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Free museum entry for New Zealanders and people living in New Zealand
Read about protest collecting, decolonisation, and antiracism from our tohunga, and across the web. By recording protest movements both in Aotearoa New Zealand and overseas through the collections, it creates a tangible history of issues that motivated New Zealanders to get up and have our voices heard.
This illustration by Huriana Kopeke-Te Aho (Tūhoe, Ngāti Porou, Rongowhakaata, Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi, Ngāti Kahungunu) features a portrait of Te Pāti Māori Member of Parliament Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke ripping up a copy of the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi bill on 14 November 2024.
The 13th of October marks the fiftieth anniversary of the arrival of the ‘Not One Acre More’ hīkoi (land march) on the steps of New Zealand Parliament. Read this blog by then Mātauranga Māori Curator Puawai Cairns, written for the fortieth anniversary in 2015.
The words and symbols we’ve worn. This small book with a big heart delves into Te Papa’s collections of over 1600 badges to examine how New Zealanders have used badges to join, belong, resist, defy and celebrate.
Curator and badge enthusiast Steph Gibson shares one of her favourite objects in the collection, and explains the role badges played in our protest history.
Explore protest in Aotearoa through our Collections Online. You can delve into why people protest, explore activism in your own community, and grow your own skills as a changemaker.
Johanna Mechen holding her placard ‘We Shall Overcomb’ in Civic Square, Wellington, during the Women's March on Washington on 21 January 2017. The Women's March was a global phenomenon which took place on the same day throughout the world, with nearly five million participants in over 600 marches in 60 countries on all seven continents.
The Hong Kong protests evolved and continued through much of the first half of 2020. This collection was donated by the activist group, We Are Kiwi Hong Kongers, to ensure that the history of the Hong Kong protest movement in Aotearoa New Zealand would be preserved and recorded.
Aotearoa New Zealand erupted into violent protests when the South African Springbok rugby team toured the country from July to September 1981. Curator History Stephanie Gibson takes us through some of the items in our collection that record what many people wore as personal protection during the protests.
Hear kōrero (discussion) on the invasion at Parihaka, the Takaparawhā Bastion Point protests and eviction, the Samoan Mau and the events around ‘Black Saturday’, and the work of the Polynesian Panthers and other Pacific activists in Aotearoa.
Sustainable indigenised practice in colonial museum models – is there such a thing? Kaihāpai Mātauranga Māori | Head of Mātauranga Māori Puawai Cairns explores this question in this adaptation of a speech given in 2019.
Items in our collection displaying opposition in regard to particular political or social issues.
An illustrated history of protest and activism in Aotearoa New Zealand.
From historic protests to modern-day activism, explore a variety of social movements in Aotearoa New Zealand. This link will take you to our free course on FutureLearn.
A selection of our collection items used in the book Protest Tautohetohe: Objects of Resistance, Persistence and Defiance
History curator Stephanie Gibson has a particular interest in how tiny things can have big impacts – especially in protest movements. She talks through some of these objects which feature in Te Papa’s collection, but also her personal one.
New Zealand has had its fair share of major protest issues, and over the decades New Zealanders have become adept at mobilising around causes – from protests about wars, to the rights of women and LGBTQI+ people, protecting the environment, and race relations.
Dive into some recent online articles and opinion pieces.
In the wake of US President Donald Trump’s order to ban refugees entering the country, cultural institutions across the globe have been vocal in protest. Here Te Papa curators share their thoughts.
