Northland Kauri Museum to celebrate grand opening of Forest Walkway

People can enjoy the Kauri Museum's new feature, The Forest Walkway, for free in Matakohe this weekend. Photo / Ellen Smith

Cutting-edge technology will bring people closer to Northland’s natural giants as the Kauri Museum opens its new Forest Walkway.

Around 100 guests are expected to gather at the museum in Matakohe on Saturday for a dawn ceremony to officially open the walkway to the public.

The new walkway features a forest of tall kauri ‘trees’ - which are in fact light boxes - which lead museum-goers through a newly built space to the sound of nature. New Zealand company Story Inc created the forest via cutting-edge technology.

The additions are part of a multi-phase project supported by a $3 million grant from the Provincial Development Unit.

Kauri Museum director Barbara Hilden said the Forest Walkway is the museum’s most significant undertaking in more than a decade.

She was delighted the work could be unveiled for the public to enjoy, which they are able to do for free this weekend.

“It’s been a long time in the making but we are thrilled with the result,” Hilden said.

The Forest Walkway represents a significant shift in the types of stories told by the museum, she explained.

“Everyone involved has done a wonderful job of modernising how we share information in a very experiential and powerful way.

“We are on a journey to expand beyond our origins as a settler-oriented community museum into one that tells a national story from a variety of diverse viewpoints.”

Hilden said traditional settler collections are facing challenges with not only attracting visitors in today’s digital world but in recognising themes of decolonisation.

“He tina ki runga, he tāmore ki raro - in order to flourish above, one must be firmly rooted below.”

Museum board chairman Grant McCallum said funds for redevelopment included creating a research centre where people are able to access museum collections and archives, as well as undertake genealogical research, and better understand the significance of kauri.

The museum has been telling the story of the kauri tree since it opened more than 60 years ago in 1962, a tale that is deeply rooted in Northland given kauri once covered 1.2 million hectares from the Far North to near Kawhia.

The importance of kauri was acknowledged in 1952 when the Waipoua Sanctuary on the west coast of Kaipara was declared, and again in 1987 when all remaining kauri forests in Crown land came under the protection of the Department of Conservation. Kauri trees on private land are also largely protected. However, kauri dieback remains a major threat to their survival.