Cook Islands National Museum

Last updated
Cook Islands National Museum
Formation1992
TypeGovernmental organisation
PurposeHeritage preservation
HeadquartersAvarua
Location
  • Cook Islands
Website https://www.culture.gov.ck/outputs/national-museum/

The Cook Islands National Museum is a museum in Avarua on Rarotonga, in the Cook Islands. Its collection includes contemporary and historic artefacts, as well as replicas of objects in foreign institutions.

Contents

Background

A purpose-built museum building was opened on 14 October 1992, in order to protect and encourage understanding of the cultural heritage of the Cook Islands. [1] [2] The museum had previously been housed in a section of the National Library. [3] The museum has a 200m² display space, as well as an office and store. [4]

Exhibitions

In 2019 the museum hosted an exhibition by Chinese micro-calligrapher Wang Zhiwen. [5] Other exhibitions have included: on vaka voyaging history; [6] [7] on the contributions of Cook Islanders in the First World War; [8] costumes from the 2018 Miss Cook Islands pageant; [9] photographs by Fe'ena Syme-Buchanan that highlight population decline on Mangaia; [10] on tivaivai - a form of quilting specific to the Cook Islands; [11] wooden sculpture from Pacific countries; [12] as well as many others.

Collection

The museum collection contains objects relating to the Cook Islands and other Pacific nations. [13] In 1999 the collection comprised approximately 300 objects, mostly dating to after 1900. [4] It includes archaeological material, including 800 year old fish hooks excavated from Moturakau, Aitutaki. [14] [15] Similar objects, which remain the property of the museum, were excavated in 2003 from the motu Te Kainga of Rakahanga. [16] Other objects in the museum's collection include ceremonial adzes, [17] and a seven-foot long ceremonial spear. [18] The collection also includes replica objects from a variety of islands. [2] In 2020 the museum investigated whether it would be able to acquire a newly discovered sketch of Mangaia, painted by Captain Cook's surgeon. [19]

Repatriation

The Cook Islands National Museum has actively requested that 'smaller provincial collections in the UK consider repatriating Cook Island material'. [20] In 1999 two necklaces were returned to the Cook Islands, following a request to Angus Council by the museum. [21] At the time, the council's decision was based on the view that the necklaces "had been donated at a time when the museum collected anything and everything from every corner of the globe, and neither has been on lengthy display in recent years". Writer and curator Neil G. W. Curtis described this example of repatriation, as Scottish "post-colonial empathy". [21] [22]

Adzes

Adzes in particular were a popular item for early explorers, as well as later seamen and tourists to collect, so appear in many collections around the world. [20] In 2017 several stone adzes were returned to the Cook Islands from a private collection. [23] They had been received as a gift by the former superintendent of Aitutaki Airfield. The family returned to New Zealand, but felt that the objects should return to the Cook Islands. [24]

Overseas collections

Many museums around the world have collections which hold objects from the Cook Islands, including: tapa cloth held by Kew Gardens; [25] [26] adzes and tattooing instruments at the Wellcome Collection; [20] many objects, including a cloak at Te Papa; [27] amongst others.

Notable people

Related Research Articles

Cook Islands Country in the South Pacific Ocean

The Cook Islands is a self-governing island country in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand. It comprises 15 islands whose total land area is 240 square kilometres (93 sq mi). The Cook Islands' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers 1,960,027 square kilometres (756,771 sq mi) of ocean.

Like most countries and territories in Oceania, telecommunications in the Cook Islands is limited by its isolation and low population, with only one major television broadcasting station and six radio stations. However, most residents have a main line or mobile phone. Its telecommunications are mainly provided by Telecom Cook Islands, who is currently working with O3b Networks, Ltd. for faster Internet connection.

This article lists transport in the Cook Islands.

Aitutaki

Aitutaki, also traditionally known as Araʻura and Utataki, is the second most-populated island in the Cook Islands, after Rarotonga. It is an "almost atoll", with fifteen islets in a lagoon adjacent to the main island. Total land area is 18.05 km2 (6.97 sq mi), and the lagoon has an area of between 50 and 74 km2. A major tourist destination, Aitutaki is the second most visited island of the Cook Islands.

In Polynesian languages the word aitu refers to ghosts or spirits, often malevolent. The word is common to many languages of Western and Eastern Polynesia. In the mythology of Tonga, for example, ʻaitu or ʻeitu are lesser gods, many being patrons of specific villages and families. They often take the form of plants or animals, and are often more cruel than other gods. These trouble-making gods are regarded as having come from Samoa. The Tongan word tangi lauʻaitu means to cry from grief, to lament.

