‘Shaping Te Whanganui o Hei’ is a brand-new permanent exhibition in the Mercury Bay Museum at Whitianga.
The exhibition will take the visitor through time to learn and interact with the people, events and places that have shaped our area since 950AD and the arrival of Kupe.
Our timeline follows the historical events through Kupe, to Hei and other early navigators to our pristine shores, then onto 1769 and Captain James Cook and the crew of the HMB Endeavour. We then move through the 1800’s and this is where our townships were really solidified into our history. Our more recent history includes the wars which were held on distant shores but impacted our people and history more than is realised. On we travel to a more modern time that includes that famous America’s Cup win for Mercury Bay and the impacts of Covid-19.
We finish our journey very recently – in fact at the devastating time where the weather and a ‘Cyclone that will not be named’ impacted not only our communities but communities in the wider North Island.
This space is our first foray into the digital world for the Museum – with touch screen interactives that take you into the heart of our people – their families. The families that we have displayed on our wall are first generation and today we still connect with them – be it through place names, street names or the family members that remain. The information must come with a disclaimer though – the information is only as good as the source it was from, and we know some of our sources may be questionable. But the technology allows us to change and update as we confirm the data.
Join us on this journey as we follow the whakataukī – Titiro whakamuri, Kokiri whakamua – Look back and reflect so can move forward.