Tag Archives: Wellington

Native plants for your garden

18 November 2010 – 9.35am

Titoki, Alectryon excelsus.

Do you live in the Wellington region, want to have native plants in your garden, but don’t know what to choose?

Then the Greater Wellington Regional Council has produced just what you need: the Wellington Regional Native Plant Guide.  I attended the recent launch of the revised 2010 edition.

Wellington Regional Native Plant Guide.

Lists are provided of native plants ideal for 14 different sub-regions, from the southern coasts to the Kapiti dunelands to the northern Wairarapa.

As the guide says:

PLANTS ARE GREAT,

NATIVES ARE BETTER,

ECO-SOURCED IS THE BEST

By Leon Perrie | Posted in Plants | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (2)

Great white shark new arrival at Te Papa

5 October 2010 – 12.16pm

This morning, our fish team went to a small boatshed in Breaker Bay on Wellington’s south coast to pick up a great white shark.  Not your normal morning mission and a bittersweet one at that as these creatures are endagered animals and a protected species.  The shark had been ensnared in a fishing net and was dead by the time the fishermen had pulled it in.

It took 6 of us to lift it into the truck and being that close to an animal gives you a true sense of what a beautiful and perfectly made for purpose these creatures are.  The shark is 2.7 metres long so its tail fin didn’t quite fit as you can see in the picture below.  We had to carefully wrap the fin up for the trip back to Te Papa’s laboratories.

The wrapped tail fin protruding from the truck. Photo by Jane Keig

 Back at Te Papa, the team were able to give the specimen a wash and have a closer look.  Andrew Stewart, Te Papa’s Fishes Collection Manager, says that the shark is an immature male and a rare specimen as the shark was on the cusp of moving from fish as its primary food source to marine mammmals.

Cleaning out the mouth. Photo by Jane Keig

When we rolled the shark over to clean its underside, the scientists noticed small parasites which they collected for identification.

The great white shark's underside. Photo by Jane Keig.

Parasites found on the shark. Photo by Jane Keig.

These parasites were even found inside its mouth, buried into its gums and on its tongue.  Andrew says that remora fish feed on these parasites – this shark is its own fully-functioning eco-system!

Inside the mouth of a great white shark. Photo by Jane Keig.

The teeth look quite sharp and pointy but the points weren’t sharp to touch.  The sides of the teeth are serrated and I was pretty happy a strong person was holding up the jaw when I took these photos!

Sensory organs on the shark's head. Photo by Jane Keig.

The shark’s nose and head are covered with jelly-filled sensory organs that look like freckles.  These organs help it to sense electromagnetic pulses given off by its prey. I was amazed at how soft and velvety its skin felt, until I went against the grain and then  it felt quite raspy.

The shark will be frozen in our freezer to maintain the specimen’s integrity until further plans are confirmed.

By janekeig | Posted in Fish | Also tagged , , , | Comments (6)

Celebrate World Refugee Day 2010

2 June 2010 – 12.18pm

Smack bang in the middle of Matariki, the Maori New Year and all the creative (indoor!) activities that are taking place at the Matariki Festival at Te Papa, World Refugee Day is one of our key times to celebrate and discuss the diversity of our beautiful people and places, and the freedom we enjoy.

This year the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has set the global theme as “Home”, with the accompanying statement: “They took my home but they can’t take my future.” The theme aims to highlight the plight of refugees worldwide, as well as their courage and resilience.

 

Celebrated on Sunday June 20, New Zealand acknowledges World Refugee Day with a myriad of events, performances, forums, and celebrations throughout the land and indeed the world.

Wellington’s World Refugee Day will kick off at 10am, 20 June, at Newtown Park beginning with the Fourth Annual World Refugee Football Match, followed by a cultural fair and a tree planting event. As in previous years, the match is expected to attract both refugee background and local communities from the Hutt Valley, Porirua and Wellington. The first match will be between Refugee All-Star players from Africa and Asia, and the second will see players from another Refugee All-Star team challenge a Wellington Invitational Eleven.

A cultural fair with music, dance and food cooked by different refugee communities at Newtown Park club rooms will follow the football matches. Refugee background communities will then be able to plant a tree to ‘put down roots’ at Mt Albert Park, in a Rotary Club of Wellington and Project Crimson initiative.

The Commissioner for Race Relationtions has established a World Refugee Day website to publicise events around the country.  If you are planning one you can email them and have your event promoted for free.

Here are some photographs taken by Farah Omar, originally a refugee from Somalia, at last years World Regugee Day. These, and many other beautiful photographs are now displayed in The Mixing Room - stories from young refugees in NZ exhibition, Level 4, Te Papa.