Rarotonga Island of the Cook Islands

Rarotonga is the largest and most populous of the Cook Islands. The island is volcanic, with an area of 67.39 km2 (26.02 sq mi), and is home to almost 75% of the country's population, with 13,007 of a total population of 17,434. The Cook Islands' Parliament buildings and international airport are on Rarotonga. Rarotonga is a very popular tourist destination with many resorts, hotels and motels. The chief town, Avarua, on the north coast, is the capital of the Cook Islands.

Mangaia

Mangaia is the most southerly of the Cook Islands and the second largest, after Rarotonga. It is a roughly circular island, with an area of 51.8 square kilometres (20.0 sq mi), 203 kilometres (126 mi) from Rarotonga. Originally heavily populated, Mangaia's population has dropped by 75% in the last 50 years.

Atiu

Atiu, also known as Enuamanu, is an island of the Cook Islands archipelago, lying in the central-southern Pacific Ocean. Part of the Nga-pu-Toru, it is 214 km (133 mi) northeast of Rarotonga. The island's population has dropped by two-thirds in the last 50 years.

<i>Survivor: Cook Islands</i> Season of television series

Survivor: Cook Islands is the thirteenth season of the American CBS competitive reality television series Survivor. The season was filmed from June 26, 2006, through August 3, 2006 in the Cook Islands, and premiered on September 14, 2006.

A Tapere or Sub-District is a low level of traditional land subdivision on five of the Lower Cook Islands, comparable to the ahupua'a of the main Hawaiian Islands. Among the populated raised islands, only Mitiaro is not subdivided into tapere. The remaining southern Cook Islands, Manuae, Palmerston and Takutea are atolls and/or uninhabited, and therefore not subject to this type of traditional subdivision. The atolls of the northern Cook Islands are subdivided into motu, instead.

Henry Puna Prime Minister of the Cook Islands

Henry Tuakeu Puna is a Cook Islands politician, and the current Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum. He was Prime Minister of the Cook Islands from November 2010 to October 2020. Since 2006 he has been leader of the Cook Islands Party.

Te Ariki Terau Mana Strickland BEM was a Cook Island educator and politician. He was the Minister of Education in the first Cook Islands government after self-government was obtained in 1965.

Marguerite Nora Eikura Kitimira Story,, was the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the Cook Islands from 1965 to 1979. She was the first female cabinet member in the Cook Islands and the first woman in the Commonwealth to become speaker of a national parliament.

Akava'ine is a Cook Islands Māori word which has come, since the 2000s, to refer to transgender people of Māori descent from the Cook Islands.

Wood carving is a common art form in the Cook Islands. Sculpture in stone is much rarer although there are some excellent carvings in basalt by Mike Tavioni. The proximity of islands in the southern group helped produce a homogeneous style of carving but which had special developments in each island. Rarotonga is known for its fisherman's gods and staff-gods, Atiu for its wooden seats, Mitiaro, Mauke and Atiu for mace and slab gods and Mangaia for its ceremonial adzes. Most of the original wood carvings were either spirited away by early European collectors or were burned in large numbers by missionary zealots.

<i>Messenger of Peace</i> (missionary ship) Ship built in 1827 by John Williams

Messenger of Peace was a missionary ship built in 1827 in Avarua, Rarotonga, by John Williams to spread Christianity to Samoa and the Society Islands on behalf of the London Missionary Society (LMS). He spread his ministry, sailing her from 1827 to 1836 under a flag of a white dove on a blue background while subsidising his efforts by trading between the islands.

<i>Marumaru Atua</i>

Marumaru Atua is a reconstruction of a vaka moana, a double-hulled Polynesian voyaging canoe. It was built in 2009 by the Okeanos Foundation for the Sea. In 2014, it was gifted to the Cook Islands Voyaging Society. It is used to teach polynesian navigation.

Mahiriki Tangaroa is a New Zealand-born Cook Islands photographer and painter. She is a former director of the Cook Islands National Museum. She is recognised as a leading contemporary Cook Islands artist, and her work is regularly exhibited in galleries in New Zealand and the Cook Islands.

High Court of the Cook Islands

The High Court of the Cook Islands is the court of first instance in the Cook Islands. It has general jurisdiction and responsibility under the Constitution of the Cook Islands for the administration of justice in the Cook Islands. The Court is established by part IV of the Constitution of the Cook Islands.

Cook Islands tropical moist forests

The Cook Islands tropical moist forests is a tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests ecoregion that covers the Southern Cook Islands in the Cook Islands.

