Colin Smillie is the Public Programmes Manager Science for Experience Wellington.

A rainbow is always a beautiful thing, a vibrant slice of colour in the sky. You might think understanding the principles behind it would take away the wonder, but for me it makes the phenomenon even more remarkable.

We used liquid nitrogen to show how differences in temperature and pressure affect liquids, gasses, and solids. Through dipping a rose in liquid nitrogen so the rose can be smashed against the table, or dumping boiling water into the nitrogen to form a cloud, we illustrated how atoms move in different states. Adding liquid nitrogen to a “chemical solution” of cream, vanilla, and chocolate to make ice cream was a popular way to round off the scientific concepts of the day.

We can’t teach all the science involved and we don’t try. My job is to spark curiosity about the wonders of science, technology, engineering and maths. One of the best parts is watching kids rushing to tell their friends and family about the cool things they’ve just seen and done, as they leave the workshops. They should leave with lots of questions answered, but also paying more attention to the world around them and the desire to go and find out more for themselves.

Contemporary Māori artists from Te Upoko o te Ika a Māui are giving aroha to undocumented taonga in Te Ohonga: The Awakening, a new exhibition at Te Waka Huia o Ngā Taonga Tuku Iho Wellington Museum.

The process of developing the exhibition opened our eyes to the cultural value of taonga in our collection, and also to the respect, deep knowledge and skill exhibited by the artists who responded to them. I co-curated the show with Toi Māori Tātai Taura Dr Anna-Marie White (Te Ātiawa), the driving force behind the exhibition. Anna is incredibly passionate and knowledgeable about toi Māori and I was privileged to ride in her slipstream through the development of the exhibition.

Like many taonga collected by Pākehā in the late 19th /early 20th century, the history, stories and whakapapa of these taonga were not documented, leading to them sitting silently in our storage site for almost two decades. Museum staff, including myself, often feel frustrated that these histories were not recorded. This is partly a reflection of late 19th century Pākehā thinking, where taonga Māori were incorrectly perceived as curios, objet d’art or relics of a dying warrior race. The idea of keeping detailed records of their cultural use was probably not top of mind for George Pain.

More broadly, museums are products of late 18th century European imperial expansion. They were developed to showcase cultural and natural history material, following the scientific thinking of the time. Wellington Museum, being a relatively young museum, does not have too much imperial baggage, but we do have the George Pain collection to grapple with.

We are grateful to the artists who dedicated their time, passion and energy to this project, creating exquisite new works in a wide variety of media and practices, full of depth and meaning that awhi (support, embrace) these taonga. We filmed and interviewed many as they created their work, capturing the expert knowledge imbued in their artistry, their kōrero with the original makers of the taonga, and the insights they provided about the George Pain collection. You can see these poignant interviews, in the exhibition and on our website.

We opened the exhibition with an uplifting powhiri and later, over a cup of tea I heard that George Pain’s grandnephew Dennis Gibbs had come to the opening of his own accord. Dennis was overjoyed to see the care and respect being given to these taonga and to George Pain’s legacy, bringing the story full circle.

teohonga.nz

I came across a couple of cruise ship passengers at Cable Car Museum a couple of weeks ago, on a typically blustery Wellington day. One of the women picked up a T-shirt featuring the word Wellington being buffeted by gusty clouds and said, “Look it’s Wellington! And it really is windy!” and they burst out laughing.

They only docked in Wellington Harbour for a day, but they’ll take that moment away with them and always remember when they were in Wellington it was wild and windy, but beautiful. It’s a great example of how we can make an immediate impact and connection between our place and the people who visit our cultural institutions like Cable Car Museum, City Gallery, Wellington Museum, Capital E, Nairn St Cottage and Space Place.

We put a lot of thought into these lines, like our Wahine Mīharo range created to champion women around the time of the Fifa Women’s World Cup. It’s a product we thought women would buy to treat themselves but when a Dad came in asking for help to find his daughter’s size, we realised the range was also a way for people to celebrate their daughters, partners, mothers and other important women in their lives.

That moment of connection and making people happy is always something I look out for and regularly see at Space Place where our ‘I need my Space’ range of products is flying out the door. It makes everyone laugh, although they interpret the message in different ways. Some want to make a statement about looking after themselves, some love anything to do with space and others are just tickled by an astronaut taking a moment on the moon to sit on a deck chair.

If you’re looking for a gift this holiday season, consider taking home a piece of Pōneke and thinking about supporting the many stores in our city that champion local makers. We consider it our responsibility to celebrate our city. You can, too.

