Auckland War Museum Promises to Disrupt ‘Colonial Narratives’

The museum says it will ’move from a colonial museum to a Te Tiriti-led museum,' and may repatriate some items in its collection.

An aerial view of the Auckland War Memorial Museum, in Auckland, New Zealand. krug_100/Shutterstock

The Auckland War Memorial Museum—visited by almost 900,000 people in 2022/23—says it intends to move from being “a colonial museum” to one which focuses on the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand’s founding document.

“This builds upon our bicultural foundation, which in our context recognises Māori as Tangata Whenua [indigenous people],” it says in its 2024/25 draft annual plan.