The Tuia – Encounters 250 national commemoration celebrates Aotearoa New Zealand’s Pacific voyaging heritage and acknowledges the first onshore encounters between Māori and Pākehā in 1769–70. There are events happening now in regions right around the country.
You can find out about the Tuia 250 Voyage events on from October to December. There are opportunities to join the journey by going on board the vessels at the landing sites. Crews are offering family-friendly opportunities to learn about Pacific, Māori and European sailing and navigation traditions through interactive activities, displays, star domes, guest speakers, roadshow trucks and more.
You’ll also find details here about other events, exhibitions and experiences around Aotearoa New Zealand that fit with the Tuia 250 themes. At the end of this page you will find instructions for adding your own Tuia 250 events.
A selection of Tuia 250 events are listed below, find many more on the Eventfinda website.
Tuia – Southern Encounters
When James Cook sailed down the Otago coast in 1770 he observed what he thought to be a barren uninhabited land. This exhibition weaves together taonga, images, maps, and knowledge handed down from ancestors to tell the story of how fifty generations had been living in southern New Zealand when the first explorers from another world visited these shores. The names of lakes and rivers, mountains, settlements and food gathering sites remind us that long before Cook claimed Te Waipounamu for Great Britain, this land was the dearest possession of another people.
Date: 7 Sep, 2019 10:00am – 9 Nov, 2019 5:00pm
Location: 90 Anzac Ave, Dunedin, Otago
Neke Moa: Nō Te Moananui-a-Kiwa — Stories From the Pacific
New and recent work by Upper Hutt based contemporary jeweller, Neke Moa (Ngāti Kahungunu ki Ahuriri, Kai Tahu, Ngāti Porou, Tūwharetoa), reflects on our colonised history and the place we occupy in Te Moananui-a-Kiwa (the Pacific), on the 250th anniversary of James Cook’s arrival in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Date: 3 Aug, 2019 10:00am – 10 Nov, 2019 5:00pm
Location: 45 Laings Rd, Lower Hutt, Wellington Region
Paradise Lost: Daniel Solander’s Legacy
Initiated by the Embassy of Sweden and the Solander Gallery in Wellington, Paradise Lost: Daniel Solander’s Legacy is an exhibition of works by ten New Zealand artists that pays homage to the work of Daniel Solander, a Swedish botanist who traveled to New Zealand on the Endeavour in 1769. This exhibition sheds light on Solander’s role in New Zealand’s botanical, political and cultural histories, with each artist’s works in the collection exploring a unique aspect of his work and influence.
Date: 17 Oct, 2019 9:00am – 15 Nov, 2019 4:00pm
Location: Corner Princes St & Waterloo Quadrant, CBD, Auckland
Voyage to Aotearoa: Tupaia and the Endeavour
Enter the world of Tupaia, Tahitian high priest, navigator, and artist. Go back in time to 1769 and journey with him on Captain Cook’s Endeavour from Tahiti to Aotearoa. Learn about the critical role Tupaia played in our history as he acted as translator and mediator for both Europeans and tangata whenua on this voyage. Jump on board this Pacific adventure where you can sail a va’a around the Society Islands, experience life as a sailor, and chart the coastline of Aotearoa.
Date: 24 Sep, 2019 10:00am – 15 Mar, 2020 5:00pm
Location: Domain Dr, Auckland Domain, Parnell, Auckland
Tākiri: An Unfurling
Seven contemporary artists explore early Māori and European encounters through new work inspired by museum taonga. Historical artefacts meet contemporary art as the national dialogue unfolds 250 years after the first on-shore contact between Māori and the crew of HMS Endeavour—including the Polynesian navigator Tupaia, and Captain James Cook. Through soundscape, photography, illustration, cloth making, weaving and sculpture, each artist explores and confronts the ongoing impact of these historic events.
Responding to one of the most significant maritime events in Aotearoa’s history, this will be the New Zealand Maritime Museum’s largest temporary exhibition in its 26 years of operation. The group exhibition will add new perspectives to the ongoing national dialogue around Tuia Encounters 250, and the Maritime Museum will play a key role in the Tāmaki Makaurau leg of the voyaging flotilla.
Date: 12 Oct, 2019 10:00am – 7 Jun, 2020 5:00pm
Location: Corner Quay & Hobson Streets, CBD, Auckland
Mercury Rising Speaking Tour
On 9 November, 1769, Captain James Cook and astronomer Charles Green observed the transit of Mercury across the Sun from Te Whanganui o Hei (Mercury Bay). Cook’s landing in Aotearoa remains surrounded in controversy and sorrow for many iwi. The Mercury Rising project provides a platform for the deep astronomical knowledge of Māori alongside the modern understanding of astrophysics, all within the context of Mercury’s transit as viewed from New Zealand’s shores.
Otago Museum, with Tuia 250 and the Mercury Bay Museum, will bring people together for this transit, to wonder at the solar system, and to share from each other’s astronomical expertise.
Join us for the Dunedin leg of our expert speaker talks, and hear from a variety of astronomers. Following the talks, learn how to use a solar telescope on the Museum Reserve with the Dunedin Astronomical Society and Otago Museum science communicators.
Date: 5 Nov, 2019 6:30pm – 8:00pm
Location: 419 Great King Street, Dunedin, Otago