Gatherings on the Manukau exhibition

The Manukau Harbour is the second largest in Aotearoa. Loved and enjoyed by many, Te Manukanuka o Houturoa has always been a source for food gathering and has long provided the means for navigating the expansive coastline.

Photographs from the Auckland Libraries heritage collections form the basis of this exhibition which is on now at Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery in Titirangi, Auckland.

Ref: John Thomas Diamond, The shoreline on the Cornwallis Peninsula with John Diamond rod fishing, 1957. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, JTD-08E-00513-2

This exhibition will travel around the edges of the Manukau Harbour as if spread by Te Hau a Uru, the wind that blows from the west, from Titirangi to Waiuku.

7-28 September 2017: Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery, Titirangi.
30 September-14 October 2017: Nathan Homestead, Manurewa.
17 October-4 November 2017: Waiuku Library, Waiuku.

Ref: James Richardson, Stereograph of the Nihotupu Creek, 14 April 1923. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, TAB-P-0243

The images serve to illustrate the rich bounty of the harbour in former times and present recorded journeys made across the breadth and length of this waterway.

Ref: Isabel Hooker, Auckland Tramping Club members on a launch off Onehunga, 1942, Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, JTD-19K-03087

Conserving and sustainably using the world’s oceans, seas and marine resources underpins the kaupapa of this exhibition. It directs our focus to the remediation and restoration of all aspects of the Manukau Harbour.

Ref: Unknown photographer, A view of the mudflats at low tide on the Manukau Harbour,
27 December 1920. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, Footprints 04615

 

While the exhibition is on at Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery there is a free drop in activity for children -- colouring in their very own seafaring flag.

Ref: Unknown photographer. Rod Finlayson and his wife Ruth with a catch of flounder, Weymouth, about 1969. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, Footprints 1.

Manukau Gathering Day is a related event happening this Saturday 16 September 2017 from 10am - 4pm.

At this event, we invite you to contribute photographs, letters, objects, posters and newspaper clippings which relate to the Manukau Harbour. Some of these items will be scanned or photographed to become part of the exhibition when added to the photograph album or the scrapbook and they will travel around the other exhibition venues.

You will also get a chance to meet Sharon Smith, Senior Librarian of Archives and Manuscripts from Auckland Libraries, who has curated this exhibition and has a wealth of knowledge about our unique harbour.

Author: Zoë Colling