As we near the end of 2018, the museum team is working on finalising our future schedule of exhibition offerings.
A major social history exhibition with a current working title of, Ring of Fire: the history of Marineland is planned to open in mid-2020. Ring of Fire will explore the turbulent history of Marineland, a sea mammal park set up in 1964 on Marine Parade, Napier.
In 1964, Napier City Council mayor Peter Tait commissioned an Auckland architectural firm to design an aquarium and dolphin pool for the site. By late January 1965, when the venue was complete, Frank Robson, a commercial fisherman, caught Marineland's first common dolphin, Daphne, from the moana off Hawke's Bay. The facility opened officially two days later: Robson subsequently became Marineland's first dolphin trainer and director.
To fill the new tank, regular dolphin drives were undertaken. This traumatic experience caused many of the captured dolphins to die prematurely. The highly intelligent and social creatures found it difficult to thrive in captivity, and this, along with internal Marineland politics, proved controversial throughout the institution's life.
Marineland was set up as a tourist attraction with a showbiz atmosphere, personalising sea mammals to please the audience. Flash the sea lion had a repertoire of tricks including balancing on one of his flippers with a ball on his nose; Bluey the penguin, after rigorous lessons, learnt how to precariously balance on a moving skateboard. The all-time favourites of the show were the dolphins, twisting and somersaulting in the air, solo or in unison, with some leaping as high as five metres.
