Puke Ariki

Puke Ariki means hill of chiefs, and the name is literal - the complex stands on the site of a pa that occupied this rise above the sea. Opened in 2003, it was one of the first institutions anywhere to fully merge a museum, a public library and a visitor information centre into one building on the argument that people looking things up and people looking at things are the same people. The museum galleries cover Taranaki: the geology and the mountain, the Maori history of the district, the whaling and settler period, the wars over land in the 1860s presented directly rather than skirted, and the dairy and energy industries that followed. Its taonga Maori collection is substantial. Entry is free. The building sits on the Coastal Walkway with the Wind Wand, Len Lye's forty-eight metre kinetic sculpture, swaying on the foreshore immediately outside.

History

Puke Ariki, "hill of chiefs", takes its name from the Māori village that once stood on the site. It brings together the New Plymouth Public Library, founded in 1848 as a Mechanics Institute, and the Taranaki Museum, which opened on 28 August 1919 with the Skinner collection of Māori artefacts, and the combined institution opened in June 2003 (Wikipedia, Puke Ariki).

What to look for

• The Taranaki galleries - geology, Maori history, settlement and industry.
• The taonga Maori collection - substantial, and centrally placed.
• The merged building - museum, library and information centre as one.
• The Wind Wand - Len Lye's forty-eight metre sculpture outside.

When to go

Any season - indoors and free, so it is a good wet-weather stop. It sits on the Coastal Walkway, which makes it easy to combine with a walk.

Before you go

Free, which is unusual for a museum of this size. The building is busy as a working library. The nineteenth-century land conflict is covered directly, which some visitors find heavier going than expected.

Nearby

The Len Lye Centre is minutes away; the Coastal Walkway and Te Rewa Rewa Bridge run east.

Key facts