Mercury Bay Museum

August 2023 By Rebecca Cox

What an amazing four weeks we have had here at the Museum! Very, very busy with lots going on!

We have been lucky enough to host over 400 students in the Museum to learn all about Matariki underneath our amazing night sky exhibition. Mercury Bay Area School Junior school, Whenuakite School, Coroglen School, Homeschool Group and Whenuakite Country Kids have been into the Museum to spend time with Becs learning all about Matariki, the stars | Whetū, constellations in our sky and the link to Te Taiao | the Environment. It was a great time spent with each class and there were some fantastic questions and learning on both sides.

Following on from this we have created an early childhood programme, so please contact us if you are interested in visiting us at the Museum with your group.

Last week we had a follow up screening of the Canadien Patriot documentary ‘A Land of a Thousand Sorrows Revisited’ as a fundraiser for the Museum. The documentary tells of the connection of the HMS Buffalo with this historical time in Canada. Thank you to those that came along and supported us. The documentary will be available in the future for further screenings and for those that saw it in 2022, this version is updated with information about the HMS Buffalo Cross Project – so well worth another viewing. It was awesome to also see our brand-new advertisement on the big screen! Thanks to Anne-Maree and Matt at Mercury Twin Cinemas for hosting us!! Love your community support.

We have another big screen fundraiser coming up next month with a viewing of ‘Twelve Days – 1769’. This is a documentary about the twelve days that Captain Cook and the crew of the HMB Endeavour spent here in Mercury Bay in November 1769. The coming together of Māori and Pakehā during this time can truly be seen as a formative meeting place of our now multicultural nation. The documentary will be on the big screen on Wednesday 13th September at 10:30am – tickets can be booked online or at the cinema now.

The Museum team are also very busy installing two new temporary exhibitions – ‘Somewhat Glassy – A history of all things glass’ and ‘Somewhat Musical – a history of music in the 1900’s’. These spaces will be open to view from Friday 1st September – so make sure you pop in and have a wander down memory lane!

And finally – a couple of save the dates!

We will be collaborating again with local businesses this school holidays, starting 23rd September.

Once again, this year we will working with Eloise and her team of scarers on our big Halloween event – Night at the Museum and After Dark! These will be held on Saturday 28th October 2023.

So put these dates in your diary and keep an eye on our socials for updates!

We always look forward to seeing you in the Museum! We are open Monday to Saturday 10am to 3pm (last admission 2:15pm).

See you all soon – stay warm!