Blog

View by topic:

View by date:

Bill Sevesi and His Islanders at The Orange Ballroom
Wednesday 27 May 2020
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.
Read more
Samoa’s Little Dodo Bird
Tuesday 26 May 2020
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.
Read more
Changing Waiheke
Monday 25 May 2020
A look at Waiheke Island’s history as one of Auckland City’s favourite island getaway locations.
Read more
One island, one book, many stories
Tuesday 19 May, 2020
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.
Read more
The mystery of Manawatāwhi mollymawks
Thursday 7 May 2020
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...
Read more
Creativity in Momentous Times
Wednesday 6 May 2020
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.
Read more
Excavating Otata
Excavating Otata Island: A Midden Revealed
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.
Read more
Tools of Tātau and the Marks of a Leader
Tools of Tātau and the Marks of a Leader
A closer look at Taonga and specimens from across the Auckland Museum collection that feature in the Voyage to Aotearoa: Tupaia and the Endeavour exhibition - specifically Tahitian tātau (tattoo) tools - the uhi (chisel) and tā (beater).
Read more
Identifying Belwood: Searching for Sitters
Identifying Belwood: Searching for Sitters
Did you ever wonder what might have happened to the family photos you were made to pose for when you were a child? Did you ever suspect they could wind up in a museum?
Read more
Trade Beads and Nails
Wednesday, 19 February 2020
An examination of the surprising and illuminating tools of trade and exchange highlighted in the Voyage to Aotearoa: Tupaia and the Endeavour exhibition.
Read more

1 2 3 4 5 ...