• One of our most remarkable exhibits – a three-metre tall female giant moa reconstruction – has turned 100 years old. Built in 1913, she tells a unique (but ultimately tragic) evolutionary tale and recalls museum displays over the century.

  • ​This travelling writing case belonged to Thomas Frederick Cheeseman. A keen botanist, he was the first director of the Auckland Institute and Museum and travelled throughout New Zealand, collecting and recording plants, and observing the geographical terrain. ​​

  • Almost a third of the 18,166 New Zealanders who died as a result of the First World War have no known graves; buried half a world away from their grieving families. Auckland War Memorial Museum was built by a community that needed a place to remember those who died.

  • Scraps of fabric they may be, but flags can broadcast powerful messages. The Museum's collection includes flags used for a variety of purposes, each a statement waiting to be interpreted.

  • Armistice Day marks the anniversary of the ceasefire that ended the First World War and commemorates the sacrifice of those who died while serving their country.

  • New Zealand's first package holiday in the Pacific was a glamorous island hop known as the Coral Route. In 1951, Tasman Empire Airways Ltd launched a flying boat service from Auckland to Papeete in Tahiti.

  • New Zealanders like to pride themselves on living in a country with no harmful animals such as poisonous snakes or grizzly bears. But it is a different story in the ocean.

  • Indigo is more than just a colour: it is a natural dye that has had a profound effect on the history of textiles globally.

  • The objects of colonial Auckland tell the stories of a very different city - one with horse-drawn carriages, gun stores, and trades that have been superseded by modern technology.