Wellington Museum (formerly the Museum of City & Sea) is a museum on Queens Wharf in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

, New Zealand. It occupies the 1892

Bond Store Bond or bonds may refer to: Common meanings * Bond (finance), a type of debt security * Bail bond, a commercial third-party guarantor of surety bonds in the United States * Chemical bond, the attraction of atoms, ions or molecules to form chemical ...

, a historic building on Jervois Quay on the waterfront of Wellington Harbour. In 2013, it was voted by ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' as one of the world's 50 best museums. The museum has four floors covering the history of Wellington. Celebrating the city's maritime history, early

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

and European settlement, and the growth of the region, the museum seeks to tell Wellington's stories and how the city has evolved over its 150 years as capital of New Zealand. A giant cinema screen stretching between the ground, first and second floors shows a series of films about Wellington. There are three theatre areas: one tells Māori legends using a pepper's ghost, the other is a memorial to the sinking of the Wahine ferry in Wellington harbour and located on the top floor a Wellington Time Machine. A new exhibition space, The Attic, opened in late 2015 after extensive refurbishment and restoration to the top floor.

Background

The museum started in 1972 as the Wellington Maritime Museum of the Wellington Harbour Board. In 1989, with the reorganisation of local bodies throughout New Zealand, the museum was transferred to the Wellington City Council (WCC) and expanded in scope to include social history of the region. The conversion of this building into the Museum of Wellington City & Sea was completed in 1999, and it became Wellington Museum in July 2015. It is run by

Experience Wellington Experience refers to conscious events in general, more specifically to perceptions, or to the practical knowledge and familiarity that is produced by these conscious processes. Understood as a conscious event in the widest sense, experience involv ...

Exhibitions

The museum contains various exhibits spread through four floors of the

Wellington Harbour Board Head Office and Bond Store Wellington Harbour Board Head Office and Bond Store is a historic building on Jervois Quay in Wellington, New Zealand. The building currently houses the Wellington Museum. It was commissioned in 1890 by the Wellington Harbour Board to replace wo ...

building.

The Bond Store

This exhibit shows the layout of the historic museum building as it was in the late

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

, where it was used as a bonded cargo warehouse holding goods.

Telling Tales

Telling Tales explores the history of Wellington city throughout the 20th century using a collection of artefacts to mark significant events.

Maritime Gallery and Wahine Theatre

The gallery showcases the nautical history of Wellington. The gallery includes a full scale captain's cabin, and a display commemorating

Paddy the Wanderer Paddy the Wanderer was an Airedale Terrier who roamed the streets of Wellington, New Zealand, during the Great Depression. He was a friend of cabbies, workers, and seamen alike, who took turns at paying his dog licence every year. Paddy was kn ...

. The Wahine Theatre is in memory of the TEV Wahine disaster and includes items salvaged from the wreck as well as a theatre showing a short film by New Zealand filmmaker Gaylene Preston.

Von Kohorn Room

The Von Kohorn Room was once the boardroom of the Wellington Harbour Board. The Von Kohorn Room is named after Baron Ralph Steven von Kohorn in recognition of his significant contribution to the museum over many years. In 1987, Baron von Kohorn was awarded the Wellington Civic Award for services to the city. He was a driving force behind Wellington's former maritime museum, was on the steering committee and board of the Sports Foundation, now SPARC, was involved in setting up New Zealand Oral History Archives, served as finance chairman for Cot Death Research and was on the board of directors for the Fulbright Foundation for 29 years.

References

External links

*
Launch of ''Sea Change'' policy at the museum, 2007
(archived) {{Authority control

Wellington Museum Wellington Museum (formerly the Museum of City & Sea) is a museum on Queens Wharf in Wellington, New Zealand. It occupies the 1892 Bond Store, a historic building on Jervois Quay on the waterfront of Wellington Harbour. In 2013, it was voted ...

Wellington Central, Wellington