Tuia – Encounters 250 commemorated 250 years since the first onshore meetings between Māori and Pākehā in 1769–70. It also celebrated the voyaging heritage of Pacific people that led to the settlement of Aotearoa New Zealand many generations before. Use the links below to learn more about these aspects of our history, as well as to access educational resources for teachers and parents.
Our Te Moananui a Kiwa (Pacific) voyaging heritage
Learning for children Includes the Tuia Mātauranga education programme
Our Te Moananui a Kiwa (Pacific) voyaging heritage
A genealogical – geographical song for waka hourua written and transcribed by Dr Wayne Ngata (PDF).
Discover the history of Pacific migrations from ancient times until the first people arrived in Aotearoa on Te Ara.
Watch this documentary about Sir Hekenukumai Busby’s project to retrace Kupe’s course across the Pacific.
The NZHistory website explores the history of voyaging and discovery in Te Moananui (the Pacific).
Award-winning website from iwi of Turanganui-a-Kiwa (Gisborne) about their ancestors’ voyaging and arrival stories.
Learn about how people navigated without instruments on the NZ Science Learning Hub website.
Follow Kupe’s journey around Aotearoa and connect to the places he visited in this online exhibition.
Encounters in 1769–70
An essay by historian Dame Anne Salmond about Pacific exploration and discovery from pre-human times to Cook (PDF).
Learn about the first meetings and encounters between Māori and Pākehā on the NZHistory website.
Land and Information NZ’s webpage that tells the story of 30 place names around Aotearoa associated with Cook.
What was life like in Aotearoa before Captain Cook reached these shores? Immerse yourself in the everyday world of Māori.
Learning for children
The Ministry of Education is delivering the Tuia Mātauranga 2019 education programme to support teaching and learning, highlighting people, places and events that have contributed to the rich history of Aotearoa New Zealand. The programme is aimed at inspiring children and young people, with their parents and whānau, to know their own stories of whakapapa and identity, and to explore facts from the past that have shaped their country and community.
Explore the Ministry of Education’s Tuia 250 national programme for all young learners.
Curiosity Cards, available from the National Library website, help spark student inquiry about Tuia 250 topics.
Stories from Land of Voyagers
This series of short videos was developed for the Land of Voyagers website, a Tuia 250 project by Taylormade Media.
Video about the voyage of discovery undertaken over 4,000 years ago by our Polynesian tupuna.
How does a star compass help navigators find, and keep their direction on the waka hourua?
There are two types of technology on the waka hourua, the brains of the navigators and the tracking gizmos.
The life of the Tahitian navigator and high priest who travelled to Aotearoa on the Endeavour.
HMB Endeavour: Sydney to Tauranga
A glimpse at life onboard the HMB Endeavour as it set off to join the Tuia 250 flotilla.
An entertaining look at how waka hourua allowed Noe’s Polynesian ancestors to travel huge distances across the Pacific.
Noe introduces us to the ways the Master Navigator prepares and how you go to the next level.
