Unknown photographer
Interior of the Colonial Museum, Wellingtonabout 1900
Transcript

MOANA

This is a photo of the Colonial Museum, in the late nineteenth century. As you can see, it’s just about full to bursting. Actually, it attracted some pretty stern criticism for its approach.

Hey, why don’t we step inside the frame and get a closer look?  Oh! Looks like we’ve stumbled into a private conversation …

JIM

Morning Victor

VICTOR

Morning Jim. I’m just giving this a bit of a wipe down. The dust collects in between the vertebrae …

JIM

Vic, small thing. Do you remember the fellow Mr. Bather?

VICTOR

Who?

JIM

Mr. Bather. We showed him through the museum?

VICTOR

The British guy?

JIM

Yes, British guy, he was over from the UK, he was touring all the museums …

VICTOR

Oh yeah he’d been down to Christchurch

JIM

That’s right and he was going to Australia … Hey look the thing is, so we’ve just gotten his report.

VICTOR

Did he mention us?

JIM

Yes actually.

VICTOR

And?

JIM

He’s a little bit critical. He things that specimens are simply place where room can best be made for them, he says.

VICTOR

OK I suppose it’s a bit crowded in here,

JIM

Well, there’s no helping that, we don’t have any space.

VICTOR

Exactly. I like the spears in with the antelope heads. What else does he say?

 JIM

He’s says things are mislabelled. He kind of gives the impression we’re not serious scientists - that this is like a cabinet of curiosities..

VICTOR

 I guess he didn’t like the lion skeleton then.

JIM

He also has a go at James Hector too.

VICTOR

He does not a have ago at Hec!

JIM

He says he’s more interested in giving funny talks and making 3D viewers than running a proper museum.

VICTOR

 The man is about getting people in the door and then you teach them things. 

JIM

Look Victor, I'll cut to the chase. He says...

VICTOR

 What? Give me that. (reading)

JIM

 At the bottom …

VICTOR

‘The worst-managed institution of the kind in probably the whole of the Southern hemisphere’.

JIM

I thought that was harsh.

VICTOR

‘The worst managed institution of its kind…’ Did he go to Christchurch?

 And in his report, under ‘display techniques’ he just puts three dots.

JIM

I felt that was unnecessarily mean.

VICTOR

 What do you expect. We had a great plan when we opened back in 1870. We just have so much more in the collection now.

JIM

I mean, I’d love to not have Dionysus in with the alligator but it’s either that or take it off display.

VICTOR

We're not taking the alligator out of here. And we're not getting rid of any of Hector’s dolphins.

 JIM

The fact is, we’ve outgrown the space. We’re doing our best. We’re cultivating scientific research here in the colonies.

 VICTOR

It’s a popular museum. That’s important. Didn't’ say that in his report, did he? Didn’t say ‘lines out the door’.

I guess it’s just hard, balancing being a scientific institution with attracting visitors.

JIM

Speaking of which, it's 5 past.

VICTOR

Better open the doors then?

JIM

I’ll see you out the front. 

MOANA

Time to get back to a serious museum.  Next up, insects. Join me at the vintage display cases behind you.

 
 

Credits

Production

Audio guide narrator: Moana Ete

Scriptwriting and voice artists: Ralph Upton, Oliver Devlin, Joel Baxendale, Binge Culture Collective

Sound design and original music: Oliver Devlin, Binge Culture Collective

Te Papa contributors: Rebecca Rice, Curator Historical NZ Art; Megan Tamati-Quennell, Curator Modern & Contemporary Maori & Indigenous Art; Hanahiva Rose, Assistant Art Curator; Lizzie Bisley, Curator Modern Art; Isaac Te Awa, Curator Matauranga Māori; Justine Olsen, Curator Decorative Arts and Design Arts; Julia Kasper, Lead Curator Invertebrates;
Phil Sirvid, Curator Invertebrates; Heidi Meudt, Botany Curator.

UX design: Baastian van Druten, Head & Tail Design

Audio guide platform developer: Daniel Nash, Te Papa

Digital producer: Prue Donald, Te Papa

    • Introduction
      Ngā Tai Whakarongorua | Encounters

      Photograph by Kate Whitley, Te Papa.

    • William Hodges (1744–97), England
      Waterfall in Dusky Bay with Maori canoe1776

      Oil on panel
      Purchased 2019 with assistance from Lottery Grants Board, Tuia 250 Fund (2019-0003-1)

      • Thanks to Rainer Spittel for the voice of Georg Forster

    • William George Baker
      Lake Manapouriabout 1900

      Oil on canvas 
      Acquisition history unknown (1992-0035-1883)

    • Wayne Youle
      100 Red Blankets from the series What Do You Say Savages2010

      Ink and wax on Fabriano Tiepolo paper

      Te Papa (2013-0012-1/1) 

    • Messenger sisters
      Landscape with settlersabout 1857

      Oil paint on particle board
      Purchased 1999 with New Zealand Lottery Grants Board funds (1999-0003-1)

    • Artist unknown
      Shaw’s house, Karekare1880s

      Oil paint on canvas
      Purchased 2000 with New Zealand Lottery Grants Board funds (2000-0005-1)

    • William Strutt
      Landscape View of Mt Egmont, Taranaki, New Zealand, taken from New Plymouth, with Maoris driving off settlers’ cattle1861

      Oil paint on canvas
      Purchased 2015 (2015-0042-1)

    • Emily Karaka
      Nga Tapuwae o Mataoho2020

      Mixed media on canvas
      Purchased 2020 (2020-0020-2)

    • Thanks to Megan Tamati-Quennell, Curator Modern & Contemporary Maori & Indigenous Art for her interview with Joel Baxendale and Ralph Upton, Binge Culture Collective.

