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'Titiro whakamuri, kōkiri whakamura' 
'When you understand the past, you know your future'

Welcome to
Taonga Tauranga | Heritage Bay of Plenty 

We are the leading heritage voice in the community
towards establishing ​curated museums and ceremonial Heritage Centres 
​in Tauranga city for local, regional and national interest 
Photograph acknowledgement: The Elms, Tauranga City Libraries, NZ History
Introduction
We are an independent heritage group working towards developing a Bay of Plenty Heritage Strategy in conjunction with tangata whenua and our local and regional heritage community, including councils.  Our ultimate goal is to raise the heritage profile generally, address missing aspects of it within in our region,  then connect the sector together locally, regionally and in turn nationally. One of the goals under the Strategy will be to see the establishment of a curated museum and ceremonial heritage centre (ideally situated within Tauranga's Historic Precinct at Otamataha Pā /Cliff Road).  We also support a purpose built national heritage centre / exhibition space at Gate Pā, Tauranga (opposite historic St George's Anglican Church) to commemorate the Battles of Gate Pā, Te Ranga and the New Zealand Land Wars. We also acknowledge the enormous amount of ongoing work done by others towards achieving these collective goals.
 
We are now enjoying strong levels of community support and partnership from within the local and regional historic/heritage sector, the business sector interested in supporting heritage and relevant council departments. ​This is a significant step forward for heritage in Tauranga and our region.
The chronological history of a museum in Tauranga ​
1873   First recorded museum collection on display at Mechanics Institute,
          Harington Street
1881   Disaster strikes - the Institute and collection are destroyed by fire
1882   Museum exhibition opens, including 100 Taonga from Captain Gilbert
          Mair
1906   Mechanics Institute becomes a public library
1938   Collection on display in Town Hall, Willow Street
1941   Collection goes into hiding during WWII
1969   New museum opens on the corner of Durham and Hamilton
​          Streets
1975   Collection expands at Tauranga Historic Village and District Museum
1998   Collection goes into storage - where it remains to this day
2019   The Heritage Collection turns 50
​2020+ Lets start planning our iconic Heritage Centre & Museum in
          Tauranga's historic precinct ay Otamataha Pā!
Contribution 
from Tauranga Heritage Collection
Our wonderful volunteers
Tauranga Heritage Collection 
Summer 2020
Our wonderful volunteers
 
At the Tauranga Heritage Collection nothing signals Christmas is coming more than our wonderful team of volunteers going on their well-deserved summer break. Every week our dedicated volunteers tackle a mountain of work that contributes towards the preservation of our city’s heritage. From research and cataloguing to sewing and proof-reading our volunteers have skills and experience we couldn’t do without. Indeed, we really can’t thank them enough for everything they do. READ HERE: 
Donate to
'The Tauranga & Western Bay Heritage Fund'
inspired by Brian Davies ( 1934-2019) 
Donation form here
Tauranga Heritage Collection 
​Check contributions here
Brian was a long term volunteer at The Elms, supporter of The Tauranga Historical Society and a passionate museum advocate.   Brian’s vision was that the people of Tauranga & Western Bay could have a suitable place to tell rich stories that spanned culture, whanau, heritage and time.   
​Read the brochure here
Each month, together with Tauranga City's Heritage Collection, Taonga Tauranga will discover some of the rich stories and Taonga that makes our region what it is today.  Read more about our city's heritage  here. 
Our People - Our Place - Our Stories
Our people - Our place - Our stories
War Time Photography
 by Alf Rendell
now enjoying 102 years
- 2 November 2019 -

Tongatapu and World War Two is a collaboration between the Tauranga Heritage Collection and Tauranga City Libraries 
​Victory at Gate Pā? 
Taonga Tauranga supports the continuing work honouring the Battles of Gate Pā and Te Ranga, both significant events during the New Zealand Wars period (1840-1864) which led to widespread land confiscation resulting in the historic Anglican Apology of 1 December 2018 at the Otamataha Pā site, Cliff Road, Tauranga. See our page here
Victory at Gate Pā?  - the book
Take a heritage tour with Buddy Mikaere
Picture


​The recently released book ​Victory at Gate Pā? by historians Buddy Mikaere 
​and Dr Cliff Simons is an outstanding explanatory read. Available here​.  
 Picture
Take an inspirational tour with historian Buddy Mikaere from Taiao Events on the integrated powerful history of The Elms, Gate Pa and Te Ranga.
​For more information click here and fill in the form provided or ring Buddy on:
​+64 21 384 620
Taonga - our treasure
Taonga are not just artefacts but also the abundant natural resources such as our rivers, our seabed, our coastline, the Kaimai range and the abundant fauna and flora that flourish within our region:  read more about Taonga here.
Photograph acknowledgement: Battle of Gate Pā, The Gate Pa Charitable Trust, Dave Tipper courtesy Tauranga City Libraries