The Latest

Magic of making the mundane amazing By Colin Smillie | April 4, 2024 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 [...]

Exhibition on now until 21st July.

Showing now at Space Place. Book now.

Astronomy for Beginners. 8th May.

School Holiday Science Workshop. 16th – 24th April.

Explore the Universe. No international travel needed. Last Tuesday of every month.

Plays Space Epic. 5th May.

  The prequel trilogy. 12th, 19th and 26th May.

Mother’s Day special. 12th May.

Stargaze and save! Offer ends 30th Nov.

The Phantom Menace. 12th May.

Planetarium show. 16th May.

Science demonstrations. 18th May.

Attack of the Clones. 19th May.

Celebrating NZ Music Month. 25th May.

Revenge of the Sith. 26th May.

 With art supplies from Gordon Harris. 2nd June.

Old world charm five minutes from the city. Open weekends.

Explore local treasures in a calm and quiet space

Showing now at Space Place. Book now.

Discover the cool and quirky stories of Pōneke.

Wellington Museum’s new ground floor exhibition

You never know what you’ll find…

Follow the star path to the land of the long white cloud

Te Ohonga offers a significant awakening By Ian Wards | 15 February, 2024 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 [...]

Proudly taking a little piece of Pōneke home By Alicia Harris | December 7, 2023 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 [...]

Display tells story of first woman cable car driver By Megan Dunn, Curator - Special Projects | November 7, 2023 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 [...]

From Niue to Niu Silani By Experience Wellington Digital Content Producer Tom Etuata  “Labour shortages in the 1960s and 1970s spurred the migration of thousands of Pacific Island people to New Zealand. Many settled in Wellington.” - Te Ara Encyclopaedia of New Zealand  My parents moved from Niue to Niu Silani (New Zealand) in mid [...]

Collecting and displaying Chinese Wellington’s fascinating history By Ian Wards Chinese Wellingtonians belong to one of our oldest, most fascinating and culturally rich communities and Wellington Museum is sharing two new stories to celebrate this proud history.  Wellington’s Chinese community evolved as young men from the Canton area (modern day Guangzhou) arrived in the late [...]

Layers of stories reveal hidden histories By Andrea Milligan   There’s a kind of alchemy when school groups come to our museum. They bring a variety of backgrounds, experiences and a sense of wonder, and we ignite their curiosity. That’s the beautiful, unpredictable magic of museum learning. Excited school groups are a familiar sight in [...]

Why We Collect Wellington By Ian Wards Have you seen the images of two of our recent acquisitions on the shipping containers outside Wellington Museum? There’s a smashed hard drive donated by investigative journalist Nicky Hager and a detail from the artwork Te Whanganui-a-Tara by Xoë Hall. Wellington Museum is not just a museum of [...]

Te Whanganui-a-Tara by Xoë Hall By Ian Wards Wellington Museum asked Xoë Hall to create Te Whanganui-a-Tara artwork for our new ground-floor exhibition (of the same name) – Te Whanganui-a-Tara. This family-friendly exhibition explores the natural and cultural landscapes of Wellington. Xoë Hall (Kāi Tahu) is a painter based in the Wellington region, who specialises [...]

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Space Place shines a light on Puanga and Matariki By Colin Smillie, Experience Wellington’s Public Programmes Manager Science.  At five o’clock on a cold and still morning last year, I joined 500 members of the public for a unique New Zealand experience as we gathered to share kai on Aotearoa’s first public holiday to celebrate [...]

Follow the star path to the land of the long white cloud Space Place presents Ngā Tohunga Whakatere  - The Navigators, a planetarium film sharing the story of Māori, Pasifika and, later, European navigation towards Aotearoa through the eyes of a young girl, Moko. Moko dreams of becoming a master star navigator like her tūpuna and like her koro Jack. The […]

The inspiring life of Laura Miller By Ian Wards Laura Miller (1870-1953), was born in Port Cygnet, Tasmania on 7 April 1870. She was of Palawa (Aboriginal Tasmanian) and European descent; one of nine children born to Fanny and William Smith. Her mother Fanny was proud of being aboriginal and taught her children some of [...]

Lyall Bay Days By Tom Etuata Piha and Hawaii’s famous Pipeline surf beach it is not, but Wellington’s Lyall Bay has its own unique charm. On hot summer days, when there is a decent ocean swell, the bay becomes a magnet for beachgoers, surfers, and ocean-lovers - despite the water being freezing cold most days.   [...]

The rebuilding of Tapu Te Ranga Marae, Paekawakawa (Island Bay) By Lawrence Wharerau The basis of it all, is you shift because the grass is greener and the grass was green in Wellington. Bruce Stewart, Tapu Te Ranga Marae, 1996 In the early to mid-1970s, with time on his hands to contemplate his next direction [...]

A taste of history - Dick Lee & Co. at Wellington Museum By Ian Wards These celadon spoons were recently donated to Wellington Museum by Ken Chung. And they’ve got an intriguing story to tell, one that gives us a window into the food and community of early to mid-20th century Chinese Wellington. These spoons [...]

By Tom Etuata, Museums Wellington Digital Communicator

Written by Raukura Hoerara-Smith – Kaiwhakahau Māori Museums Wellington

By Rebecca John, Space Place Educator, Museums Wellington

Written by Raukura Hoerara-Smith – Kaiwhakahau Māori Museums Wellington

Written by Raukura Hoerara-Smith – Kaiwhakahau Māori Museums Wellington

By Tom Etuata, Digital Communicator – Museums Wellington

Climate Change challenges and champions. By Nik Bullard, History Communicator, Museums Wellington

‘Sex Workers of Aotearoa: A day in the life of’ exhibition

Paddy the Wanderer (and other dead animals) in the Museum

Re-imagining Wellington’s Oldest Cottage

John Snow did in fact know something.

It’s a dynamic new space.

Wellington Museum’s newest exhibition.

How the Wellington 500 Came to Pass.

The Wellington Botanical Gardens: An Origin Story.

    When one of Wellington’s founding fathers, Dr. Issac Featherston, arrived in Wellington in May 1841 he was shocked to find, “… those mud hovels scattered along the beach, or those wooden huts which appeared every here and there…represent the City of Wellington?” The New Zealand Company had promised, “…fine fertile land which shall [...]

Written by Raukura Hoerara-Smith – Kaiwhakahau Māori Museums Wellington

Cinerama and the Lost Movie Theatres of Wellington By Experience Wellington Digital Content Producer Tom Etuata    When I was a child living in Wellington in the 1970s, the Wellington CBD had an abundance of movie theatres. My parents would take me and my siblings to the movies nearly every weekend and school holidays. To me they were [...]