Auckland Museum Summer Visitor Programme

Summer Visitor Programme

Exhibitions

Encounter and Landmarks Galleries

Ground floor Admission free with entry donation

Auckland Museum’s premier collection of New Zealand and International Design and Decorative Arts are celebrated in two new permanent galleries which have just opened. Encounter is the first major collection-based survey of New Zealand design and decorative arts, while Landmarks explores over four centuries of international design.

Wide Eyed in Tonga

As well as programmes and events to accompany Auckland Museum’s significant exhibition, Vaka Moana, there will also be two smaller exhibitions, Wide Eyed in Tonga and in March La Fouguala – an exhibition of contemporary pacific artists. Wide Eyed in Tonga features the work of British artist, Noelle Sandwith (1927-2006), who travelled to Tonga in 1953 where she spent a year living with a Tongan family, sketching and recording the island’s social life and customs. This exhibition offers a view of life in Queen Salote’s realm as seen through the eyes of a young English woman who warmly embraced Tongan life.

Cheesemans Flora

17th November 2006 – 4 March 2007

Tamaki Gallery Free Admission with Doantion

Thomas Frederick Cheeseman (1845 – 1923) was the Auckland Museum botanist and sole curator for 50 years (1874 – 1923).. During his career, Cheeseman described some 154 species, 87 varieties and four plant genera. Thirty-two plant species from New Zealand and Cook Islands are also named after him. This exhibition marks the centenary of this important publication by one of New Zealand’s most famous botanists and first full-time director of the Auckland Museum

SPECIAL EVENTS

Night at Auckland Museum

Tuesdays – Saturdays 26 December - 6 February

5.30pm, 6.15pm and 7pm

$14 adults, $8 children ($10, $5 members) Bookings essential Phone: 09 306 7048

Spend a Night at Auckland Museum and discover what happens when we close. It may still be sunny outside, but our galleries are dark and mysterious! Bring your torch and follow the Museum's security guard as he seeks out dinosaurs (including our new baby dryosaur!), and other Museum characters. AND - all Adults who come along will then get a voucher that gives a child FREE ENTRY with a paying adult to the hit movie Night at the Museum, at SKY-CITY Cinemas (Conditions apply).

2006 Ensemble Philharmonia: Minstrel String Quartet

Sunday 3 December

1pm

Pictorial Gallery

Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra presents the Lion Foundation Ensemble Philharmonia; a free lunchtime concert. Works performed by members of the APO include Mozart’s String Quartet K589; Scholes’ String Trio (Auckland Premiere) and Rachmaninoff’s, Andante and Scherzo

Introduction to Understanding the Treaty of Waitangi

A free workshop for all

Tuesday 6 February

3pm- 4pm

APEC Room

Through this workshop you will learn about the founding document of New Zealand -The Treaty of Waitangi. You will gain an understanding of its impact on both Maori and Pakeha people and their relationships with one another. Learn about the place of the Treaty of Waitangi in today’s times and for the future.

Hun Lakorn Lek: Thailand Puppets

Wednesday 7 February

Spot appearances all day

Performance at 4pm Auditorium

$10 and $5 members. Bookings preferred. Ring 09 306 7048

Hun Lakorn Lek is a Thai 12-person puppet troupe, accompanied by a

traditional Thai ensemble of 6 musicians. Puppetry has been a part of

Thai culture and tradition for hundreds of years. Hun Lakorn Lek puppets

are unique because of their special life-like characteristics with

moveable limbs and an exquisite combination of traditional art forms.

The complex movement of each single puppet is controlled by three

puppeteers who move in perfect synchronisation. The puppets will be

active around the Museum with surprise appearances and will also have a

performance with instrumental accompaniment in the auditorium at 4pm.

Chinese New Year

Lion Dance

Saturday 17 February

2pm

Foyer

The lion dance is performed during Chinese New Year or any happy occasion. It is believed that when the lion performs, it will bring to the place and the people good luck, good fortune, good health and helps to drive away the evil spirits. Join us to celebrate Chinese New Year and make a lucky wish.

