The spider and fern citizen science projects running alongside the DeCLASSIFIED! exhibition are roaring along. To date, there have been 101 participants and 745 observations in the Spiders with Te Papa project, and 83 participants and 1332 observations in the Ferns with Te Papa project.  Thank you to all theseRead more

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I have found that studying patterns of wear on hei tiki can be quite revealing. Most hei tiki are made from nephrite pounamu, one of the toughest and most durable natural materials in existence. This being so I think we can safely assume that surface wear on hei tiki didn’t happenRead more

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In: Māori

Nau mai ki te ao mārama, Pirinihi Hārata! Welcome to the world, Princess Charlotte of Cambridge, and may you prove a worthy spare for the heir, and a mini-feminist in your own right! The arrival of a baby daughter to the most famous woman in the world with an artRead more

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In: Art, History

NatureWatch NZ is a citizen science website for recording New Zealand’s biodiversity. Many tens of observations are added each day, covering all kinds of life. NatureWatch NZ homepage. The quantity of new observations might seem overwhelming if you’re actually just interested in a particular group – perhaps you: are studyingRead more

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We learnt with sorrow and regret that photographer and educator Tony Whincup passed away recently. Tony photographed periodically in the remote islands of the Pacific nation of Kiribati over four decades, creating an extensive photographic documentation of its people and their culture. Te Papa purchased 47 of Tony’s photographs onRead more

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In: Art, Pacific, Photography

During the early development of the DeClassified! exhibition we had a lot of conversations with Te Papa scientists about potential objects and narratives that would do the job of explaining that Te Papa does, in fact, do science. It’s sort of my job during this phase to think like aRead more

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Seventy-five years ago today, the first scheduled passenger service from Auckland to Sydney on flying boat ‘Aotearoa’ ZK-AMA took place. This flight marks the birth of New Zealand’s national airline, originally named TEAL (Tasman Empire Airways Limited), now Air New Zealand. It was piloted by Captain John Burgess and thereRead more

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In: History, Pacific

The short answer to this question is yes. I raise this topic in this blog as I reflect on the way that Pacific communities in New Zealand are commemorating our ancestors participation in the First World War, and whether we were present during the fighting on the Gallipoli peninsula. The AustralianRead more

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In: Pacific

It’s getting cooler and wetter – ideal for the emergence of many fungi. This was brought home to me when I recently discovered an abundance of this distinctive little mushroom while holidaying near Rotorua. In places, I could barely step without squashing one of these blue beauties. Entoloma hochstetteri isRead more

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Last weekend primary and intermediate teachers from the Wellington region enjoyed taking part in a professional development workshop about visual language. Visual language is the language of images. Learning about visual language enables students to understand how visual elements such as shapes, colours, symbols etc. are combined to communicate meaning. During the workshop participants learnt a variety of approaches forRead more

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In: Art, Education
Maheno signature embroidery, 1915. Te Papa

This embroidered cloth was created on the New Zealand hospital ship Maheno as it steamed its way north to Egypt in July and August 1915. The words stitched on it are actually the signatures of the ship’s staff and crew. Two weeks ago this Te Papa object was placed intoRead more

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In: History

In our latest Gallipoli: The scale of our war exhibition blog, Historical Director Dr Christopher Pugsley recalls uncovering relics from the battlefield. I have walked the Anzac battlefields of Gallipoli many times. The first was in December 1980 and then again in 1983. It was not until 1990 that I travelledRead more

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In: Behind the scenes