Taranaki Life
The stories of everyday life often reveal more than the accounts of the great and the worthy and so it is in the Taranaki Life Gallery.
This celebration of life in Taranaki from 1841 – when the first organised Plymouth Company settlers arrived – is a glimpse into the ways ordinary people studied, dressed, worked and amused themselves.
Items from a diverse range of topics including education, fashion, entertainment and sport are here waiting to be explored.
Informative displays contain many fascinating objects and how major industries - including dairy farming, energy, and manufacturing - evolved.
And visitors can experience those everyday lives for themselves in the walk-through cow shed, and see how dairy farming developed from a simple owner-operated enterprise in the 1850s to the large amalgamated computerised farms of today. And the innovative farming spirit is never far away when you see the extraordinary number of inventions Taranaki farmers have come up with over the years.
Marvel at the basic simplicity of a slab hut – a long way from the home comforts settlers had left behind.
Trace the history of oil and gas exploration in the region, from the early wells dug almost by hand at the beach at Motorua to the huge modern oil and gas wells that sit just over the horizon from the Taranaki coast.
You can also see how other industries have evolved in the region, including furniture, flax and farm equipment as well as more colourful ones such as beer, motorbikes and Swanndris.
Taranaki has a rich military history, too, and the stories of the Land Wars are told vividly, with arms and uniforms used in the conflict on display. The enormous contribution soldiers from this region have made to wars overseas is not forgotten, either.
The diversity of Taranaki is also celebrated in this exhibition, with displays about the many different social and ethnic groups - including English, Swiss, Dutch and Polish - who have made this unique province their home.
And, of course, no exhibition about Taranaki life could fail to acknowledge the ever-present mountain, Mount Taranaki, and some of its most ardent, and most colourful, admirers are here too. These include the first woman to reach the summit, a mountaineering cat, and a hunter who made a fur cape from rats trapped on the mountain
Find out what makes the locals tick, and get an insight into their friendly manner and unique sense of humour, with a visit to Taranaki Life.