“Youth Barok”: Early Music Programme

Sunday 25 February

2pm

Castle Collection Gallery

Early Music students from the University of Auckland - School of Music present a programme of 17th and 18th century music performed on period instruments.

Cheeseman Makes an Appearance

Auckland Anniversary Weekend 27, 28 and 29 January

10.30am, 11.30am and 1pm

Tamaki Gallery

Meet this stalwart Museum character who was sole curator of Auckland Museum for fifty years (1874 -1924). He was responsible for growing the Museum’s botany, ethnographic and zoology collections. Join this pioneer in his office and gain an invaluable insight into our Museum’s collections.

KAN: Green Gallery Collection of International Studio Ceramics

Floor Talk with Curator Moyra Elliott

Sunday 4 February

11am

Moyra Elliott is curator of KAN: the Green Gallery Collection of International Studio Ceramics which has been generously gifted to Auckland Museum. She brings a background of 30 years in ceramics as maker, curator, writer, lecturer, historian and administrator in international as well as New Zealand ceramics practice. During this talk she will explain the background to the collection and walk through the show discussing any aspects of the exhibition which capture the heart and mind of the audience at the time.

Vaka Moana
The untold story of the world's greatest exploration

Vaka Moana is the incredible story of the exploration of the Pacific. It begins 4000 ago - 3500 years before Europeans even thought to head south, when the ancestors of the Pacific looked toward a never-ending horizon and launched the world's first sea-going craft into the greatest ocean on Earth. Their journeys and settlements were accomplished with great skill and inconceivable bravery - and it is our story - the Pacific story.

VAKA MOANA PROGRAMME

Vaka Moana Storytelling and Craft Centre

Throughout the exhibition pacific peoples will gather inside the exhibition to share traditional stories with visitors and give them a chance to experience first hand the craft and talent that has been passed down from family to family though the ages.

Self Guided Family Trail

Pick up from information desks.

The Museum has a vast and rich collection which can be overwhelming, we have created a new guide-sheet to navigate your way from Te Kakano to the Vaka Moana exhibition via the many artefacts in the Museum which relate directly to this fascinating history of migration.

Completed trails will go into the draw to win a trip on an ocean going waka.

Stick Chart Treasure Hunt

Suitable for ages 6 – 12 years

Available at entry to Vaka Moana exhibition

Make your own stick chart by hunting out the clues in the Vaka Moana exhibition and finding the key navigational tools which early navigators used to show the way.

Seven Nations: Church Choirs

Sundays 10, 17 December, 7, 21 January, 4, 18 February, 4 March, 1 April.

1pm

Atrium Staircase

Representatives from the Pacific Island nations will bring their blessing through song, stories and performance to the Vaka Moana exhibition. The Museum will host choirs from the Cook Islands on Sunday 10 December, a Niuean choir on 17 December, Tongan choir on 7 January, Tokelauan choir on 21 January, Tuvaluan choir on 4 February, Fijian choir on 18 February, Samoan choir on 4 March and a Pan Pacific choir on Sunday 1 April.

Vaka Cup Kirikiti Tournament

Pacific Island Manukau Kirikiti Association (PIMKA)

Saturdays 16, 23, 30 December and 6 January

10am – 2pm

South End of Museum

PIMKA organises the biggest Kirikiti tournament in the world. Sixty-five teams from all over Auckland join in this Kirikiti tournament held at the Ngati Otara Fields each summer. The tournament runs from mid January to end of February. Kirikiti is a mix of traditional cricket and Samoan rules. Teams represent villages, churches, youth groups or Auckland districts. A ‘Vaka Moana’ Cup is to be donated to the tournament by Auckland Museum and will be an annual award. The four days of Kirikiti at the Museum are a warm-up to the tournament and promise to be highly colourful and fun days for the whole family.

Vaka Moana - A Journey through the Stars

Wednesdays 20 December, 17 January, Saturdays 17 February, 17 March

3pm – 3.30pm

Free entry with ticket to Vaka Moana exhibition.

