Thousands of Taranaki schoolchildren will soon have Puke Ariki at their fingertips.

In a ground-breaking $800,000 project, 38 schools from Eltham, Inglewood, Stratford, Waitara and surrounding areas are to have free access to the stories of Taranaki, along with library and museum resources.

Puke Ariki Taranaki information network project manager Simon Pickford says each of these schools had been given a new computer, workstation and JetStream connection.

The computers were solely dedicated to tapping into Puke Ariki and linked sites. This meant students could find out facts and research their projects through the Puke Ariki website, www.pukeariki.com

The real Puke Ariki, which is part of the New Plymouth District Council, is being opened by Prime Minister Helen Clark on June 14.

Mr Pickford says the information network went further than schools, with four libraries and an information centre all given a free computer and speedy connection to tap into the enormous resources at Puke Ariki.

In total, 43 computers would make up the network. These were to be set up in the area covered by the Taranaki Electricity Trust (TET).

"We believe this extensive network, funded by the TET, is the first of its type in New Zealand," Mr Pickford says. "It's never been done before. Not even Te Papa has its image database or its archives online.

"Just as Puke Ariki pulls together a public library, museum and information centre, so does the website. You can find out about the different galleries, what's on in Taranaki, how to join the library, browse the databases and review the book catalogue. You can even renew your books online.

"The idea is that you can have Puke Ariki in the classroom, without having to physically travel to New Plymouth. The information available will astonish people searching the website," Mr Pickford says.

"Students can find out how the Taranaki Land Wars started, read about Dame Malvina Major's first performance, look at who arrived on the first Plymouth Company ships and even learn how a Turn-Style rotary milking platform works."

The website even has interactives. Students can choose items to pack a waka for the long trip from Hawaiiki to Aotearoa, or press buttons to learn about Taranaki's volcanic history.

"The network offers so many different layers of learning about our region and the world," Mr Pickford says.

The website also features the Taranaki Stories. Some of these have been published in The Daily News during the lead-up to the website going live.

"These are the unique tales of Taranaki, told by the person involved, by a family member who holds the story, or by an expert in the area. Where possible we want people to tell their own stories," Mr Pickford says.

It was even possible for others to add their own tales. "If a school did a project on Chew Chong, they could submit it for publication on the website. We can even include their beautiful artwork."

Among the Taranaki Stories are a number about the tangata whenua, including Sir Peter Buck (Te Rangi Hiroa), Sir Maui Pomare, the Pekapeka Block and Parihaka. These are all being translated into Maori by New Plymouth man Wharehoka Wano.

While the network did not yet extend to New Plymouth, Coastal or South Taranaki, Mr Pickford hopes it would go further.

"We realise schools and libraries in those areas would benefit from having these resources available to them for free, but they can still pull up pukeariki.com on the world-wide web and tap into our resources. If you have an online computer in your classroom, you can use the website in exactly the same way as those in the network.

"Our dream is to one day have the free network cover the whole of Taranaki, but at this stage that's not feasible. Legally, the TET can only back projects in its own area, so we hope we find a suitable partner to plug the gaps," Mr Pickford says.

However, there could be a resolution in the pipeline. "Watch this space," he says.