Te Papa says it’s facing a “critical moment” in the wake of a dramatic protest that took staff by surprise. On December 11, a protester abseiled from the ceiling of the museum armed with spray paint and an angle grinder to deface a panel displaying the English version of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Azaria Howell looks at how the protest unfolded through documents released under the Official Information Act, and the struggle since to decide whether to keep the damaged panel or take it down.
The day of the protest
Two weeks before Christmas, staff at Te Papa were going about their work oblivious to the chaos about to unfold on level four.
Just before lunch, a group of Te Waka Hourua protesters said to be disguised as workers wearing hi-vis and hard hats made their way to the “Signs of a Nation” exhibit.
Their target was the English display panel of the Treaty of Waitangi. Together they worked to redact entire phrases of Hobson’s translation, dousing the panel in black spray paint and damaging the surface with an angle grinder. The scene was dramatic, with one protester abseiling from the ceiling to inflict the damage.
Police were quickly on the scene, and at 12.15pm Te Papa’s head of strategy and governance emailed another staffer informing them of what was going down. A brief email stated, “Protestors in treaty exhibition. Police on site removing people”.
Police arrested 12 people. A 29-year-old man was charged with intentional damage, obstructing police, and breach of bail. A 53-year-old woman was charged with intentional damage, and a 46-year-old man and 52-year-old woman were both charged with breach of bail.
Eight arrested for trespass were escorted outside and released without charge.
Just after 1pm, a Te Papa spokeswoman confirmed what had happened in an official statement. “The wooden display panel showing the English translation of Te Tiriti o Waitangi was damaged with spray paint and some kind of power tool.”
Level four of the museum, which housed the controversial display, would be shut for the rest of the day, she said. The display itself would be closed until further notice.
An official report shows the museum assumed the abseiling protestor had accessed a light rack from the balcony of level six. It recommended the museum ensure access is blocked off in future.
At 1.15pm a forensic officer arrived at the scene with staff urged to stay away.
At 2.20pm Te Papa head of Mātauranga Māori Migoto Eria sent an email to several senior leaders.
“There was a protest in signs of the nation. people posing to be workers: hi vis, hard hats had cordoned off the area and a man abseiled down the English version of the treaty and started sanding and spray painting over the words.”
Te Papa staff started emailing each other about the drama, sharing news articles to compare reports of what had gone down. One worker wrote, “Hmm, wondering if they need to take the English version off display in He Tohu”.
Staff also monitored social media, noting members of the public had linked the action to the influence of the coalition Government.
A person, whose email signature was redacted, emailed Te Papa just before 2pm saying, “I was worried with the new govt that the real Treaty would be attacked. I don’t really care about TP’s exhibit but I would be so devastated if something happened to the real one. It makes me want to cry thinking about it.”
Just before 3pm, a manager emailed “What’s happened??”. The recipient was redacted.
On the evening of December 11, staff checked to see if the bolts holding up the display were damaged, and added cleaners would be on-site in the morning, without the need for bollards to be installed.
A health and safety incident report in the days following showed a staff member had been “badly affected” by paint fumes from the protest. The email sent to research librarian Martin Lewis read, “Please do not be too hard on yourself. This protest activity took us all by surprise. It developed very quickly and there are learnings for all of us from it.”
The aftermath
A full incident report into the protest shows Te Papa staff decided to cover the exhibit with a drop sheet and de-install it. “Can’t remove exhibition until Wednesday,” it read.
On Wednesday, two days after the defacing, an early-morning meeting was held when a decision was made to reopen level four. Signage would also be reviewed and “possibly replaced” during the day.
Senior leadership agreed on a medium to long-term plan for the space, floating the idea of getting contemporary artists in to “refresh” the exhibition. Conversations were to be held with the protest group, the Iwi Chairs Forum, and mana whenua. A group was set up to oversee potential changes.
On Wednesday evening, advice was sent out to staff about Treaty Negotiations and Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Paul Goldsmith’s visit, scheduled for the next day. Most of the email was redacted.
A press secretary, whose name was blacked out, suggested Goldsmith wanted to see the “Signs of a Nation” exhibit.
Pieces of paper had been left on the floor of the exhibit with some museum staff speaking of potentially trespassing the individuals thought to be involved.
A Te Papa research fellow told staff she would be happy to help collate information, adding, “Though appalled by protestors our exhibition adjustments back in 2012? Did not go far enough because of [the] cost for a major change.”
The email warned the “Signs of a Nation” exhibit could be a target for further protests; leaders were told to speak to others about their safety and wellbeing at work.
Te Papa provided workers with a list of pre-prepared statements for Friday when its new dinosaurs exhibit was unveiled. Staff were told, if asked, they should point out that the area was a space for debating the meaning and application of the Treaty, and that the museum was considering its next steps.
On Friday, December 15, Te Papa’s head of Mātauranga Māori Migoto Eria emailed the museum head of History and Pacific Cultures Dr Safua Akeli Amaama, proposing a chat about the “stuff going on” regarding the exhibit.
“I can’t say I’ve been having a great time with it all, and our leaders need strong direction and advice. Monday’s meeting will be telling - I feel like we’re very behind on what’s happening next and in particular the protest group,” Eria’s email read.
That Sunday, a person whose name was redacted, emailed the museum to call the defaced panel “art,” and urged Te Papa to keep it visible. The email was forwarded to someone, whose name was also redacted, from Te Papa’s tours email, which appeared to poke fun at the opinion which was being shared.