Join Stardome Observatory’s Colin James as he takes you on a voyage using the stars as your guide. Sailors have used celestial navigation for hundreds of years as they crossed vast oceans with the intention of striking land. The presentation will illustrate how the early migration navigators used the stars, the sun and the moon to find their way. Colin will demonstrate some easy to understand techniques for you to use and to discover the paths of the ancestors. www.stardome.org.nz

Matahi Brightwell Tohunga Tarai Waka

Lecture

Wednesday 13 December

4pm

$10 and $5 members

Matahi Brightwell is a Tohunga Tarai Waka and taught at Takapuwahia marae in Toa Rangatira Wananga (1973-1981). He is currently working on the Hawaiki Nui 2 project in Moorea, French Polynesia. This double-hulled canoe will be sailing to Peru to re-enact one of the many great voyages of the ancestors. Matahi has been instrumental in the revival of traditional methods in building, navigating and sailing and is well regarded for his facilitation of waka ama wananga throughout the Pacific.

Matahi Brightwell traces his lineage directly back to Rakataura, builder of the Tainui waka, and master navigators who explored the Pacific and made the islands home thousands of years ago.

He is Ngati Toa Rangatira, Ngati Huia, Rongowhakaata, Ngati Whakaaue, Ngapuhi, Ngati Tuwharetoa and Ngati Porou.

In this lecture, Matahi will focus on the genetic charts which trace the common ancestry though the islands of Tahiti, the Cook Islands and Te Ika a Maui.

The Way to Tahiti — Ke Ala i Kahiki

Ben Finney Nautical Anthropologist

Lecture

Thursday 14 December 7pm

$10 and $5 members

Nautical anthropologist Ben Finney tells of his experiences in building vaka moana (voyaging canoes) and sailing them over ancient sea routes, and in nurturing and chronicling the voyaging renaissance that has followed.

Professor Emeritus Ben Finney has been teaching at the University of Hawai’i since 1970, and has also taught at the University of French Polynesia, Australian National University, International Space University and the University of California at Santa Barbara. He obtained a M.A. in anthropology at the University of Hawai’i (1959) and a Ph.D. in anthropology at Harvard University (1964).

He has received many prestigious awards for his research on both ancient seafaring and modern spacefaring, which has taken him throughout Polynesia and Micronesia, as well as to more exotic places such as NASA’s Johnson Space Center and Russia’s Star City. In 1985 he built Nalehia, his first ocean sailing canoe, and in 1973 founded the Polynesian Voyaging Society to build the voyaging canoe Hokule’a and sail her to Tahiti to challenge armchair theorists who claimed that Polynesians could not have deliberately made long voyages. In 1985 he sailed aboard Hokule’a to Aotearoa, where he and his crewmates were welcomed at the Marae Waitangi.

Film Screening and Talk by Hekenukumai Busby

Kupe: Voyaging by the Stars (1993) 50min

Friday 15 December 7.30pm

Saturday 16 December 3pm

APEC Room

$10 and $5 members. $6 entry to exhibition. Bookings essential. Phone 09 306 7048

An opportunity to meet Hector Busby and view the exhibition prior to the documentary screening.

In collaboration with NZ Film Archive, Auckland Museum is proud to screen ‘Kupe: Voyaging by the Stars’. Hekenukumai Busby rediscovers ancient star navigation traditions during a 1,800 mile ocean voyage in his traditional double-hulled waka, Te Aurere, retracing the path of early explorer Kupe a thousand years earlier across the Pacific Ocean to Aotearoa. The design of Te Aurere is based on the Hokulea from Hawaii, whose skipper Nainoa Thompson and his star navigator teacher, Mau Piailug both assist with designing and building the waka. Director: Peter Turei, Producer: Ian John, Production Company: Nimrod Films.

