Nau mai ki te pānui
o Ngā Taonga
Welcome to our newsletter

In this edition, we share footage of the first successful flight of a New Zealand-built aeroplane in 1913 and introduce the newest member of our leadership team. We also celebrate Taikura Kapa Haka and recount the Depression-era walking tour of model Esther James.

The Fisher Monoplane

It is quite common for taonga in the collection to amaze our kaimahi when they first see it. This was the case with The Fisher Monoplane (1913). The short film captures the successful first flight of aviation pioneer Percy Fisher’s monoplane, which took off from a Wairarapa field on 21 June 1913. The Fisher Monoplane, designed and constructed in Wellington, was the first aeroplane built in New Zealand to fly successfully.

The following month, the footage was screened to audiences in Wellington. What a spectacle that would have been.

New GM Collection Management

Ngā Taonga is pleased to welcome back Louise McCrone, who has rejoined our organisation after a few years away as our new General Manager Collection Management - Pou Kohinga Taonga.

Louise has more than 20 years' experience in archival practice and leadership in Aotearoa New Zealand, ranging from specialist preservation roles through to leading teams responsible for all the most fun work in an archive – conservation, repository management, collection development, description and discovery, preservation and digital preservation. 

She has had a hand in some of the GLAM and documentary heritage sectors’ biggest recent mahi, playing a role in projects like Utaina (the audiovisual digital preservation project) and Kia Rite, preparing to relocate the Archives NZ holdings to the new heritage campus.

Taikura Kapa Haka 2025

Kai ngā mana o taiwiwini, kai ngā reo o taiwawana, koutou ngā rangatira o ngā tai e whā, takatū mai nei ki Taikura e!

This past weekend, we saw thousands of kaumātua from across Aotearoa come together and celebrate the annual kapa haka festival Taikura held at Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington.

The event began in the Ngāti Kahungunu iwi and moved to Te Papa 15 years ago. It celebrates the valuable pūkenga and mātauranga held and shared by our beloved kuia and koroua o te motu whānui.

In the spirit of Taikura, here is a newsreel displaying a traditional Māori ceremony of welcome by Ngāti Raukawa to Archbishop Redwood, who visited the Ōtaki Catholic Māori Mission School in 1934.

Esther James’ walking tour

In 1931, entrepreneur and model Esther James set out from Piwhane Spirits Bay on a walking tour of the country to promote New Zealand-made goods during the Great Depression. On her journey she wore only New Zealand-made clothing and shoes and ate only local foods. On 18 June 1932 she arrived in Bluff.

In the online collection is a 1964 radio item that recounts James' walk and the expectations on her as a model in the 1930s.

News briefs

• In June we released Matariki through Puanga, our annual programme about Matariki.

• We were also pleased to contribute to Bryan Crump’s Matariki Sonic Tonic programme on RNZ Concert.

IMAGE CREDITS

1) Screengrab from The Fisher Monoplane. Collection ref. F7306.

2) Kaimahi photo of Louise McCrone, General Manager Collection Management - Pou Kohinga Taonga, Ngā Taonga.

3) Screengrab from [Diamond Jubilee, Archbishop Redwood Part II]. Collection ref. F8240.

4) Esther James. Original photographic prints and postcards from file print collection. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand.