Nau mai ki te pānui
o Ngā Taonga
Welcome to our newsletterHappy New Year! In our first newsletter of 2026, we look back at the most viewed collection items on our website last year and look ahead to the anniversary days for Wellington and Auckland. We also share what is considered one of the first multicultural television commercials, and a colourful film about NZ carpet-making. Every year, there’s always a few items in the Ngā Taonga online collection that get a little more attention than the rest. This can be because they’re newly available, were featured in a major media outlet or hosted on a popular website, or simply due to their nostalgic value. In the 2025 calendar year, these were the three most popular items – all available to watch in the online collection.
1. Te Reo o te Māori. 1974 An RNZ
radio programme featuring waiata and an informal interview with children from
Ruatoki.
2. National
Party 1975. The Cities A party
political broadcast for the National Party 1975 General Election campaign.
3. Apartheid and the
Springbok tour - interview with Robert Muldoon A radio
interview with Prime Minister Robert Muldoon in 1981, on the government's
attitude to the upcoming Springbok Tour and the Gleneagles Agreement. New Zealand’s capital city and our largest city will
both be celebrating their anniversary days later this month. To mark the
occasions, we’ve selected two short films from the online collection that
depict early 20th century scenes of the developing cities. Watch them
by clicking the buttons below. There’s plenty more material about Auckland and
Wellington in the online collection – to view, simply search for the city you want on our
website and select the filter ‘View or listen online now’. E hika mā, tauawhitia te mahana, arumia te āhuareka o tēnei wahanga o te tau, karawhiua!
We hope you have been enjoying your holidays – embracing the warm weather and soaking up the summer season.
This Gregg's Coffee ad gives you a glimpse of summer faces in 1970. It is believed that this is one of the first (non-animated) television commercial campaigns to show multicultural Aotearoa.
Kia tau iho ngā manaakitanga, kia ruia te hākoakoa ki runga i a tātou.
While we can’t take you on a magic carpet and show you the world, we can take you on a tour of NZ carpet-making in A World to Walk On. Presented by Pacific Films, the colourful 1961 documentary captures the complete carpet manufacturing journey 'from the farm to the finished product', featuring everything from sprawling South Island vistas to close-ups of factory processes. He mingo kata tē taea te tāmi, haere e te rangatira ki a nunui mā, ki a roroa mā.
Ngā Taonga were saddened to hear of the passing of Sir Tim Shadbolt, former mayor of Invercargill and Waitematā.
While Tim was known to be committed to local politics for 32 years in his Mayoral roles, his foray into politics was as a student activist.
In this 1975 report from the television series Seven Days, Sir Tim, age 28, is interviewed about university activism.
News briefs
- A programme about Waitangi curated by Ngā Taonga, called He Tirotiro Whakamuri – A Treasured Glimpse of Waitangi, will soon be available to watch on our website and in select museums, libraries and galleries around Aotearoa New Zealand. It will also be playing at Waitangi Treaty Grounds on February 6.
IMAGE CREDITS
1) Thumbnail image from NATIONAL PARTY 1975. THE CITIES. Collection ref. C1560.
2) Thumbnail image from [WELLINGTON SCENES]. Collection ref. F11033.
3) Thumbnail image from GREGG’S COFFEE. DIFFERENT FACES [SUMMER SPOT]. Collection ref. C1216.
4) Thumbnail image from A WORLD TO WALK ON. Collection ref. F1141.
5) Thumbnail image from SEVEN DAYS - UNIVERSITY ACTIVISTS. Collection ref. TZP2229. |