LECTURE: Matahi Brightwell: Tohunga Tarai Waka

Wednesday 13 December 4pm

$10 and $5 members

Matahi Brightwell taught at Takapuwahia marae in Toa Rangatira Wananga (1973-1981). He is currently working on the Hawaiki Nui 2 project in Moorea, French Polynesia. This double-hulled canoe will be sailing to Peru to re-enact one of the many great voyages of the ancestors. Matahi has been instrumental in the revival of traditional methods in building, navigating and sailing and is well regarded for his facilitation of waka ama wananga throughout the Pacific. Matahi Brightwell traces his lineage directly back to Rakataura, builder of the Tainui waka, and master navigators who explored the pacific and made the islands home thousands of years ago. In this lecture, Matahi will focus on the genetic charts which trace the common ancestry though the islands of Tahiti, the Cook Islands and Te Ika a Maui.

Vaka Building Demonstration

Daily 5 - 19 January

11am – 2pm

Atrium

Master Carver Mike Tavioni will demonstrate the carving style of the Cook Islands. Within the Cook Islands there are nine islands that make similar canoes, including the islands of Atiu, Mitiaro and Mauke, which share the same ancestry and dialect. Then there are other islands with canoes which are different from each other. Mike Tavioni, a master carver and artist in the Cook Islands, has been instrumental in reviving traditional motifs. Join us in watching him and his team transform a log into a canoe using both traditional materials including sennit and hand tools and also modern power tools. Since 1999 Tavioni and his team have made about 15 traditional canoes throughout the Pacific, including The International Festival of Canoes in Hawai’i - A festival which celebrates the importance of the ocean going craft and the voyages of the ancestors. He recently carved a Mangaian vaka for the University of the South Pacifica.

Filipe Tohi: Lalava: Lashing Demonstration:

Wednesday 10, Saturday 13 January

10am -12pm and 1pm – 3pm

Vaka Moana Exhibition Activity Centre. Exhibition entry fee applies.

Lalava is the sennit/coconut lashing that was used around the Pacific to bind items such as canoes, adzes, fishhooks, houses and accessories; it was also used for navigation and exploration. These lalava lashings were more than functional; they provided a decorative and meaningful embellishment, a type of aesthetic cultural language. Despite encroachment from the modern world, the art of lalava survives in the Pacific, most notably in Tonga, Samoa and Fiji. Tufunga Lalava (Master Artisan) Filipe Tohi will demonstrate the art of sennit lashing in the Vaka Moana Gallery. His lalava is a traditional Tongan art that deals not only with the practical aspects of architectural and sculptural lashing and binding, but with larger metaphorical representations of time and space. Tohi has transformed the existing structure of lalava into a number of new forms (e.g. mathematics, astronomy, linguistics, religion, architecture, sculpture and painting) in substantive creative endeavours. His current research and work holds huge theoretical and practical implications on scientific, philosophical, technological, commercial and therapeutic levels.

Soifua Village Polynesia

Introduction to Drumming

Saturdays 13, 27 January

10.30am -10.45am

Demonstration in Atrium foyer

11.00 -12.00pm

Workshop in Learning Centre

Free with entry ticket to Vaka Moana exhibition.

Join this dynamic energetic group of drummers and be seduced by the rhythm of the Pacific Islands.

Storytelling: The Great Fish of Maui

Mondays 15, 22 January

10.30am

Te Kakano

All welcome

Across the Pacific similarities between stories and names of heroes are apparent. From Melanesia to Hawai’i and Aotearoa, tales are told of the hero Maui who fished up land from the sea. Maui is known as Mo-tik-e-tik, Maui-ki’iki’i and Maui Tikitiki-aTaranga amongst many others. Come listen to the tales of Maui as told by Janneen Love - for young and old.

Voyages into the South Pacific

Tuesday 16 January

11am

Te Ao Turoa Gallery

Join Educator Maori Kipa Rangiheuea for a tour of the Te Ao Turoa (Maori Natural History) gallery. Learn about Kupe’s discovery of Aotearoa (NZ) and of early Maori South Pacific voyages. Gather an understanding about early Maori settlement and their knowledge of the natural world.

Wonderful Waiata using Poi

Monday 22 January

1pm – 2pm

Te Kakano

Maori songs are often used to keep people in time when paddling a waka (canoe). Come and learn a simple song in Maori and learn some simple movements using the Poi.

