Canterbury Museum marks 150 years: World's last huia nest on display

Canterbury Museum is celebrating its 150th anniversary.

The world's last remaining huia nest is on show at the Canterbury Museum to mark its 150th anniversary.

The huia was the largest of the five New Zealand wattlebird species, the last accepted sighting was in 1907.

The nest is one of the rarely-seen taonga on show in a Christchurch Heritage Festival exhibition marking the museum's birthday.

The world's last remaining huia nest. Photo / Supplied

Since its opening day in 1870, the museum's collection has grown from 25,000 objects to more than 2.3 million.

To mark the 150th anniversary, 31 of these taonga (treasures) have emerged from the Museum's storerooms to be displayed in the exhibition House of Treasures: Ngā Taonga Tuku Iho.

Highlights from the exhibition include the boots Sir Edmund Hillary wore when he summited Mount Everest, the dress Kate Sheppard wears on the $10 note, and the only remaining nest of New Zealand's extinct native huia bird.

The items range in size from the 4.5 metre-long South Island Giant Moa skeleton to the 0.63mm long fairy fly – one of the smallest flying insects in the world.

Museum Director Anthony Wright said the exhibition is an opportunity for cantabrians to view some of their more rarely-seen treasures.

"Some of these objects don't go on display very often, either because they're too delicate, like the Kate Sheppard dress, or because we just don't have the space.

"The huia nest is one of my absolute favourites. It's the only known nest in the world, which makes for very poignant viewing."

The objects in the exhibition are drawn from a book the Museum has produced celebrating its 150th year on Rolleston Avenue.

The exhibition, House of Treasures: Ngā Taonga Tuku Iho, is on Level 3 of the Museum until june 13 next year.

The Christchurch Heritage Festival opens on 24 October and runs until 8 November.