in a section of the bush of his choosing so that day 1 can proceed smoothly.

Day 1 will be reserved for gathering, hunting and trapping possums. Our facilitator would lead participants into the bush to show the process of hunting and trapping with the intention of skinning the possums (e.g., setting traps, effective luring, how to get possums out without damaging the skin, the importance of freezing skin as soon as possible, etc.). This would include outlining appropriate cultural considerations when hunting and trapping, at the discretion of the facilitator. The day would end with a set of possums captured that would be ready for skinning on the second day.

Day 2 will be focused on educating participants on how to effectively skin possums. Ideally, each participant will have a possum to practice skinning after (depending on how many possums were captured on day 1). This would give participants a chance to not only see the skinning done but do it with their own hands so they are better prepared for when they are on their own. Any skins that are useable will be sent to the tannery and donated to Aboriginal Mobs in Australia.

Outputs of the each skinning workshop:

10-15 participants trained to effectively skin possums per workshop
Donated skins to Aboriginal Mobs in Australia (exact number will vary across workshops)
Short educational videos published on TTW’s website and YouTube channels to be freely available for hunters and the Predator Free 2050 system.
Evaluation of the workshop to ensure we have met our goals and that the next one can be improved (done in house by TTW staff).