53 years ago – Sir Edmund Hillary reaches the South Pole (4 January 1958) 54 years ago – Scott Base opens in Antarctica (20 January 1957) Having reached the summit of Everest with Tenzing Sherpa in 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary completed another extreme feat in January 1958. Early in theRead more

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Some of my favourite social history images in Te Papa’s photography collection are of trampers taken by Leslie Adkin (1888-1964). A man of many talents and interests, Adkin was a founding member of the Levin-Waiohepu Tramping Club, which was established in the 1920s.  This was one of the first tramping clubsRead more

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57 years ago – Queen Elizabeth arrives in Auckland, becoming the country’s first reigning monarch to visit New Zealand (23 December 1953) The Queen and her husband, Prince Philip, arrived in New Zealand just before Christmas in 1953 for a 39-day tour. In the past, only sons or brothers ofRead more

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I’ve enjoyed searching through Te Papa’s collections to find items related to Christmas for this year’s advent calendar. Advent calendars developed from a 19th century German Lutheran tradition of counting down the 24 days before Christmas. An advent calendar has 24 doors that you open each day from 1 DecemberRead more

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This is the first in an ongoing series of blogs about New Zealand history. These blogs are going to focus on 20th century events and objects as well as topics in Te Papa’s history exhibition Slice of Heaven: 20th Century Aotearoa. Following from the recent blog about the diarama in the exhibtionRead more

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Te Papa acknowledges the life and writing of poet, playwright, novelist, and memoirist Alistair Te Ariki Campbell. His work is noted for its attempts to reconcile the complexities and displacements he experienced as a result of his New Zealand/Cook Islands ancestry. Campbell was born in the Cook Islands and spentRead more

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Joan Wiffen, who found hard evidence that dinosaurs had inhabited New Zealand, died this month aged 87. I’m not a scientist, but I do have an interest in the history of science, and even I can see that Wiffen made historically significant and far-reaching contributions to scientific thinking. First findings In 1975, Wiffen found somethingRead more

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The spread of swine flu around the world has been dominating the media lately. Hopefully it won’t turn into a pandemic like the one that swept through New Zealand in late 1918. Originating in the northern hemisphere, this strain of the ‘flu killed an estimated 8251 New Zealanders over a period ofRead more

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To the left is a war memorial that I discovered in Nelson. It is on the grounds of St Marys Catholic Church in Manuka Street. I don’t know anything about this memorial and it’s not listed on the register of war memorials on NZHistory.net.nz. Any information about it would be gratefully recieved. ItRead more

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In February I was in Collingwood, a small town in Golden Bay at the top of the South Island. Like many towns and cities around New Zealand, Collingwood has war memorials dedicated to local men who died in both world wars.  My grandfather, who was born in Collingwood, was only eightRead more

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Almost 250 objects and images related to World War I held by Te Papa can now be viewed on online. Curators have chosen items with sentimental value or connected to the home front and the war’s aftermath in New Zealand, as well as those associated directly with the conflict andRead more

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Not all war memorials are monumental or made from marble. While I was reading Ann Beaglehole’s Eastbourne: A History of the Eastern Bays of Wellington Harbour, I discovered details of trees planted by the community to remember World War One (WWI) and those who lost their lives. In July 1916Read more

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