Nau mai ki te kawerongo o Ngā Taonga – welcome to our newsletter

In this edition we present another fascinating ‘Then and Now’ – this time in Dunedin Ōtepoti. This project compares archival film footage of the city with how it currently looks.
We learn about some critical work saving mātauranga Māori and we also take a look at some of the work of the iconic stop-motion animator Fred O’Neill.

Dunedin Then and Now

Take a step back through time and experience a new take on Dunedin heritage. Late last year we visited Ōtepoti and matched scenes from archival material in our collection with their present day locations to see what has changed and what is still the same. This blog has all the footage and more details about the project. Special thanks to our friends at Toitū Otago Settlers Museum for helping with our research.

Kia hoki whakamuri koe ki Ōtepoti o neherā. I tērā tau, i haere mātou ki Ōtepoti, ā, ka whakatauritea e mātou ētehi wāhi nō ngā kiriata tawhito kei ā mātou kohinga taonga ki aua wāhi i ēnei rangi kia kitea ai ngā mea rerekē me ngā mea riterite hoki. Kei tēnei rangitaki ngā kiriata katoa me ētehi atu kōrero mō te kaupapa. Ka nui rā te mihi ki a Toitū, arā te Whare Taonga o Otago Settlers i ā rātou tautoko i tā mātou rangahau.

Te Awe Kōtuku

Ngā Taonga is delighted to be delivering three important initiatives that will preserve critically endangered Mātauranga Māori as part of the Mātauranga Māori Te Awe Kōtuku programme being led by Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage. This includes preservation of the iconic Tangata Whenua series, community digitisation wānanga of at-risk audiovisual taonga, and a pilot programme of Traditional Knowledge (TK) labels.

E harikoa ana a Ngā Taonga kua whiwhi pūtea ia i te kaupapa Māturanga Māori a Te Awe Kōtuku nā te Manatū Taonga. Mā te pūtea nei e kōkiri ai a Ngā Taonga i ngā kaupapa nui e toru kia ora ai ētehi Mātauranga Māori e noho tata korehāhā ana.

Read more on our site or in this Stuff feature. 

Focus on Fred O’Neill

New Zealand animator Fred O’Neill (1919-1985) was a master of plasticine and stop-motion. His work won prizes around the world and is a delight to watch. This biography comes from our friends at NZ On Screen and showcases fun and creative O’Neill works from our collection.

OnScreen is a filmmaking competition open to all New Zealand high school students. There are plenty of prizes to win and some great judging categories (including best script, director, actor and ‘Magical Moment’). If you know a talented young filmmaker, let them know and get set for ‘action!’

• We're looking forward to the National Library of New Zealand's new exhibition Mīharo Wonder.
• Are you on social media? You can follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
• During our regular nitrate film windthrough, a staff member was quite delighted with this hand-painted cat. Stay tuned for an upcoming story about the windthrough process and why it's so important.

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