Remembering a national icon: Dame Margaret Karika Ariki (1919–2017)
Pacific Collection Manager Grace Hutton pays tribute to Cook Islands tribal leader Dame Margaret Karika Ariki.Read more
2017-11-03
The significance of March 18 in the history of WW1
A month today Te Papa’s new exhibition Gallipoli: The scale of our war opens to the public. Keep an eye out each Wednesday over the next couple of months for a new blog from the team working on creating this exhibition. To kick things off, we’ve got a post from HistoryRead more
2015-03-18
Cook Islanders at War: From Rarotonga to Belgium 1917
2015 marks the 100th anniversary of the first Cook Islands Soldiers to enlist in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) and to mark this occasion three events between Friday 17th April and Sunday 19th April were held in Wellington.Read more
2015-09-02
The magic of Kaumātua Kapa Haka
Charles Ropitini shares his thoughts on New Zealand Post Kaumātua Kapa Haka The NZ Post Kaumātua Kapa Haka Festival is an annual favourite for many Wellingtonians and visitors to Wellington experiencing the magic of Matariki, our indigenous New Year festival. For me personally, it is my favourite weekend of theRead more
2015-07-02
Commemorating WW1: New Zealand Post’s five-year stamp and coin programme
New Zealand Post has chosen to mark the centennial of the First World War with a five-year stamp and coin programme, which is being launched tonight at Te Papa. Each year’s issue will look at the key events of that year, and the impact of the war on those NewRead more
2014-08-04
Māori at Gallipoli – TedX talk “Forgotten grandfathers: Māori men of WW1”
Kia ora koutou Last month I gave a talk at a TedX conference in Tauranga where I discussed some of the research I’ve undertaken as part of our exhibition development project here for an exhibition about Gallipoli (due to open April next year at Te Papa). I’ve been very busy assemblingRead more
2014-08-19
“Carry on, boys” – The stories of Friday Hawkins and Rikihana Carkeek. Part Two: Rikihana Carkeek
As part of a series of blog publications about the giants that feature in the exhibition, ’Gallipoli: the scale of our war’, and to commemorate the anniversary of the Battle of Chunuk Bair, I have been asked to write about the two Māori soldiers who are found in the MachineRead more
2015-08-07
Haere rā OurSpace
On Sunday we’ll be saying goodbye to our multimedia exhibition OurSpace to make room for the next exciting step towards Te Papa’s flagship exhibition commemorating 100 years since WWI. We are incredibly grateful to everyone who has contributed images and videos to OurSpace, which opened in 2008. More than 10,000 images and videos wereRead more
2014-07-24
Berry Cover Boys
Gerald Gower (left) and Alfred Featherston Gower (right) are the two brothers who grace rather strikingly the cover of Berry Boys: Portraits of First World War Soldiers and Families by Michael Fitzgerald and Claire Regnault. The studio paraphernalia you see in the image above would have been cropped out inRead more
2014-08-18
William Gemmell: WWI amputee postively identified
Te Papa holds 28 sepia-toned photographs taken of New Zealand servicemen who were wounded during World War I. None of the men in these photographs are identified. However, thanks to Julie Gemmell of Waikouaiti, we now know that one of the men in two of these photos is William Clement Gemmell, Julie’sRead more
2014-09-19
Watery eyes
Lately I’ve spent a lot of time researching the soldiers that were part of WW1’s 1st Māori Contingent. In a letter sent back home, Lieutenant Henare Kohere who was in the 2nd Māori Contingent, spoke about arriving in Egypt and being welcomed by the remainder of the first. When weRead more
2013-06-28
