Free museum entry for New Zealanders and people living in New Zealand

Te ao MāoriThe Māori world

Biculturalism. Decolonisation. Mātauranga Māori. Dive into te ao Māori, explore Matariki, brush up on your reo Māori, and learn how the kiwi lost its wings.

  • Colonial collecting – returning a raranga vest

    Te Papa collection manager and kaitiaki taonga Moana Parata shares a story of her journey to Los Angeles to bring home a precious taonga (treasure), a raranga vest collected by Carl Freeze, an American Mormon missionary in the early 1900s.

  • A black and white photo of a museum with everything jammed in together.

    Museum collecting: Acknowledging our Colonial past

    Our national museum’s history began in 1865, and early documentation wasn't as thorough or careful as it is today. Curator Mātauranga Māori Amber Aranui takes us back to this creatively documented time and what it means for tracking our collection items.

  • A black rectangle with a faint Māori design in the background with words in silver that say Te Maori 40th Anniversary

    Te whakaaturanga o Te Maori – Toi Māori ki te ao

    From 1984 to 1986, the exhibition Te Maori was a pivotal moment in Māori cultural revival showcasing traditional artwork on the international stage. It is widely acclaimed as an exhibition that changed the way that museums and art galleries interpreted and managed taonga Māori.

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    The Maramataka | Māori calendar

    The maramataka is a planting and fishing monthly almanac. For most iwi, the lunar months begin with the new moon (Whiro), but for others it begins with the full moon (Rākaunui). The start of each month is aligned to the morning rising of particular stars.

  • Close up of the Te Tiriti ki Waikato-Manukau | Waikato-Manukau sheet, showing the beginning of the English text

    The Treaty of Waitangi

    It is celebrated and argued over. It contains contradictions, and yet it offers clarity. It has a rocky past, but it is providing New Zealanders with new ways forward. It is the Treaty of Waitangi – this nation’s founding agreement.

  • matariki-night sky with designed star on it

    Matariki: The Māori New Year

    Learn all about Matariki and see our events. Matariki is a time to gather with family and friends to reflect on the past, celebrate the present, and plan for the future.

  • A colourful stage within a room with sunlight through coloured windows bathing the room in shades of blue and purple

    Te Marae o Te Papa Tongarewa: Rongomaraeroa

    Rongomaraeroa is a unique marae (meeting place) within Aotearoa New Zealand. Like all marae, it is founded on Māori principles of kawa (marae protocol) and tikanga (cultural practices) it was created for our unique museum context as a contemporary marae acknowledging the whakapapa (ancestral history) and the taonga (treasures) of all peoples who call Aotearoa New Zealand home.

  • Ko Rata me ngā Tamariki a Tāne | Rata and the Children of Tane

    He Paki Taonga i a Māui

    'He Paki Taonga i a Māui' is a series of 18 short films for tamariki aged 7-11, and tells stories about taonga in Te Papa's collection.

  • Collection Manager with a kahu huruhuru (feather cloak)

    Is there a culture of exclusion in museums?

    Puawai Cairns, Kaihāpai Mātauranga Māori | Head of Mātauranga Māori, looks at the nuances of language and how ‘diversity denial’ can exclude the communities you’re trying to embrace.

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    Haka: Te Taiao

    The haka Te Taiao acknowledges that each of us are kaitiaki of Aotearoa New Zealand, and that we all have a role to play in protecting and nurturing te taiao.

  • Rock art drawing which includes a human figure

    Digitising Theo Schoon’s photographs of Māori rock art

    Intern Tim Fortescue-Willis has spent the last six weeks cataloguing and digitising Theo Schoon’s photographs of Māori rock art. Tim describes his journey working with these negatives and reflects on what he’s learnt about Theo Schoon during his time at Te Papa.

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    Māori kakahu (cloaks): When is a korowai not a korowai?

    There have been many conversations circulating in the media about Jacinda Ardern wearing a kakahu (cloak) at the recent Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Kaitiaki Māori Collection Manager Mark Sykes explains the differences between kahu huruhuru, kahu kiwi, kahu kuri, and korowai.

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    Te ao Māori: The synergy between women and the land

    Iwi development manager Migoto Eria looks at the relationship between Heretaunga chief Hēnare Tōmoana and his wife Ākenehi Pātoka, who signed the suffrage petition in 1893, and reflects on the synergy between wahine (women) and whenua (land).

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    Rongowhakaata

    Articles, video, and more about Gisborne iwi Rongowhakaata, whose exhibition Ko Rongowhakaata: The Story of Light and Shadow was on display at Te Papa 2017–2022.

  • Hue (calabash), 1800-1900, New Zealand, maker unknown. Bequest of Kenneth Athol Webster, 1971. Te Papa (WE000901)

    Māori musical instruments

    Read about different taonga puoro (Māori musical instruments) and discover what their original purposes were.

  • A Union Jack flag with the words Pumuka and Tiriti Waitangi embroidered on

    Pūmuka’s flag

    Gifted to Northland chief Pūmuka by James Busby in 1834, Pūmuka’s flag was present at the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, and is a national treasure. Find out more about this important taonga and the conservation process to allow it to be displayed safely.

  • Dougal Austin

    Tamatea ‘Dusky Sound’ revisited

    Mātauranga Māori curator Dougal Austin offers an indigenous perspective on first contact between Māori and Cook's men in Tamatea (Dusky Sound).

  • Tāruke (crayfish pot), 2000, by John Puketapu. Te Papa (ME022091)

    Traditional Māori food gathering

    Before the arrival of metal tools and the gun, Māori used natural resources to make tools for hunting, fishing, eeling, and cultivating crops.

  • Māori woman gardening with a tool called a timo

    Māori gardening tools

    Traditionally, Māori were essentially an agricultural people, with a large portion of their time and attention being given to cultivation.

  • Manuka, Leptospermum scoparium J.R.Forst. & G.Forst., collected 02 Apr 2009, southern Wairarapa, New Zealand. CC BY-NC-NDCC licence. Te Papa (SP087325)

    Rongoā Māori

    Rongoā Māori is the traditional Māori healing system. Ailments are treated in a holistic manner.

  • Tutaekuri. Image courtesy of Nick Roskruge.

    Māori potatoes

    Taewa (or rīwai) is a collective name for the varieties of potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) cultivated by Māori.

  • Women perform in a Kapa Haka

    Commemorate, celebrate: Waitangi Day in Aotearoa

    Mātauranga Māori curator Matariki Williams asks us to ignore the negative noise around Waitangi Day, to enjoy the inclusive and communal experience, and celebrate the diversity that makes Aotearoa so beautiful.

  • Kete whakairo (patterned bag), 1800-1833, New Zealand, maker unknown. Purchased 1977. Te Papa (ME013967)

    Māori weaving

    Learn about the goddess of te whare pora (the house of weaving) and the different types of weaving that are important in Aotearoa New Zealand.

  • Black and white photograph of French Pass, Marlborough

    Kupe Sites: A photographic journey

    A thousand years ago, the great voyager Kupe made an epic journey from the eastern Pacific across the ocean to a new land. Learn about the stories of his arrival in Aotearoa.