    • Matthew McIntyre-Wilson
      Maker Unknown2022

      Copper, silver wire
      Commissioned 2022

    • James McDonald
      Making hīnaki nets 1921

      Inkjet prints from gelatin negatives
      Te Papa Collection (MU000523)

    • Natalie Robertson
      Measurements of hīnaki in Te Rangihīroa’s notebook, 19232022

      Inkjet print on gloss paper

      Purchased 2022

    • Matt Pine
      Trap work 1 from the series Trap Work 1982, realised by Bryan James 2022

      Aluminium strip, wire
      Commissioned 2022

    • Thanks to Kate Newby for her interview with Hanahiva Rose, Assistant Art Curator

    • Kate Newby
      She's Talking to the Wall2012-2021

      Assorted clay, glaze, glass, thread, wire
      Purchased 2022

    • Thanks to Art Curator Hanahiva Rose for her interview with Ralph Upton and Moana Ete. 

    • Pauline Rhodes
      Extensum/Extensor1982

      Paper, wood, steel, plastic, paint

      Purchased 1983 with New Zealand Lottery Board funds (1983-0082-1)

    • Selina Ershadi
      Amator2019

      35-minute video with voiceover

      Purchased 2023

    • Ayesha Green
      Richmond2019

      Acrylic on board 
      Purchased 2020 (2020-0004-1)

    • Ayesha Green
      Fossils (Things in the ground)2019

      Acrylic on board

      Purchased 2020 (2020‑0004‑3)

    • Ayesha Green
      Wild flowers (Things that grow)2019

      Acrylic on board

      Purchased 2020 (2020‑0004‑2)

      • Thanks to Curator Modern & Contemporary Māori & Indigenous Art, Megan Tamati-Quennell for her interview with Moana Ete. 

    • Unknown photographer
      Interior of the Colonial Museum, Wellingtonabout 1900

      Inkjet display print from original gelatin glass negative

      Acquisition history unknown

      • Thanks to Ralph Upton for scriptwriting and the voice of Jim, and Oliver Devlin for Victor. Production by Binge Culture Collective

    • George V Hudson (1867–1946), England, New Zealand
      Illustrations for plates XX and V from An Elementary Manual of New Zealand Entomologyabout 1886

      Watercolour
      Gift of George Gibbs, 2021 (2021 0002 2/2 12)

      • Thanks to Julia Kaspar, Lead Curator Invertebrates and Phil Sirvid, Curator Invertebrates for their interview with Ralph Upton and Moana Ete. 

    • Sarah Featon (1848–1927), England, New Zealand
      Northern rātā, Metrosideros robusta; akatea, Metrosideros scandens; Parkinson’s rātā, Metrosideros Parkinsoniiabout 1885–88

      Watercolour, chromolithograph

      Purchased 1919 (1992‑0035‑2277/77); gift of Mr F R Bock, date unknown (GH025423)

      • Thanks to Heidi Meudt, Botany Curator and Rebecca Rice, Curator Historical NZ Art.

    • Wayne Barrar
      ‘Group of spicules of sponge from St Peter, Hungary.’ Arranged slide by unknown maker, possibly Watson and Sons, c. 18902015

      Colour pigment print 
      On loan from Wayne Barrar

      • Thanks to artist Wayne Barrar for his interview with Ralph Upton.

    • Wayne Barrar
      ‘Group of diatomaceae, various.’ Circular arranged slide of 278 diatoms from Oamaru, by Watson and Sons, c. 18902014

      Colour pigment print 
      Purchased 2021 (O.049388)

      • Thanks to science writer, Ursula Cochran for her interview with Ralph Upton.

    • Raewyn Atkinson
      I too am in Paradise II2018

      Photograph from digital video by Raewyn Atkinson. Reproduced courtesy of Raewyn Atkinson
      Purchased 2020 (2020-0029-1)

      • Thanks to Raewyn Atkinson for her interview with Curator Decorative Arts and Design Arts, Justine Olsen. 

    • Kauae Raro Research Collective
      Mana whenua2023

      Ochre, soil, rock, clay, tree gum, shells

      Materials preparation 
      Lanae Cable, Ngāti Hokopū, Ngāi Tamawera, Ngāti Pūkeko, Ngāi Tūhoe iwi (tribes)
      Sarah Hudson, Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Pūkeko, Ngāi Tūhoe iwi (tribes)

      • Thanks to Lanae Cable and Sarah Hudson of Kauae Raro Research Collective for their interview with Ralph Upton.