“This got me good on a Sunday Morn! Hilarious! I will let you reply to this (if you can be bothered) for I may stray into the realm of sarcasm and disrespect and may not reflect Te Papa’s values,” the email, from Te Papa tours, said.
A day later, Te Papa’s head of sector development Victoria Esson thanked staff for their work “managing a complex and evolving issue”.
Signs of unrest
Te Papa was aware of the controversy surrounding its “Signs of a Nation” exhibition well before December and had plans to review it, although nothing had been done.
In 2021, the same protest group had called on Te Papa to take down the English translation panel of Te Tiriti o Waitangi in a demonstration a museum leader called “peaceful” at the time.
In October of that year, Te Papa’s audience and insight director Puwai Cairns emailed Te Waka Hourua telling them their kōrero was taken on board.
“We are in the early stages of renewing and replacing that exhibition. The display is more than 20 years old and we recognise that ways of communicating about the Treaty have changed considerably since then. It needs to evolve, and it will.”
On the morning of December 11, 2023, the display had not changed.
Internal communications from 2023 show Te Papa leaders did not press play on the idea of replacing the exhibit, as previously stated.
An email sent to staff informed them that while the museum was expecting to review and renew the exhibit, “the project was not initiated and the work has not begun, beyond high-level informal discussions”.
Risk and reward
On December 13, two days after the protest, “reputation advice” was sent to staff from Te Papa’s head of marketing and communications, Kate Camp.
Camp spoke of the risks of keeping the panel up, and the risks of taking it down. She said practically, there were fears having the damaged panel visible could create “an increased security risk of incidents in the museum,” and could bring about more “difficult interactions” for staff.
The idea of keeping the defaced panel up was also said to potentially create an opportunity for discussion. Camp questioned whether it is appropriate to keep it visible, “as the damage itself is of historical and cultural significance”.
Reputational risks and benefits were heavily mentioned in the document – with no clear consensus. The note from the museum’s comms leader said “actions that enhance our reputation with some people will damage it with others”.
Keeping the panel up was said to damage Te Papa’s reputation by potentially creating copycat incidents, suggesting the museum agrees with the protest group’s perspective, making the space feel “unsafe”, suggesting a “lack of care”, and highlighting a security breach.
Four bullet points were provided in favour of keeping the panel up, including potentially demonstrating openness and transparency. It was said the protest action being visible aligned the museum with its role as a “forum for the nation”, showing “courage” in facing what’s said to be difficult issues “including where our own failures may be implicated”.
Camp added the visible etchings in the defaced panel could act as “a tacit acknowledgement that the display was flawed”.
In the end, Camp decided keeping the panel up would be the riskier option.
“I believe that the reputation risks of keeping the damaged display visible for a long period outweigh the risks of removing it.”
It was said the museum would talk about the next steps by late February.
A further document suggested the museum feared further reputational risks could occur if the panel was removed, attracting further attention. It was decided that should a decision be made to remove the panel, a public announcement would be made after it had occurred.
A comms workshop was held on December 21, with messaging including it was an opportunity to educate, and the museum was a place for debating tough conversations. The museum was considering an alternative to police and security guards being put in place, such as Māori wardens.
The day after, a person called the museum threatening to come and clean the English version of Te Tiriti, or they would “do the same” to all Māori artefacts in the museum. The sender’s name was redacted, and the email was shared with security, and Te Papa’s communications lead. “They are not playing games,” the email warned.
Internal emails reveal police were called and traced the complainer to a Christchurch address. The caller was said to not pose an immediate threat, and Te Papa staff were told Christchurch police were following up on the incident.
The caller was given a warning and urged not to contact the museum again.
On Sunday, January 7 a person was said to have thrown their shoe at the defaced exhibit, leaving a mark.
‘Bold’ decision-making needed
At the start of this year, Kate Camp sent out an internal briefing saying what happened to the Te Tiriti exhibit should be treated as a “critical moment in the evolution of Te Papa”. She warned if the museum was passive, opportunities would be lost.
“My vision is that when the new exhibition is opened in that space, everyone at Te Papa feels a sense of pride and ownership, feels it’s been an opportunity for learning and growth for our kaimahi [staff], and that Te Papa has been inclusive, bold and honourable.”
Camp shared a vision for honest, inclusive, and open conversations about Te Tiriti. “That we can look back and say that during this contested period of misinformation and distrust, Te Papa was able to leverage its reputation to create something bold, meaningful, lasting – a real asset for the nation.”
An oversight group was set up for the exhibit to help guide the “refreshment” of the exhibit and facilitate engagement with Māori.
At the end of January, head of exhibition content Frith Williams gave her ideas to senior leadership, suggesting the panel should remain up for six to 12 months, whilst the museum planned for longer-term renewal of the exhibit.
Renewing the exhibit was thought to take at least a year: “Rush it and we risk shooting ourselves in the foot and doing everyone a disservice,” Williams warned.
Te Papa’s leadership team met on January 30, noting there was a need for Māori to have a place to discuss Te Tiriti.
Te Papa’s board met on February 8 to continue the conversation - a significant portion of the discussion was out of the scope of the Official Information Act request, and subsequently redacted, though communications reveal over the next three months Te Papa pledged to be a “Tiriti-based museum”.
Azaria Howell is a Wellington-based multimedia reporter with an eye across the region. She joined NZME in 2022 and has a keen interest in city council decisions, social housing and transport.