Sydney Maori let loose their traditional ancestral war cry on Monday night to warn the discreetly upmarket auction house Sotheby's to back off selling one of their proudest heirlooms.
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The Te Pahi silver medal may be one of the most outstanding vestiges of the early story of Australia and New Zealand.
Philip Gidley King, the third governor of the colony of NSW, presented the silver medal to the Maori chief Te Pahi (whose name was Anglicised to Tippahee) in January 1806, when the two friends were attempting to reduce Maori hostility towards the British.
But the Pacific was a violent world then. Within four years British whalers had torched the Maori leader's home island and he died soon after. The medal disappeared.
On Tuesday night it is listed as item 125 at Sotheby's auction of ''fine Asian, Australian & European arts and design''. Sotheby's expects it to fetch between $300,000 and $500,000.
''You can't put a price on our history,'' said Kiri Barber, one of the haka leaders.
''This is such an important part of our story - the first time a British leader recognised one of our leaders. It cannot just become someone's investment plaything or disappear into a private collection.''
Mr Barber said while Sydney Maori were trying to shame Sotheby's into withdrawing the medal with their haka, elders in New Zealand had directed lawyers to draw up an injunction to be served on Tuesday before the auction.
Sotheby's boss Gary Singer said he had received a letter protesting the auction.
''But we don't know who they are or what they want, so its impossible to give a definitive reply,'' he said. ''But should there be some sort of challenge to ownership, well these sorts of things go on all the time - you only have to look at Greece and the Elgin Marbles.''
King, who had arrived on the First Fleet, was lieutenant governor of Norfolk Island when he started using Maori to help convicts and settlers learn to grow flax. When King returned some Maori safely home to the Bay of Islands, it was the beginning of an enduring friendship with a grateful local chief, Te Pahi.
In 1800, King became the third governor of NSW and five years later Te Pahi sailed to Sydney to spend three months living at Government House.
The medal has been in private ownership for decades, including a Dubbo family until 1900. Sotheby's prefers not to divulge much more of its history.