World Refugee Day by you.
World Refugee Day Celebrations by you.
World Refugee Day Celebrations by you.
You could also visit the United Nations Refugee Agency and find out what you can do to help the plight of refugees.
Order free posters, booklets & other information
Participate in an event in your area
Donate to UNHCR’s global humanitarian work
Learn more about refugee protection
By sarahmmorris | Posted in Events, Exhibitions, History | Also tagged , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Race Relations Day 2010

19 March 2010 – 12.12pm

Race Relations Day 2010

The theme for Race Relations Day 2010 is ‘It’s About Us – Whānau’ and we are officially celebrating it on Sunday 21st March – this weekend!  In the days around Race Relations Day community groups, councils, schools, workplaces, marae and places of worship are encouraged to host events and celebrations to acknowledge the value of cultural diversity and the need to support harmonious race relations. Race Relations Day is a time when you or your organisation or community can do something to celebrate, to learn, to discuss, to plan or to promote diversity.  And we at The Mixing Room intend to do just that! It’s an opportunity to launch new initiatives, motivate your family, friends, neighbourhood and colleagues.  Get out there and share the love.

Patrick from The Mixing Room, Photographed by Kate Whitley

Many events have already began around New Zealand but let’s all make a special effort this weekend to celebrate our diversity in this fine land we share.   Check out what’s happening around you.

Personally I’m heading to the South East Asia Night Market at Frank Kitts Park.  Might see you there!  After all, ‘It’s About Us – Whānau’

By sarahmmorris | Posted in Events, Exhibitions | Also tagged , , , | Comments (0)

The Mixing Room at Te Papa wins award

3 March 2010 – 10.52am

The Mixing Room Team are the very proud recipients of the New Zealand Race Relations Commissioner Kaihautū Whakawhanaunga-ā-Iwi award for positive contributions to race relations.

The Mixing Room, stories from young refugees in New Zealand is a collaborative project between Te Papa and more than 70 refugee background young people from diverse communities, including Afghani, Bhutanese, Burmese, Burundian, Cambodian, Colombian, Congolese, Eritrean, Ethiopian, Iranian, Kosovar-Albanian, Rwandan, Somali, Sudanese, Tamil, and Vietnamese.

Refugee background youth forum at Te Papa

Following initial consultation with community leaders, a refugee background youth forum was held at Te Papa in early 2009. This confirmed the exhibition’s concept: ‘Optimism in a new land’, with the three themes of Challenge, Connection and Freedom. Subsequently, a youth reference group was established in Wellington comprising of around 10 young people who meet with Te Papa staff fortnightly. The group has helped with choosing material for the exhibition and provided feedback to Te Papa’s development team, ensuring the project is defined by young people.

Selecting photographs for the exhibition with the youth reference group

Fortnightly youth reference meeting at Te Papa

Next, a set of 12 professional tutorial workshops were held with young people in the six main refugee settlement areas: Auckland, Hamilton, Palmerston North, Wellington, Nelson and Christchurch. Young people from refugee backgrounds were employed to rally other young refugees to attend the workshops.

Digital story-telling workshop in Hamilton

Cast glass workshop in Auckland

The exhibition presents the young people’s stories in a range of creative, digital mediums including art, short film, poetry, performance, screen-printing, cast glass and digital story-telling. It was underpinned by the ‘capacity building’ approach, whereby the young people were empowered to tell their stories in their own way and upskill themselves in the process.

Screen-printing workshop in Christchurch

This award is really exciting for the Mixing Room team because it recognises that the project is bigger than the exhibition itself.  That we can measure success using a variety of models including that the process is as important as the end product.

A taste of what is to be included in the exhibition can be viewed on the new Mixing Room blog. You can also watch the music video ‘Belong’ on Youtube. The end product, the multimedia ‘Mixing Room’ exhibition will open at Te Papa on April 10 2010 and will run for three years in the community gallery.  So come along and be challenged, get connected and feel the freedom we all so luckily share in this great land of ours!

By sarahmmorris | Posted in Exhibitions | Also tagged , , , | Comments (7)

Hybrid hunt turns up more weedy natives

22 January 2010 – 9.21am

I was out last week with Tim Park from the regional council looking for Pseudopanax hybrids between lancewood and coastal five-finger near Porirua.   

Coastal five-finger and the hybrids are weeds in the Wellington region.

Previous post on lancewood and coastal five-finger hybridisation.

We spotted a couple of other weedy natives – New Zealand species that are naturalising (self-sowing) outside their native range – that were new to us.

Meryta sinclairii, puka. Self-sown saplings near Porirua. Photo by Leon Perrie, Curator. © Te Papa.

Meryta sinclairii, puka, is native to the Three Kings Islands and (possibly) the Hen & Chickens Islands.  Puka is commonly cultivated.  While I’ve heard others report puka’s naturalisation, this was the first time I had seen it for myself.  Meryta is a close relative of Pseudopanax.

Probable Pseudopanax discolor. Self-sown saplings near Porirua. Photo by Leon Perrie, Curator. © Te Papa.

An even more interesting find was what appeared to be naturalising Pseudopanax discolor.  This species is native to Great Barrier Island and the Coromandel Peninsula.  I was not previously aware of it naturalising in Wellington (or anywhere outside its native range).  Pseudopanax discolor is rare in gardens, although cultivars and/or its hybrids with P. lessonii are fairly common.