References

  1. ↑ "National Museum". Commonwealth Walkway Trust. Archived from the original on 2021-08-14. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  2. 1 2 Bertin, Marion (2020-08-01). "Le futur de la tradition : quelle muséologie pour les musées nationaux du Pacifique Sud ?". ICOFOM Study Series (in French) (48–1): 95–108. doi: 10.4000/iss.2016 . ISSN   2309-1290. Archived from the original on 2021-09-02. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  3. 1 2 Craig, Barry; Kernot, Bernie; Anderson, Christopher (1999-12-01). Art and Performance in Oceania. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN   978-0-8248-2283-5. Archived from the original on 2021-09-02. Retrieved 2021-09-02.
  4. 1 2 Devenish, David C. (1999-01-01). "Repatriation". Museum Management and Curatorship. 18 (2): 201–204. doi:10.1080/09647779900901802. ISSN   0964-7775. Archived from the original on 2021-09-02. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  5. ↑ "Micro-writer in micro show". Cook Islands News. 2020-08-18. Archived from the original on 2021-08-14. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  6. ↑ "In touch with our history of voyaging". Cook Islands News. 2020-08-18. Archived from the original on 2021-08-14. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  7. ↑ "Voyaging history on show". Cook Islands News. 2020-08-18. Archived from the original on 2021-08-14. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  8. ↑ "WW1 gifts from Belgium on show". Cook Islands News. 2020-08-18. Archived from the original on 2021-08-14. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  9. ↑ "Rare chance to view top class local costumes". Cook Islands News. 2020-08-18. Archived from the original on 2021-08-14. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  10. ↑ "Powerful show has sad message". Cook Islands News. 2020-08-17. Archived from the original on 2021-08-14. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  11. ↑ "Tivaivai on show at museum". Cook Islands News. 2020-08-18. Archived from the original on 2021-08-14. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  12. ↑ "Display of treasures shouldn't be missed". Cook Islands News. 2020-10-20. Archived from the original on 2021-08-14. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  13. ↑ "National Museum | Avarua, The Cook Islands Attractions". Lonely Planet. Archived from the original on 2021-08-14. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  14. ↑ "Ancient hooks reveal more insights". Cook Islands News. 2020-08-18. Archived from the original on 2021-08-14. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  15. ↑ "Ancient fish hooks pose challenge". Cook Islands News. 2020-08-18. Archived from the original on 2021-08-14. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  16. ↑ "ANCIENT ARTIFACTS FOUND IN COOK ISLANDS | Pacific Islands Report". www.pireport.org. Archived from the original on 2021-08-14. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  17. ↑ "Reference to weapons in ancient times". Cook Islands News. 2020-08-18. Archived from the original on 2021-08-14. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  18. ↑ "A precious piece of our history". Cook Islands News. 2020-08-18. Archived from the original on 2021-08-14. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  19. ↑ "Historically significant Mangaia painting 'could so easily have been lost'". Cook Islands News. 2020-08-17. Archived from the original on 2021-08-14. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  20. 1 2 3 Mcdougall, Russell; Croft, Julian (2005-09-01). "Henry ling roth's and george kingsley roth's pacific anthropology". The Journal of Pacific History. 40 (2): 149–170. doi:10.1080/00223340500176459. ISSN   0022-3344. S2CID   161666752. Archived from the original on 2021-09-02. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  21. 1 2 Tythacott, Louise; Arvanitis, Kostas (2016-04-22). Museums and Restitution: New Practices, New Approaches. Routledge. ISBN   978-1-317-09286-5. Archived from the original on 2021-09-02. Retrieved 2021-09-02.
  22. ↑ Curtis, Neil, G.W. (16 September 2010). "REPATRIATION FROM SCOTTISH MUSEUMS: Learning from NAGPRA". Museum Anthropology. 33 (2): 234–248. doi:10.1111/j.1548-1379.2010.01101.x. Archived from the original on 2021-01-26. Retrieved 2021-09-02.
  23. ↑ "Ancient adzes from Aitutaki returned". Cook Islands News. 2020-08-18. Archived from the original on 2021-08-14. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  24. ↑ "Ancient Stone Adzes Returned To Cook Islands National Museum | Pacific Islands Report". www.pireport.org. Archived from the original on 2021-08-14. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  25. ↑ "Words on tapa foil researchers". Cook Islands News. 2020-08-18. Archived from the original on 2021-08-14. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  26. ↑ "Unpacking tapa: The science and culture of Pacific barkcloth | Kew". www.kew.org. Archived from the original on 2021-08-14. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  27. ↑ Hutton, Grace, Safua Akeli, and Sean Mallon. "Rediscovering the collection: Cook Islands material culture in the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa." Tuhinga: Records of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa 21 (2010): 99-123.
  28. ↑ "Words on tapa foil researchers". Cook Islands News. 2020-08-18. Archived from the original on 2021-08-14. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  29. ↑ "Cook Islands culture in Mexico". Cook Islands News. 2020-08-18. Archived from the original on 2021-08-14. Retrieved 2021-08-14.

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