Story: Biculturalism

Te Papa Tongarewa, the national museum in Wellington, was designed from the beginning as a bicultural institution. The museum ‘acknowledges the unique position of Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand and the need to secure their participation in the governance, management and operation of the Museum’. The meeting house Te Hono ki Hawaiki, shown here, and carved by a team led by the museum’s inaugural kaihautū Cliff Whiting (Te Whānau–a–Apanui) stands in the museum’s marae, Rongomaraeroa. The panels in front represent Māori stories and traditions, while those at the rear stand for the non-Māori who have made New Zealand their home.