Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga

13/06/2026

13/06/2026

What happens when history steps off the page and onto the stage?

Join us for a conversation over breakfast at Te Whare Waiutuutu Kate Sheppard House with dancers from the Royal New Zealand Ballet Stand to Reason.

Discover how Kate Sheppard’s powerful words inspired contemporary ballet and hear directly from the artists who embody her ideas of justice, equality and political voice through movement.

Includes bubbles on arrival, breakfast, museum entry and an intimate conversation with the dancers and historical context from the Kate Sheppard House team.

🔗 Book now via the link below:
https://www.eventbrite.co.nz/e/stand-to-reason-conversation-over-breakfast-tickets-1989726683071?aff=Facebooklink

📅 Sunday 2 August
🕑10am - 12pm
🎟️ Tickets are strictly limited.
🌍 Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga

09/06/2026

📺 Did you catch Turnbull House on Seven Sharp?

Our Central Region Director Dr Jamie Jacobs and the team from Naylor Love recounted the building's remarkable story - including the history of its construction, current conservation mahi and Alexander Turnbull's own important legacy.

👉 Check out the full clip in the comments below (episode 89, 6 minutes in) - and keep up-to-date with the Turnbull House Project via our website!

08/06/2026

INTERVIEW 📖 Grainger Brown

To mark the recent D-Day anniversary, we interviewed Grainger Brown, a volunteer at our Northland office with a remarkable childhood story.

88-year-old Grainger grew up in Weymouth, Dorset during the Second World War. He experienced the Battle of Britain, D-Day preparations and VE Day first hand.

And, at the age of 8, he helped to capture a German airman!

“It was a very bright school day afternoon. I don’t know why it was there but a German bomber flew over Weymouth and its engines stopped working,” he remembers.

“The plane was clearly going to crash so all the crew bailed out. There were maybe five or six of us boys playing in the wood nearby and one of the airmen came down into the woods where we were – and so we surrounded him.”

📖 Find out more about Grainger's experiences (including his significant work caring for Aotearoa New Zealand's heritage) via the link in the comments!

05/06/2026

❤️💜 Do you have a connection to Old St Paul's? Share your story via the link in the post below as we celebrate 160 years of this much-loved landmark!

Old St Paul's turns 160 this year, and we're collecting stories, memories and reflections from those who have shared in its remarkable history.

On 16 August 1980, Mike and Wendy Lyons were married here. Mike recalls:

'Unfortunately it was horrible weather in August on our wedding day. The wind howled and rain lashed... We were glad to reach the shelter and comfort of Old St Paul's under the challenged cover of a billowing umbrella."

Yet despite the storm, Mike remembers the ceremony as beautiful. Today, as a volunteer, he says he has 'ample time to appreciate the history and architecture of the cathedral and absorb its calming essence.'

Do you have a connection to Old St Paul's? We'd love to hear your story as we celebrate 160 years of this much-loved Te-Whanganui-a-Tara Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga landmark.

Find out more and submit your memory here: https://www.visitheritage.co.nz/whats-on/wellington-events/old-st-pauls-at-160-stories-memories-reflections

03/06/2026

🎉 Warm congratulations to Riki Manuel (Ngāti Porou), named a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2026 King’s Birthday Honours for services to Māori art (carving).

Riki was featured in the 2025 Spring edition of Heritage New Zealand magazine—check out his story in the accompanying video at The Arts Centre Te Matatiki Toi Ora (link in comments)!

📸 Mike Heydon

02/06/2026

STORY 🤖 Brosco the Robot

Have you heard of Brosco? In 1960, the 2.7-metre-tall robot was tasked with walking from Wellington to Whanganui to raise publicity for an upcoming industrial fair.

Brosco’s quest was documented in the unreleased short film “Letter by Robot”, which included his meeting with Wellington Mayor Frank Kitts (who declared him the city’s “brightest, shiniest citizen”) and eventual arrival in Whanganui – despite being hit by an impatient driver in Bulls.

Once there, he went on display - with a personal visit from the Prime Minister and many of the fair's 60,000 visitors.

Brosco was reportedly built in the workshop of a Marton panel-beaters. While he had a public address system, he couldn't walk under his own steam. Instead, he relied on "Mr X", aka the Swiss Olympian Mario Gradolf, whose feet can be seen emerging in the third photo.

"The trip was murder. I wouldn’t do it again," Mario told the Evening Post.

Two of these photos highlight Brosco’s appearance outside Wellington Town Hall, which is today recognised as a Category 1 Historic Place (probably unrelated to the association with Brosco).

📺 Want to see more? Of course you do! Follow the link in the comments to view “Letter by Robot” thanks to Archives New Zealand!

⚡ And if you want to do a serious deep dive, check out Elektro, Brosco’s robotic ancestor who starred at the 1939 World Fair in New York and is now reportedly based at the North Central Ohio Industrial Museum.

26/05/2026

STORY 🎨 Painting HMS Dromedary

No, it's not AI – this painting was recently produced by artist Keith Snow and generously donated to our Te Tai Tokerau office for use on interpretation panels.

The painting depicts the naval ship HMS Dromedary moored in Whangaroa Harbour in 1820.

“When the ship was in New Zealand waters, the ship’s sailors and Māori from the Whangaroa area loaded kauri logs onto the ships to be used as spars," says Northland Area Manager Bill Edwards. "The logs had been felled locally and were transported to the Dromedary over land on Te Ara Hoia (the Soldier’s Road) – New Zealand’s first-ever purpose-built road."

According to Keith, skills needed for painting historic boats accurately include a good understanding of perspective and a steady hand.

“It’s all about just getting it right. Things like wind direction, light direction, the set of the sails – one soon hears if it’s not right,” he says.

🔗 Find out more about Keith, the Dromedary and Te Ara Hoia via the link in the comments!

26/05/2026

NEW TO THE LIST 📍 Pembroke School Moveable Classroom

How do you provide new classrooms during times of economic hardship? That was the question faced by the Taranaki Education Board during the Great Depression – an era of few resources and fluctuating rolls.

Their solution: make the classrooms prefabricated – and portable.

This example, which was constructed at the board’s New Plymouth workshop in 1930, was recently recognised as a Category 2 Historic Place (List No. 9041). It was used at Puniho School (a former Native School), Waiau School, Mangorei School and Pembroke School until 1975.

Today, the classroom can be found at Taranaki Pioneer Village Inc. It is still visited by past and current Pembroke School students and evokes powerful memories of people’s personal school experiences.

Interestingly, there were at least 22 of these moveable classrooms built in Taranaki – however the fate of the other 21 is currently unknown.

📖 Find out more via the link in the comments:

26/05/2026

In 1893, Aotearoa New Zealand became the first country in the world to give women the vote. But it didn’t just happen – it was due to the efforts of the formidable Kate Sheppard and her cohort of suffragists whose activism culminated in this legendary milestone.

Today, you can visit Te Whare Waiutuutu Kate Sheppard House, her original home. Now a dynamic museum cared for by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, you will discover how she lived, worked, and campaigned.

Learn more: https://tohuwhenua.nz/katesheppard