‘Don’t leave town until you’ve seen the country’ exhibition
New Zealanders have the reputation of being great overseas travellers. However they are also very proud of their own country and have explored its farthest corners, despite the often difficult terrain. In 2018 the way New Zealanders have travelled and holidayed in the past century was the theme of a Heritage Collections exhibition at Tāmaki Pātaka Kōrero, the Central City Library. You can listen to an interview with principal curator Georgia Prince about the exhibition, as well as a selection of oral history stories in our exhibition playlist . Listen to the track here The exhibition featured original photographs, diaries, maps, posters and oral histories from our collections. The title recalls the slogan of a Tourism department campaign from the 1980s: ‘ Don’t leave town until you’ve seen the country ’. The advertisement encouraged New Zealanders to explore their own back yard before heading off overseas on their OE. You can watch it online at Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision .