Story: Museums

Māori Hall at the Dominion Museum, around 1936

Māori Hall at the Dominion Museum, around 1936

This is the Māori Hall at the newly opened Dominion Museum in Wellington, around 1936. The Māori Hall was the centrepiece of the new museum, with the open space and natural light creating the feeling of a shrine of national treasures. Among the exhibits were four waka (canoes), two pātaka (storehouses) and the meeting house Te Hau-ki-Tūranga. The display emphasised the idea of Māori as part of New Zealand's national story, but largely as a prelude to the arrival of Pākehā colonisers.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, New Zealand Railways Collection (PAColl-5167)
Reference: 1/1-003855-G

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page:

Conal McCarthy, 'Museums - Ethnology, research and building projects, 1900 to 1945', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/photograph/43878/maori-hall-at-the-dominion-museum-around-1936 (accessed 16 April 2024)

Story by Conal McCarthy, published 22 Oct 2014