I’m interested in weedy natives, especially in the Wellington region where Corynocarpus laevigatus (karaka), Hoheria populnea (lacebark), Metrosideros excelsa (pohutukawa), Pittosporum crassifolium, Pittosporum ralphii, Pseudopanax crassifolius x lessonii, and Pseudopanax lessonii (coastal five-finger) are widespread and well known.  I’d be interested in reports of other species naturalising.

By Leon Perrie | Posted in Field trips, Plants, Pseudopanax | Also tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Amgueddfa blog

14 January 2010 – 6.49pm

Michael Houlihan, Te Papa’s newly appointed CEO, is currently Director General of Amgueddfa Cymru National Museum Wales.

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/

In a recent post on the Amgueddfa blog Michael talks about his decision to make the big move from Wales to New Zealand:

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/blog/?cat=409

I was checking out pictures on the Amgueddfa blog of the wildlife and woodlands in the snow at St Fagans the National History Museum.This open-air museum is one of the seven museums that make up Amgueddfa Cymru National Museum Wales.

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/blog/?entry=236

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/stfagans/

It might not be very warm or summery here in Wellington right now but spare a thought for everyone over in Britain where the winter conditions have been described as ”glacial”.  A note on the St Fagans home page tells visitors that the museum is closed “due to snow and ice”.

Brrrrr…. summer in Wellington not so bad after all?

By pamelalovis | Posted in Events | Also tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

More on Friday’s Killer whales in Wellington Harbour

14 December 2009 – 4.39pm
Jochen Flöthe's photos of the Killer whales or Orca in Wellington Harbour

Jochen Flöthe's photos of the Killer whales or Orca in Wellington Harbour

Here’s proof that there were indeed Orca’s or Killer Whales in Wellington Harbour on Friday. Proof too of what a small, interconnected world we live in!

This photo was sent to us by Jochen Flöthe from Kiel, Germany! Jochen’s daughter is back-packing in New Zealand. Her friend Mirja Schnabel took the photos,

and had sent family back in Germany photos of the six Orca she saw in Wellington Harbour. Jochen commented on my Friday post asking for photos and offered to send us some. Wow! I love social media when it works like this - so here they are!

But what makes this story even more amazing is that Jochen told me about a really amazing coincidence. Today (13 December in Germany), their local television showed a report about a painting that was discovered in an old church in Greifswald (GER) on the Baltic Sea.

Orca painted on a 16th Century wall in Germany. Wal und nördl. Seitenschiff

Orca painted on a 16th Century wall in Germany. Wal und nördl. Seitenschiff

This painting is from the 16th century and shows an Orca, which was caught by fishermen in the Baltic sea on 30 March 1545. They had never seen a big ‘fish’ like this before and thought it was a sign of god.
http://www.marien-greifswald.de/Wal.657.0.html

Thanks again Jochen. This really made my day today.
Watch the Orcas on YouTube
Where is Greifswald on Google Maps?

Jochen Flöthe's photos of the Killer whales or Orca in Wellington Harbour

Jochen Flöthe's photos of the Killer whales or Orca in Wellington Harbour

By lucyhoffman | Posted in Whales, Whales | Tohorā | Also tagged , , | Comments (4)

Psst – Killer whales in Wellington harbour today (11 Dec)

11 December 2009 – 10.00am

There are Killer whales in Wellington harbour today. Last I heard they were below Khandallah heading for Petone, about 30 metres off-shore.

I asked Anton Van Helden, our Collection manager of Marine Mammals, about them. He said they are frequent visitors to Wellington Harbour as it was in their natural range. 

He wasn’t sure what they were doing in the harbour, but thought it was an exciting opportunity for people to see them. He also advised being careful around them and remembering not to harrass them.

I’d love to see a photo of them if some one has taken any!

You might also want to check out Anton on Tales from Te Papa. He is talking about  the rare and mysterious Spade-toothed whale. A scientific detective story with a twist!
Beaked whales – Tales from Te Papa episode 6

By lucyhoffman | Posted in Whales, Whales | Tohorā | Also tagged , | Comments (6)

Squid star in the media

14 December 2008 – 7.54am

Hi everyone!

Here are some of the news items that have played in NZ over the last couple of days for your viewing/listening pleasure.

http://tvnz.co.nz/breakfast-news/breakfast-friday-december-12-2416405/video?vid=2416881

http://www.3news.co.nz/Gargantuan-squid-ready-for-its-public-debut/tabid/209/articleID/84084/cat/676/Default.aspx

http://www.primetv.co.nz/Default.aspx?alias=www.primetv.co.nz/news     FYI – this link will only be live till 5pm tonight NZ time – the item is at 9:44 through the broadcast

http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint - an audio report scroll down to ‘Colossal Squid’.

And finally http://www.stuff.co.nz/sundaystartimes/4792263a6005.html

Enjoy and let us know what coverage you have seen in your hometown!

By janekeig | Posted in Colossal squid, Exhibitions | Also tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)
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