As many of you know, Phar Lap is on his way back to Melbourne for the 150th anniversary of the Melbourne Cup to take place later this year. Phar Lap was foaled on 4 October 1926 in Seadown, near Timaru on the South Island of New Zealand. Bought byRead more
When I got to work this morning, this was waiting for me: A few weeks back, we asked pupils from some of the schools in New Zealand to send us a postcard telling them why they love their town for our Conservation Week display. This year the theme is WeRead more
On Tuesday 20 July 2010 Gus Fisher ONZM passed away at the age of 89. While many people today recognise Gus Fisher as one of the country’s most generous and enthusiastic arts patron Gus first rose to national prominence in the world of high fashion. Gus Fisher was the creativeRead more
Hello all! Welcome to my first post here on the Te Papa Blog. My name is Cindy Lee and I’m an intern working in the Object’s Conservation Lab at the Tory Street Conservation Laboratories. This internship is a part of my degree requirements for my Masters Degree in Archaeological andRead more
The 2010 Queen’s Birthday Honours list included Samoan-born font designer Joseph Churchward. Since the 1960s, Churchward has hand-created over 570 typefaces (fonts), the greatest number designed by any individual in the world. Click on the image to watch the video interview with Churchward on TVNZ: As a way of documentingRead more
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 theRead more
Have a look at this picture of New Zealand’s rarest stamp – see anything unusual about it? It’s a bit hard to see because of the post marks but the centre scene is actually upside down. It’s known as the Taupo Invert and it’s the only survivor out of theRead more
For the last few months, the Pacific team have been auditing the Niue collection, where objects are photographed, and the catalogue record updated. Niue also known as Nuku-tu-taha is located between Tonga and the Cook Islands. We had an enquiry from a scholar who was researching throwing techniques, and wasRead more
On Saturday 10th April Te Papa opened The Mixing Room, stories from young refugees in New Zealand to the contributors, their families and of course the public. Over 250 people gathered from Nelson, Hamilton, Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington and Palmerston North in the Wellington Foyer and the Red Couches meeting room to eagerlyRead more
There has been some debate about the pose of the mounted skeleton of Phar Lap on display at Te Papa. Using digital photographs, an image of the skeleton has been superimposed over photos of Phar Lap and used to “prove” that the skeleton has been mounted incorrectly. Bone of contentionRead more
Phar Lap was a legendary racehorse and an adored animal hero for a generation of New Zealanders (where he was born and brought up) and Australians (where he mostly raced). After Phar Lap’s death on 6 April 1932, his owners, Mr D J Davis and Mr H R Telford, presentedRead more
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 fromRead more
Musician Pauly Fuemana died yesterday after a short illness. He was 40 years old. Pauly is from a talented family of musicians, who were pioneers in hip hop and the music industry in South Auckland. He was frontman for the group OMC (Otara Millionaires Club) but is best known forRead more
One of the great things about blogs is the connections that get made. For Te Papa, this means we get new and interesting links to things in our collections. Debby Mathews lives in Lewes, near Brighton in the south of England – in the same house in which Gideon MantellRead more
Today is the LAST DAY to see Te Papa’s Formula One the Great Design Race exhibition, in fact as I write this, it’s the LAST HOUR to see these sexy beasts. I’ve loved the cars we’ve been fortunate to be able to display – it would’ve been brilliant to haveRead more
