On Friday the 26th of May, students from Te Ao Marama went on a trip to Te Papa to learn about Pacific and Aotearoa history. Each class split up into different rooms, and rotated between each area. Sometimes more than one class would go in the same area together, and after exploring classes met up to go to the next room.

While room 13 was on their own tour around the Wellington waterfront, visiting some of the local galleries, rooms 14,16 and 17 started on the fourth floor exploring the Manu Whenua exhibition. There we experienced stories that celebrate Māori as tangata whenua. There was a whare on site where we were able to explore and acknowledge the history and detail of its carvings. Everyone enjoyed walking around looking through all the countries of the Pasifika that were part of the navigation to Aotearoa.

One of the main reasons we went to Te Papa was to go through a guided tour of the Gallipoli exhibition. When we first went through, we were shocked by the very realistic soldier lying on the floor. The tour made us feel very grateful for the soldiers who fought for us.

Mihi mo te panui