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Norma Evans’ bottom drawer
Monday, 4 November 2019
Bottom drawer – a young woman’s collection of clothes, linen, cutlery, etc, in anticipation of marriage [1] Through 21st century eyes this seems like a quaint and old fashioned practice but in the mid-20th century, life was different and this type of collecting made very practical sense. Gathering items for…
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Stewart Brown provides an update on the Rotorua Museum Project
Monday, 21 October 2019
Rotorua Lakes Council Arts & Culture Manager, Stewart Brown, give his monthly update on the Rotorua Museum strengthening and redevelopment project. He talks about the current contractor tender, recruiting for a Museum Director and the upcoming Rotorua Museum Art Awards 2019.
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The History of the Rotorua Museum Art Awards
Thursday, 22 August 2019
The Rotorua Art Awards as we know them were started by the Friends of the Rotorua Art Gallery in 1983. Before this there had been an annual exhibition award that was run by the Rotorua Society of Arts. The Arts Society evolved from a sketching group which was set up…
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Rotorua Museum invites you to write a short story about some of the items from the collection
Thursday, 8 August 2019
Rotorua Museum cares for more than 55,000 objects and photographs. Some of these have fantastic stories behind them and some of them have no information whatsoever. A third group have scattered tempting nuggets of information which make the staff wonder “What’s the story?” The team selected some of these items…
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Swimming in wool
Friday, 21 June 2019
In the 1930s Professor D. B. Anderson of Auckland (“leading swimming instructor in the Dominion”) wrote a booklet on how to swim that contained written instructions for all the strokes. All about swimming, ca1933. By D. B. Anderson. Rotorua Museum Te Whare Taonga o Te Arawa (2008.85) It was…
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World Environment Day
Wednesday, 5 June 2019
For World Environment Day we will consider the possum, introduced to New Zealand for its fur in 1837. Possums really took to New Zealand conditions and have caused serious damage to both plants and birds in New Zealand since that time. We recently unearthed an interesting letter concerning a possum…
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Rotorua Museum sends AEIOU exhibition on the road
Friday, 17 May 2019
In 2015 the team at Rotorua Museum developed the exhibition: AEIOU Tūhurahia te arapū Māori | Explore the Māori alphabet. This is entertaining, family exhibition focused on the Māori alphabet and visitors enjoyed learning Māori words through a diverse mix of objects from the Rotorua Museum collection. Local Rotorua artist,…
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Te Arawa Soldiers’ Memorial Unveiling
Friday, 1 March 2019
More than 250 people attended the moving ceremony unveiling the restored Te Arawa Soldiers’ Memorial, 92 years to the day from when it was originally erected in 1927. Taking place in Government Gardens (Corner of Queen’s Drive and Oruawhata Drive), several aspects of today’s service replicated those that were…
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Eric and Joan – A Museum Love Story
Thursday, 14 February 2019
Down in the depths of the Museum’s northern wing is the Mud Bath Basement where lies an old red high-heeled shoe and a nearby sign that reads : “Shadowy lovers from the past sneaked under the building and proclaimed their affection in the graffiti on the right…..” This sign points…
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A Christmas in New Zealand, 1938
Tuesday, 18 December 2018
It is rare for a Museum to receive a whole record of one person’s Christmas holiday but that is what happened this year. Rotorua Museum was donated objects from an Australian visitor and the items came with a great story. They were collected by the donor’s mother, Helen Lawrie, when…
Oruawhata Drive
Govt Gardens, Rotorua
07 350 1814
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Rotorua Museum is closed while detailed earthquake assessment is completed.
