E nga rau rangatira mā, e kui mā, e koro mā, e huihui mai nei I tenei waa, tēnei aku mihi māhana ki a koutou. Nau mai, haere mai ra ki Te Whare o te Kawana Tinara o Tamaki Makaurau.
I specifically acknowledge: Courtney Johnston, Chief Executive, Te Papa; Christopher Swasbrook, Chair of Te Papa; Dr Carlos Lehnebach, Curator of Botany at Te Papa; Aaron Hape, Chair of Te Papa Foundation; Rebecca Galloway, Te Papa Foundation Manager.
A warm welcome to you all. I am very pleased to support Te Papa Foundation by hosting this reception.
We all appreciate the enormous responsibility Te Papa bears as kaitiaki of our nation’s cultural and natural taonga, and we know from our experience that it represents something so fundamental to our sense of identity – as one my predecessors, Sir Paul Reeves observed, when he said:
Museums speak of where we have come from and the
response other people have made to the realities of their
time.
But they do more than that. If museums mirror the life
force which has flourished in the past, they also pose the
question: what about us now?
Te Papa gives us opportunities to engage with what has gone before, and encourages us to ask who we are now, and what we stand for, in all our complexity.
The past it is part of who we are, our sense of our place in the world, but it is fragile and so easily lost for all time, if it is not preserved and cared for.
It is astonishing to think that only ten percent of the objects deposited into the care of Te Papa can be on display at any one time. How fortunate we are to have such a repository, dedicated to the care of our taonga.
There is so much more to learn about our flora and fauna, our oceans and landforms, and the history of human settlement here, and Te Papa has a role to play in filling those gaps in our knowledge – from ancient waka uncovered after a storm, the identification of thousands of plants and insects yet unnamed, to assisting iwi with the provenance of taonga.
Richard and I have been privileged to go into the storage areas and meet some of the wonderful people whose passion and knowledge is so vital to the preservation of our history, and who are undertaking research that will expand our knowledge about Aotearoa and our place in the world.
Tonight, as we mark ten years since Te Papa Foundation was launched by my predecessor, Dame Patsy Reddy, I want to extend my sincere thanks to everyone involved with the Foundation for helping Te Papa to fulfil its mission.
Your involvement and generosity matters, and you can take satisfaction in knowing that you are playing such a vital role in expanding and preserving our understanding of our natural world and cultural history.
Kia ora huihui tātou katoa.