Wonderful Waiata using Hoe

Monday 29 January

1pm – 2pm

Vaka Moana Exhibition Activity Area. Exhibition entry fee applies.

Maori songs are often used to keep people in time when paddling a waka (canoe). Come and learn a simple song in Maori and learn some simple movements using the Hoe (paddle).

Protecting and Preserving your Pacific Treasures

Thursday 1 February

11am

Te Kakano

Senior Conservator, Julia Gresson will give a visual presentation illustrating the straightforward ways to look after your tapa mats and other fibre-based treasures.

Fijian Meke and Haka

Thursday 1 February

1pm

Foyer

BULA! Be inspired by this group of children from Hamilton as they perform traditional and contemporary Fijian dance. Come and celebrate as they entertain you with their rhythmic dance movements in tune with fantastic Fijian melodies. Be captivated by the girls’ graceful standing dance and energetic boys’ club dance.

Pacific Jewellery Tours: Colleen Williams

Tuesdays 13, 20 February

11am

Meet in Foyer

$10 and $5 members

Join Colleen Williams for an informed and passionate tour of the Pacific Jewellery in the collection.

Waka Taua – The Maori War Canoe

Thursday 24 February

12pm – 2pm

Maori Court

Learn about Maori war canoes through a talk delivered by the Museum’s Maori Educator. Learn about the process of waka taua construction, decoration and their importance in times of old and now. Then try your hand at lashing techniques used on the waka taua.

Sail Making Demonstration

Friday 2, Saturday 3, and Sunday 4 February

10am – 2pm

Vaka Moana Exhibition Activity Centre. Exhibition entry fee applies.

A collective of women weavers from the Pacific nations will demonstrate weaving techniques required to make sails with traditional fibres.

Flax Vaka Model Making

Saturday 10 February

10am – 3pm

Learning Centre

Fun for the whole family. Follow easy instructions to make model vaka with flax and join us to sail them on the Museum Ponds.

Film Screening: 'Pasifika On Film'

Friday 16 February 7pm

Auditorium

Saturday 17 February 3pm

APEC Room

$10 and $5 members. $6 entry to exhibition.

This great programme contains much of the best footage of the Pacific that the NZ film archive holds. It contains material on most of the South Pacific nations including the very special footage of the coronation of the recently departed King of Tonga. This programme is brought to you courtesy of The NZ Film Archive.

Taiwanese Indigenous Performance

Saturday 24 February

Foyer

The Taiwan Yuan-Yuan Indigenous Culture & Art Troupe was founded in December 1990. All members of the troupe are experts from different tribes in Taiwan. Come and experience the spirit of traditional songs and dance. Yuan -Yuan has been invited to perform in more than 20 countries, including Europe, America, Africa, Middle East, South East Asia, including performing at the Sydney Opera House during the 2000 Olympics Games, more recently they performed at the Sai Kong Carnival organised by the Hong Kong Government in 2006.

Polynesian Plant Introductions

Illustrated talk with Ewen Cameron, Curator Botany

Sunday 25 February

11am - 12pm

Te Kakano

This talk will cover not only the food plants that Polynesians intentionally would have brought with them, but also some suspected weed species.

Children’s Programme: January 8 - February 6

Around the World in 40 Minutes

Tuesday 16, Thursday 18, Wednesday 24 and Friday 26 January.1.45pm

Treasures & Tales

An interactive show which will transport children and their adults around the world on a journey of fun, cultural discovery, only to discover that we can experience all these cultures without even leaving Auckland. This fun-filled show celebrates the cultural diversity of our amazing city.

Stevenson Discovery Centre

10-minute Craft Activities

Celebrate Summer and New Zealand’s wonderful location in the Pacific, with fantastic craft activities in Weird & Wonderful. No bookings required. All ages welcome.

