Blog

For New Zealand and Sāmoa the First World War began in August 1914, when a NZ defence force party landed in Apia and claimed the islands from Germany. Just over a century later, a shipping container and two Auckland Museum staff arrived in Apia – this time to work with the Museum of Sāmoa to tell the stories of this ‘entangled’ relationship.

Renowned international potter Takeshi Yasuda has been making ceramics for more than 50 years. Now based in the 'porcelain capital' of the world Jingdezhen, China, the artist maintains a global practice with regular demonstrations and exhibitions abroad.​

Te Awe is a project work space on the ground floor of the Museum just around the corner from our He Taonga Māori gallery. Through the glass doors, you can watch as staff work to care for the collections through conservation, documentation, photography and digitisation.

Anthony from Room 5 at Halsey Drive Primary School wanted to know did the kiwi's ancestor fly. Matt Rayner, Curator Land Vertebrates, explains the evolutionary history of our national bird.

Room 5 at Halsey Drive Primary School wanted to know why starfish are star-shaped and what a mussel's foot does for the mussel. Wilma Blom, Curator Marine Invertebrates, suggests some answers.

A gold embroidered Manchu-style jacket was one of the remarkable ‘hidden objects’ we displayed during Chinese New Year celebrations this year. To learn more about the garments and the art of Chinese embroidery, we invited two experts from the Confucius Institute in Auckland to discuss the figurative and poetic symbols sewn in silk and gold.

Dance and the spoken word are powerful forms of cultural expression and memory and have a rich heritage in the Pacific. To celebrate Fijian Language Week 2014, we invited Suva-based dance company ‘VOU’ to bring sound and dance into the Museum. They spent four days with us, and members of the local Fiji community, to study and interpret themes sparked by the Fiji Collections. The result was an incredible dance performance.

Decades after a prized collection of Chinese porcelain was left a heap of shards after bombing raids in London, it was rattled again by two major earthquakes in Christchurch. Auckland Museum’s principal conservator Sue Cooper and contract conservator Liz Yuda have spent the past four years preserving the collection while allowing it’s shaky past to shine through.

Young Ocean Explorer Riley Hathaway is in the Kermadecs with her Dad, underwater cameraman Steve Hathaway. They're hoping to encounter Galapagos sharks and black spotted grouper and create a couple of exciting new episodes. Follow their journey.

The archaeologists on Great Mercury Island have uncovered what they suspect is a butchery area. The animal bones and artefacts they've unearthed provide an intriguing glimpse on an ancient diet.

After a day off mid-excavation, everyone was refreshed and ready to continue. At site EA64, to the south of the stream in Coralie Bay, we continue to expand the excavation area and dig down through the layers.

The 2015 fieldwork season has kicked off on Ahuahu Great Mercury Island. This time the research team is back to excavate an eroding site in Coralie Bay on the eastern side of a tombolo. Auckland Museum archaeologist Louise Furey talks about the team's aims for this season's research.