Te Papa Museum in Wellington - Ready

Our day of sightseeing began with a visit to Te Papa, Wellington’s national museum. We started in the new Gallipoli exhibit, an emotional look at this defining World War I campaign. In an effort to take Turkey out of the war and put more pressure on Germany, Aussie and Kiwi troops joined the British in an attempt to control the Dardanelles by land. They quickly discovered that the Turks, seasoned by the Crimean War, were formidable opponents who would not be dislodged. After several months of intense but inconclusive fighting, the Allies withdrew and the troops were transferred to the Western Front. By that time 45,000 Allied and 86,000 Turkish troops had died. 2,779 of these were from New Zealand.  The exhibit is organized around personal stories of the soldiers who fought there. Each segment begins with a larger than life-size mannequin representing one of the story-tellers. These are so expressive and detailed you can see the flies on the can of corned beef and the sweat and tears on the faces. The stories and the accompanying dioramas and other displays bring home the difficulties of the campaign. Perhaps the most poignant are the quotes from the withdrawal. “About 4am, we reached the troopship Osmanieh and … watch the dark loom of Anzac [Beach] with its twinkling rifle flashes and bomb bursts … fainter and fainter they grew. We felt a sense of relief and … great sadness … and failure.”

These are more than double life size

The trenches were this close to each other.
Sometimes they dug into the enemy's trench by accident.

Contemplating the flies on his food

This nurse never found her brother. He died before they could meet up.

Water dripping eventually fired the gun.
Used during the evacuation to make the Turks think they were still fighting.
No lives were lost during the evacuation

Hospital ship

The next permanent exhibit we visited was about the flora and fauna of New Zealand. Many dioramas and taxidermied animals, fish, and birds tell the story of natural New Zealand including the invasive species that have devastated local populations and the efforts to establish places for their recovery.

We finished our time at the museum with a visit to the Maori section on the fourth floor. I am continually impressed by how the Maori have made themselves an integral part of New Zealand society. It is a large contrast to the role of Aboriginals in Australia where they continue to feel marginalized by the dominant European culture. Here in New Zealand, the Maori were powerful enough to war against the British with some success and to make treaties with the British that are respected today. This has not been an easy road for the Maori and the courtroom and cultural battles are not over, but we do see a strong Maori presence throughout the nation in the schools, the tourists sites, and in the government.

This Maori treaty gets an entire room for display

Modern Maori art

It is impossible not to be impressed with the Maori art work. We saw some of this in Rotorua at Te Puia, but it is even more on display here in the museum. While most of this is in older traditional pieces, the museum also includes newer traditional pieces along with newer interpretations of Maori art. The most striking example is the newly complete maere or meeting place that uses traditional motifs in beautiful, bright pastel coloring. As we walked around the corner to view this, our breath was taken away.

Sea-going canoe for 20 or more

This sailing ship is pre-European contact

Canoe designed to drain water. Cold perhaps, but you won't sink

Finally, one has to admire the seamanship of the Maori. Several of their ships are on display as models at approximately one-third scale. These range from ocean-going vessels to a self-draining canoe. As we entered the elevator at closing time, the attendant reminded us that New Zealand is the youngest populated country in the world. People did not arrive there until the 12th century AD. He asked each of us our home country and then told us how much longer our land had been settled. He told the Germans they had buildings older than the New Zealand population. We thought that was a fitting conclusion to our visit to this museum and we headed off to walk along the waterfront to discover a restaurant for dinner.