Tuesday 26 December – Tuesday 6 February

10am – 12pm and 1.30pm - 3pm Daily

$2 (or $1 for Dinomite members)

Saturdays: Luscious Lei

Sundays: Pacific Badges

Mondays: Rainbow Fish

Tuesdays: Luscious Lei

Wednesdays: Pacific Badges

Thursdays: Kupesi Rubbings

Fridays: Terrific Turtles

Holiday Workshops for Kids

Bookings essential. Ring 09 306 7040

Marine Myths – Junior Workshop

Wednesday 10 January

10.30am - 11.15am & 11.30am - 12.15pm

Learning Centre

Suitable for ages 4 – 6 years

$8 (or $6 for Dinomite members)

Make up a marine myth with the weird and wonderful Glenys Stace and construct a marine creature in to tell the story.

Botany – Advanced Workshop

Friday 19 January

Learning Centre

10.30am - 1pm

Suitable for ages 10 -14 years

$12 (or $9 Dinomite members)

Explore the amazing world of plants and the science of their study. Learn the skills used by our Museum botanists. Then begin your own collection by making your own Herbarium book with Ariane Craig-Smith.

Hoe Decorations - Workshop

Saturday 20 January

2.30pm

Learning Centre

Suitable for Children of all ages

$10 (or $7.50 Dinomite members)

Paint a Hoe (paddle) with Maori designs. Learn about the meaning of some Maori patterns (kowhaiwhai), then study the Hoe on display, and finally paint your own ‘miniature hoe’ to keep.

Pack and Paddle – Senior Workshop

Tuesday 23, Friday 26 January

10.30am - 11.30am

Learning Centre

Suitable for ages 7 – 10 years

$12 (or $9 for Dinomite members)

The Pacific is vast and dangerous. What do you need to take on this journey? Join Alice Meredith in Treasures & Tales to hunt and gather your provisions. Vaka Moana exhibition included.

Entomology – Senior Workshop

Tuesday 30 January

Learning Centre

10.30am - 12.30pm

Suitable for ages 7 – 10 years

$10 ($7.50 for Dinomite members)

Learn about how and why the Museum collects insects. Make your own mini-museum insect collection. Virgil Evetts will show you the way.

LATE NIGHT WEDNESDAYS

Relax! Avoid the hustle and bustle of the day and take in the Vaka Moana exhibition after hours. Usual prices unless attending a lecture.

Vaka Moana Lecture Series

Pitcairn Islands: A Visual History with Leslie Jaques

Wednesday 24 January

7.30pm

Auditorium

$10 Full price: and $5 members. $6 entry to exhibition. Bookings essential:, phone 306 7048

Leslie Jaques OBE, Commissioner for Pitcairn Islands will give a visual presentation outlining the fascinating history of the Pitcairn Islands from its Polynesian pre-history and its important role in Polynesian migration to the story of the Mutiny on the Bounty, to the Island’s current problems and plans to create a sustainable economic model encouraging repopulation.

DNA across the Pacific Waves

Lecture with David Penny Research Director

Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology and Evolution

Wednesday 31 January

7.30pm

Auditorium

$10 Full price: and $5 members. $6 entry to exhibition. Bookings essential:, phone 306 7048

Information about Polynesian ancestors and their move into the Pacific has traditionally come from a wide range of sources. These include anthropology archaeology, history, language comparisons and oral history. DNA sequences are a new, powerful source of information that is both independent of earlier data. They allow quantitative comparisons that are independent of any preconceptions of the researcher. Mitochondrial DNA is maternally inherited and one application has been to estimate the number of Polynesian women in the founding population of Aotearoa New Zealand. The results show good agreement with oral history, but raise interesting questions with respect to possible differences in the patterns with the paternally inherited Y-chromosome. However, the recent focus of interest is on the classic question whether the early Polynesian explorers managed to cross the Pacific to South America, and return. There are then the possibilities of leaving Polynesian chickens in South America and/or bringing back the gourd and the kumara from South America. DNA is ideally suited to answering such a question and some very recent results will be discussed.

Centre for Continuing Education Lecture Series: www.cce.auckland.ac.nz

In conjunction with Auckland Museum, The Centre for Continuing Education, brings you three lectures. Prof Kerry Howe from Massey University, Auckland, opens the series with a comprehensive introduction into the evidence of the great migration from west to east, from Southeast Asia to Aotearoa, Dr Haillie Buckley presents fascinating archaeological evidence of the lifestyle of the Lapita people in Vanuatu, and Dr Ross Clark’s lecture focuses on comparative linguistics of the Polynesian people.