I meet Kavi Jaz Faulkner-Ruka at a cafe in Tauranga and she hands me a soft black folder. Inside is a sweet piece of history – two photographs of her mother Lorrayne Ruka-Issac (Ngāpuhi) dressed in her cable car uniform, a retro illustrated coaster of one of Wellington’s famous red cable cars travelling up that steep incline and, sweetest of all, a calico cloth printed with an image of Lorrayne’s face, hand drawn koru motifs swirling around the edge of the fabric like a frame. On the cloth, the caption reads, “It’s me and damn, I’m good.” This cloth was a personalised leaving gift presented to Lorrayne in 1981 by the Kelburn Cable Car staff.

Ruka-Issac was the first woman funicular tram driver in New Zealand and damn, she was good at it.

My parents moved from Niue to Niu Silani (New Zealand) in mid 1967. 

My Matua Tanē (father) Tom Etuata Snr received an Inland Revenue scholarship to work in Ueligitoni (Wellington) – so he and my Matua Fifine (mother) Akeletama made the decision to move to Niu Silani. 

They arrived on the ship SS Tofua which sailed to Niu Silani and docked in Okalana (Auckland). From there they travelled down to Ueligitoni. 

Pasifika families migrating to Ueligitoni supported each other as they settled into a new country. On Aho Tapu (Sunday), some Pasifika families would congregate at the Pacific Island Church (PIC) in Newtown. This place was an important support base in the 1960s, 70s and 80s – not only as a place of worship but also for maintaining ties with other Pasifika families living and settling in Ueligitoni. 

By the early 1970s The Niue Maaga (Community) in Ueligitoni was tupuhake (growing). This led to Niuean Minister Reverend Lagi Sipeli and his wife Mokataufoou (Moka) Sipeli arriving from Okolana to Ueligitoni to provide much needed spiritual guidance and support.

It was evident that there wasn’t enough taimi (time) and space for the Niuean community to have their own Fekafekau (Service) at PIC, so in October 1977 the Niuean congregation moved from the PIC Church to Fakalataha (join) the Palagi (European) congregation at St James Presbyterian Church on Adelaide Road, Newtown. 

It was a perfect union between the Palagi and Niuean congregations, and both communities prospered. Many Niuean children from that time in the 1980s (including me) remember days of Sunday Schools, White Sunday Services, haircutting ceremonies, big families getting together, big gatherings and even bigger feasts.  

In 2013 the St James English Presbyterian Church dissolved and the Niuean congregation moved to St Giles in Kilbirnie. The St James building was considered an earthquake risk and closed for a time, until it was renovated, becoming an up–market apartment complex in 2016.  

Fakaaue Lahi (Big Thank You) to Moka Sipeli for kindly donating these hats to  

Ueligitoni Fale fakataataa tau tufuga tuai  (Wellington Museum). 

These objects reflect different aspects of Wellington’s rich recent history. The hard drive was hit 213 times by a police inspector after a High Court decision that a raid on his home by police in 2014 had been illegal. Police copied Hager’s files onto the hard drive but didn’t want him to access other content on it, so in a fit of pique, made a mess of it before handing it back to the surprised and bemused journalist.

Wellington Museum commissioned Xoë Hall to paint the artwork Te Whanganui-a-Tara to visualise the creative energy of Wellington, the atua Māori and natural forces that energise our place. Commissioning this artwork also gave us an opportunity to preserve something of the cityscape which Xoë has helped create. Her distinctive mural artworks which cloak our city might not survive the decades, as weather, vandalism and building changes see them slowly disappear.

Wellington Museum, in the Bond Store on the waterfront, is one of the city’s oldest buildings and was once a maritime museum. We still have a strong maritime collection, but in recent years we have actively collected Wellington things that express the creativity and innovation of Pōneke.  I argue that in the case of Wellington, its golden age was the period after 1990 when the vibe around the Absolutely Positively Wellington campaign saw the city reinvigorated and transformed into the creative capital it still is. We collect things that express this along with things from all periods in our history.

Next time you visit, have a look at our display of recently acquired things. Under the theme We Collect Wellington, you’ll see the hard drive, an umbrella donated by Dame Catherine Healy – a symbol of visibility for sex workers, the unwieldy Poly 1 computer made by the staff and students of Wellington Polytechnic in 1981 and a hockey stick, teddy bear and towelling sunhat donated by the Manning family of Tawa.

Our challenge is to reflect the diversity and richness of Wellington’s social history, but we can’t do this alone. We’re collecting for future generations to ponder and enjoy. So, if you have things that are interesting or insightful, with poignant or funny stories associated with them, get in touch with us to see if they might be right for Wellington Museum’s collections.

We’ll be changing the We Collect Wellington display in a couple of months, so come and have a look at the current objects while you can. The next display is under wraps, but I can say it will be a real Buzz.

Contact us at collections@experiencewellington.org.nz