A seamstress, who owned the Underlinen Bazaar on Adelaide Road, Laura Miller used her skills to tenaciously work her way through difficult years to raise a happy and creative family in Wellington.

You can see a display about Laura Miller (1870-1953) and her courage and creativity at Te Waka Huia Wellington Museum.

Born in Port Cygnet, Tasmania on 7 April 1870, Laura was of Palawa (Aboriginal Tasmanian) and European descent. Her mother Fanny was proud of being Aboriginal, teaching her children some of the traditions of her people as well as the violent circumstances of their slaughter at the hands of European settlers. Her father was a transported convict (convicted in Kent for stealing a donkey), who served seven years as a ‘timber getter’ in Oyster Cove, Tasmania.

Sick of the drudgery of farm life in rural Tasmania, Laura ran away to Hobart aged 12 and apprenticed herself to a dressmaker. There she became highly skilled as a ‘white worker’ – someone who sewed underwear and blouses trimmed with broderie anglaise and lace. She also made outer garments to earn a living.

She married Francis Thomason, a storekeeper, around 1890 and they had a daughter Vera but tragically Francis died in an accident not long after they were married.

Laura remarried, to John Miller, in 1891 and they had a daughter Recamea in 1894 but John Miller was an abusive husband and they separated by 1901.

Laura moved to Wellington with her two daughters in 1907, to start a new life with her new husband William William’s (who changed his surname to Miller). William became a gardener at Wellington Botanic Gardens and Laura set up business as a seamstress, opening an Underlinen Bazaar at 52 Adelaide Road. Her shop windows were jammed with petticoats, chemises, nightgowns, and pants for women and children.

The family lived at the back of the shop and upstairs. They were happy, sociable, and enjoyed playing musical instruments at home or in concert groups. Since they lived so close to the city, they were able to attend many public events at the band rotunda, Athletic Park, or the Basin Reserve. 

In 1926, Laura and William moved to a section in Houghton Bay, where they built a house and lived for the rest of their lives. There they planted rich vegetable gardens and ornamental gardens full of flowers.

Laura opened a small haberdashery in Island Bay soon after. Every day she would walk around the south coast to and from her shop – in howling wind, sunshine, or rain. Her grandchildren recall she always enjoyed this short walk, no matter the weather.

Of the sewing machine, which lived at the Miller’s Houghton Bay home, Laura’s grand-daughter Audrey Inkersell writes:

“When it was time for sewing. the treadle rocked and wheels whirred as garments appeared from the machine with extraordinary speed. Cutting done on the table, usually without patterns, was the first step in producing clothes that fitted Grandma’s and auntie’s “difficult” figures very well.”

We are grateful to Kate Colbert and her family for sharing Laura’s story and for donating objects from Laura’s life to Wellington Museum.

Ian Wards is Wheako Pōneke Experience Wellington Senior Curator (Taonga).

As a child in the 80s, the idea of sushi seemed mad and exotic – who would eat seaweed for heavens sakes! Now sushi is standard lunch fare, that is very familiar to most of us.

While putting our food history collections together, I’ve been lucky to work with the likes of culinary legend Lois Daish, who shared her memories of café Number 9, which she established in the early 1980s to bring freshly made, healthy food to Wellingtonians. Lois has donated her menu board from the café, which will be on display in the exhibition.

Espresso pioneer Geoff Marsland donated his wildly temperamental and flammable Voltair MK 1 espresso coffee roaster a few years ago. The Chait family have donated objects from the Dixon Street Deli and generously shared the rich stories of their intergenerational passion for food and innovation.

Likewise, Rakesh Tailor of Great India has shared stories of his family’s restaurant history and donated objects from their 1980s catering business. Craig Miller has donated a 1960s Cona coffee machine, objects from Faggs Coffee and the pre-espresso coffeehouses of Wellington.

We have treasures from the legendary Green Parrot Café donated by the Sakoufakis family, including a griddle made from melted down gun barrels and used at the restaurant from the 1930s to 1970s. Monique Fiso of Hiakai fame is waiting in the wings to donate, as are craft beer innovators Garage Project.

These donors hold rich stories of hard work, passion, and fun. We really appreciate their generosity and look forward to sharing their stories in the exhibition to prompt our visitors to remember their stories too.

And this is where you come in. We’re keen to build this collection of objects relating to Wellington’s food and beverage history to create a collection truly representative of the rich history of cuisine in our city. This collection will then be available for future generations to ponder and enjoy in our exhibition spaces.

If you have something you would like to contribute, please contact us at [email protected]

There has been significant change since the Waitangi Tribunal’s establishment in 1975.

In the 1980s, Sir Edward Taihakurei Durie, the tribunal’s former chairperson, discovered issues that dated back to when Te Tiriti was first signed in 1840.

Along with a growing awareness of Treaty issues and protest movements at the time, his reports became the catalyst for the Crown to look at claims that pre-dated 1975, and for Aotearoa to develop a process of settling those grievances.

The tribunal’s impacts have been prolific for Māori. Ngāi Tahu received compensation of $170 million after it signed its settlement with the Crown in 1997. This was, notably, a fraction of what it lost in questionable land sales and land loss over the previous 157 years.

Ngāi Tahu has turned that compensation into $2.1 billion in assets over 27 years. The tribe was a key financial partner in the rebuild of Christchurch, post-earthquakes. Unlike many companies that exited the city after the disaster, an iwi will never leave the bones of its ancestors, proving that an eternal partner is by far the best one to have. As the saying goes, what is good for Māori is good for New Zealand.

He Kura Toi Tangata includes compelling photos, taonga (treasures) and a documentary called Karanga Rā produced by Haututū Creatives for the tribunal, that speaks to the hīkoi (walk/march) taken over those 50 years.

The exhibition provides all New Zealanders with a rich history of this permanent commission of inquiry, and shows how the tribunal has been able to expand on its support of claims made by iwi and Māori.

Ahead of the exhibition’s opening, Wheako Pōneke welcomed the Waitangi Tribunal to Te Waka Huia Wellington Museum with a haka pōwhiri by our kaimahi ‒ a first for us.

Our people worked hard all year to prepare for this moment, with many initially out of their comfort zone. But we were confident in our delivery, and proud to acknowledge and uplift the Waitangi Tribunal for the work it has done over 50 years.

It was a powerful opportunity to bond over this exhibition, and to celebrate the continuing growth of Wheako Pōneke as a Te Tiriti partner organisation.