Cook Islands and the Griffin Register

Auckland Museum’s Head of Natural Sciences and avid fish expert, Tom Trnski, shares how a recently opened old box of hand-written notes fills in some long-standing gaps, and opens up a conversation with Cook Island knowledge holders about the Cook Islands language.

Exploring the first book known to be published on Kiribati culture

Te Awe and the Taumata Māreikura

Read about the experience of Kahutoi Te Kanawa being part of the Taumata Māreikura in the Te Awe Project

Bill Sevesi and His Islanders at The Orange Ballroom

The Orange Coronation Ballroom on Newton Road in Auckland, also known as The Orange Ballroom or The Orange, was Pacific music central in Auckland from 1954 to the mid-1970s. Bill Sevesi and his Islanders played night after night to audiences who thronged the dance floor. Read more about this period in New Zealand's music history here.

Samoa’s Little Dodo Bird

The Manumea is the national bird of Samoa and is found nowhere else in the world. A species of ground pigeon, the Manumea has a large head and hooked beak. One of the closest living relatives of the extinct dodo, the scientific name for the species (Didunculus strigirostris) means little dodo.

Changing Waiheke

A look at Waiheke Island’s history as one of Auckland City’s favourite island getaway locations.

One island, one book, many stories

2020 marked the first year that Gasav Ne Fäeag Rotuạm – Rotuman Language Week, officially joins the Ministry for Pacific Peoples’ Pacific Language Week celebrations. In this blog we look at Tales of a Lonely Island (1939), an early twentieth century collection of Rotuman legends.

The mystery of Manawatāwhi mollymawks

Albatrosses breed on remote oceanic islands, as far from humans as possible. Despite this isolation, most breeding sites are known, and many are monitored to track the birds’ numbers, making it unusual that a new albatross population should be discovered and remain unstudied...

Creativity in Momentous Times

Whether a professional artist or crafty amateur, times of uncertainty and change can encourage us to get creative. Here are some objects in our collection that have been created during moments of significance, big andor small, and their stories.

Excavating Otata

In March 2020, Auckland Museum archaeologists carried out a small excavation in a large coastal midden on Otata Island in the Hauraki Gulf, Tikapa Moana.