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Story: Southland region

Southland Museum and Art Gallery

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Southland Museum and Art Gallery

Since 1990 an earlier museum building has been enclosed in the striking white pyramid seen here. The building form references a triangular Māori tāniko design. New Zealand’s oldest animal species, the tuatara, is appropriately represented in the forecourt – the museum’s tuatara are among its major attractions.

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Southland Museum and Art Gallery

by Lindsay Hazley

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How to cite this page

David Grant, Southland region – Society and culture, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/20374/southland-museum-and-art-gallery (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by David Grant, published 2 March 2009, updated 1 May 2015.