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Touring exhibitions

KO TAWA

Taonga from our ancestral landscapes from the collection of Captain Gilbert Mair

In his lifetime Captain Gilbert Mair (1843 — 1923) was presented with many taonga — ancestral treasures — by Maori communities throughout the North Island. Mair, also known as Tawa, accepted these taonga understanding the obligations they represented, dedicating his later life to assisting Maori to overcome the effects of colonisation. Ko Tawa celebrates the taonga passed into Mair’s keeping, which today is integral to Auckland Museum Maori Collection.

Ko Tawa has toured to Pataka - Wellington, Whangarei Museum, Australian Museum - Sydney, Opotiki Museum, Whakatane Museum and Rotorua Museum. The exhibition is currently showing at the Tauranga Art Gallery 15 March - 14 May 2008

The untold story of the World’s greatest exploration

Vaka Moana tells the dramatic story of the world’s greatest human migration – the exploration and peopling of the vast Pacific Ocean. In developing the world-class exhibition, Auckland Museum has drawn on its unsurpassed Maori and Pacific collections, as well as the expertise of in-house curators and academic specialists from New Zealand and the Pacific Rim.

Vaka Moana opened at the Auckland Museum on the 9 December 2006 - 1 April 2007, before touring internationally. The exhibition will next open at the National Museum of Ethnology (Osaka, Japan) from September — December 2007, before going to the National Museum of Natural Science (Taichung, Taiwan), and the National Museum of Australia (Canberra, Australia). The exhibition is also slated to travel to France, the United States and Canada, before returning to New Zealand in 2011.

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Touring exhibitions

KO TAWA

Taonga from our ancestral landscapes from the collection of Captain Gilbert Mair

VAKA MOANA

The untold story of the World’s greatest exploration