Exhibitions | Te Manawa

Museum | Current Exhibitions

Coming Soon

Exhibition title - Children's Holocaust Memorial, with a button and a black and white photo of a child

19 February - 27 JuneChildren's Holocaust Memorial

The New Zealand Children’s Holocaust Memorial is a collection of 1.5 million buttons, gathered from all over the world. Each one represents a child who perished during the holocaust. It was established to honour and give a voice to the children, and serve as a reminder to stand up to prejudice, discrimination and apathy.

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Opening 3 JulyCurious Contraptions

A fully interactive exhibition of automata from New Zealand and the UK. More than fifty finely crafted tiny machines create a perfect blend of engineering and whimsy, coming to life with the press of a button or the turn of a handle. Every object is bursting with character in an exhibition sure to delight young and old alike.

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Museum | Every day

Every dayTe Rangi Whenua

Te Taiwhanga o Te Rangi Whenua (Te Rangi Whenua Gallery) shares the stories of iwi groups in the Manawatū, Rangitīkei and Horowhenua regions.

Women and children in Victorian clothes stand outside the Tōtaranui cottage

By arrangementHeritage Buildings

The Te Manawa site includes two historic buildings: the Awahou schoolhouse and the cottage, Totaranui, believed to be the oldest residence in Palmerston North. Guided tours of these buildings are now available by arrangement, and entry is free (kōha welcome).

A view toward the cave section of Te Awa

Every dayTe Awa - The River

The Manawatū river is the life-blood of our region. Learn more about its history, meet its inhabitants, explore how we use water and discover how our region was formed. This exhibition includes The Water Room (which runs twice a week), a native fish tank, bug specimens, a cave walk-through and an impressive moa skeleton.

A group of children in the 1950s caravan

Every dayManawatū Journeys

Manawatū has always been a place that people have journeyed through; some stay for a long time, others only briefly. Quite often they leave behind an object that tells the story of their travels. Bringing them together in one large collection, Manawatū Journeys uses these mementos to tell the bigger story of settlement in our region.