‘Pou maumahara’, ‘the memory place’: Remembrance and material cultures of colonial conflict at the Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira

Abstract

This article explores how material objects reveal patterns of remembrance in the public histories of the nineteenth-century New Zealand Wars fought between British regiments and colonial forces and Māori hapū and iwi (tribal groups). It is based on collections research conducted at the Auckland War Memorial Museum which conceptualises a new gallery displaying stories and objects relating to the wars. Bringing together museology and historiography, the article argues that an engagement with the material culture of the New Zealand Wars and public lexicons of memory in a museum context offer opportunities to move beyond national narratives. Just as these colonial conflicts reconfigured the materiality of violence and collective belonging, so too do museum-based objects activate the presentation of these histories in light of new public needs since 2017.