Treaty’s National Tour For Porirua

16 January 2006

Treaty’s National Tour For Porirua’s Elements Festival

A massive semi trailer will roll into Porirua early next month bringing to the city the exciting new TREATY 2 U national touring exhibition on the Treaty of Waitangi.

It goes on show at the Festival of the Elements on Waitangi Day, February 6, and is a coup for Porirua, which will get the exhibition ahead of central Wellington in March.

TREATY 2 U is presented by three organisations with leading roles in looking after New Zealand’s treasures - Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Archives New Zealand and the National Library of New Zealand. It is also supported by the State Services Commission (SSC) Treaty Information Unit.

The exhibition is staged in the specially designed semi trailer, which opens out to present a unique display where the public can experience the Treaty through video, cartoons, animated graphics and the latest in interactive technology.

Te Papa’s Director of History and the curator of the TREATY 2 U exhibition, Dr Claudia Orange, says TREATY 2 U covers the events that led up to the Treaty, from first contact between Mäori and Päkehä, to lengthy debate the night before signing.

“It explains what is written in the documents and the crucial differences between the Mäori and English versions. The exhibition follows the documents’ journeys during 1840 as more signatures were sought. It also looks at the varying expectations held by Mäori and Päkehä groups.” Dr Orange says.

Festival of the Elements Coordinator Margaret Armour says it is significant that, on Waitangi Day, the exhibition will be on show at the Porirua Festival of the Elements, which promotes the cultural diversity made possible by the Treaty.

TREATY 2 U also displays replicas of the original nine Treaty documents, especially ‘aged’ by Titahi Bay’s Daniel Reeve who worked on the documents featured in the Lord of The Rings film trilogy.

Reeve is internationally known for his calligraphy and cartography work in films including all three of the LOTR movies, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and King Kong.

He is also appearing at the Festival of the Elements, displaying his work in the Pataka Museum of Arts & Culture.

The Porirua Festival of the Elements will be held from 10am through to the Festival Fireworks Spectacular at 9.45pm.

The Festival programme is available on the Festival of the Elements website at www.elementsfestival.co.nz

ENDS

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