The Last and Greatest Migration: The Human Discovery and Settlement of the Pacific

Prof Kerry Howe MA Auck, PhD ANU

Wednesday 7 February

7.30pm

Auditorium

Enrolment through CCE. Phone: 0800 864 266 or conted@auckland.ac.nz

Prof Kerry Howe has been instrumental in bringing the scholarly evidence of the great Pacific migration and common ancestry together for this exhibition. He has edited the book Vaka Moana. This lecture will locate the settlement of the Pacific Islands in its global context, outline the main routes and dates of settlement of the islands and will consider the three main categories of evidence; artefact and activity trails; language trails and biological trails (people/plants/animals). This lecture will also outline current thinking about the 'late' settlement date for New Zealand. Professor Kerry Howe’s research interests are culture contact in the Pacific Islands (including Australasia) as well as related social and intellectual history. He has written eight books including Where the Waves Fall: A New South Seas Island History; Singer in a Songless Land: A Life of Edward Tregear; and Nature, Culture and History. His latest book is the best-selling The Quest for Origins: Who First Discovered and Settled New Zealand and the Pacific Islands?

Lifestyles of the Lapita People from Vanuatu

Dr Hallie Buckley Otago University

Wednesday 14 February

7.30pm

Auditorium

Enrolment through CCE. Phone: 0800 864 266 or conted@auckland.ac.nz

Dr Hallie Buckley is part of an international team working on the skeletal remains excavated from a significant Lapita burial site first uncovered in 2004. Buckley’s presentation will discuss her involvement in unearthing Lapita skeletons and explain how these findings tell stories of how these people adapted to the new environment.

Dr Buckley's research interests focus on the skeletal evidence of health and disease in prehistoric Pacific Islanders. This involves the examination of skeletal remains in an attempt to build profiles of the quality of life of past populations from Melanesia and Polynesia. This research can provide information on diet, daily activities and the affect of certain infectious diseases on population health.

Voices of the Islands: Linguistics and the Austronesian Migrations

Dr Ross Clark Phd Head of Linguistic Study University of Auckland

Wednesday 21 February

7.30pm

Auditorium

Enrolment through CCE. Phone: 0800 864 266 or conted@auckland.ac.nz

Setting out on their great migrations, the sailors of the Vaka Moana took with them a mother tongue which, over the millennia, spread more than half way around the earth, and diversified into over 1,000 languages – the Austronesian family. Striking resemblances between common words in widely separated places were one of the first clues which led scholars to search for the origins of their speakers. In the past century, as linguists have learned to ‘read’ the relations among this vast network of languages with increasing precision, language has continued to contribute new insights to the larger picture – most recently in pointing to Taiwan as a likely starting point for this amazing movement of peoples. Dr Ross Clark is Senior Lecturer in Linguistics at the University of Auckland. His research interests are in comparative linguistics of Polynesian and the languages of Vanuatu.

Upland plants of Rarotonga, Cook Islands

Illustrated talk with Ewen Cameron, Curator Botany

Wednesday 28 February

7.30pm

$10 and $5 members. $6 entry to exhibition Bookings essential, phone 306 7048

Rarotonga is the only high island of the Cook Island group; it is biologically remote, botanically intact and also unique - being home to several endemic species. After a visit there in 1899 Thomas Cheeseman was the first person to document its botanical importance.

Members Mondays

Please book on 09 306 7048 or email:

bookings@aucklandmuseum.com. For more information about becoming a Museum member see the website or phone 306 7087 extn 883.

Monday 22 January 2pm

Vaka Moana

After a presentation by Professor Kerry Howe, History Dept Massey University, members will have the opportunity to experience this exhibition firsthand.

Monday 26 February 2pm

Cheeseman Exhibition

Ewen Cameron Curator Botany will speak to members about Thomas Cheeseman and then lead us through the gallery.

ENDS

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