About US
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'Jessie Readman' ashore on Taupeka Beach, 23 December 1893
History of the Museum
The Chatham Islands Museum was established in 1971 in a room of the Waitangi Store. Supported by the Council and Community the collections grew and in 1976 an appeal was launched for funds to build a museum for the Islands. Then a two-roomed museum was opened in March 1979.
In 2010 the Council seconded a staff member to manage the much expanded collections and to compile a database of the objects, photographs and archives held. They also established the Chatham Islands Museum and Cultural Heritage Charitable Trust, with three Trustees, to enable the museum to apply for grant funds to assist in the conservation of the collection and to engage with other museums throughout New Zealand.
Over the next few years further Trustees were appointed (now totalling nine) and on 1 November 2016, with the signing of an MoU between the Trust and the Council, the Trust became a stand-alone, more independent organization supported by annual funding from the Council.
The Chatham Islands Museum and Cultural Heritage Charitable Trust proudly opened the new purpose built Chatham Islands Museum to visitors in February 2022.
The Chatham Islands Museum
is governed by The Chatham Islands Museum & Cultural Heritage Charitable Trust, registered with the Charities Commission. The Museum's Trust Deed sets out its responsibilities, namely to:
a) promote and enhance the collection, through the recording and conservation of cultural heritage taonga, both physical and non-physical, and to display or make these available for viewing or study by Chatham Islands’ residents and visitors;
b) to undertake, support and encourage research and education activities in relation to Chatham Islands’ cultural heritage resources or values; and
c) to join with other similar museums to exchange, borrow or receive material where this will assist the purposes of the Trust and under conditions that fully protect the mana and security of kaitiakitanga of the Trust.
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Resident Magistrate Robert Stone Florance with his family at the Tikitiki residence, ca1902
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