Treasures go on show at Waitangi

The Blowing up of the Boyd, in a protective crate weighing more than 300kg, arrives at the Museum of Waitangi by truck from Te Papa on Monday. PHOTO / PETER DE GRAAF

Some of New Zealand's national treasures are arriving in Waitangi this week ahead of the opening next February of the new Museum of Waitangi.

The Blowing up of the Boyd, a famous 1889 painting depicting an attack 80 years earlier on a brig in Whangaroa Harbour ending in the accidental detonation of the ship's gunpowder store, arrived on Monday in a 300kg protective crate after a long journey from Te Papa in Wellington.

The Blowing up of the Boyd, 1889, by Louis Steel and Kenneth Watkins.

The latest arrival is a christening gown and gold-plated christening set given by Queen Victoria to her Maori godson, Albert Victor Pomare, in 1863.

The taonga, which have remained with his descendants in Northland ever since, were due to be handed over in a ceremony at the Treaty Grounds late yesterday. The objects are on long-term loan.

The Museum of Waitangi is being built next to the Treaty Grounds entrance at a cost of $14 million. The building has cost about $10 million, the permanent exhibition another $3.5 million.

It is due to be opened on February 5 by Governor-General Sir Jerry Mateparae and open to the public on February 7.

The building itself, by Kaikohe firm Henwood Builders, is complete bar the finishing touches.

The exhibition has been designed and made by Wellington firm Workshop e. Most of the display cases, graphics, touchscreens and interactive displays have arrived and are now being assembled.

The main exhibition will house artefacts loaned by private collectors, families and museums around New Zealand and as far away as London. While the original Treaty of Waitangi won't form part of the display - staff at the National Archive say it is too fragile to be moved - one of only 50 copies of the first bilingual copy of the Treaty, printed in 1844, will be. The loaned copy is thought to be the only one in private hands.

Museum curator Kate Martin said the christening set and gown would form an especially poignant exhibit. During a delegation to England by northern rangatira in 1863, Queen Victoria heard that one of the women in the group was pregnant.

When the baby was born in London, the Queen, still mourning for her beloved Prince Albert, asked to be his godmother and presented the family with the gown and gilt cup and cutlery.

Named Albert Victor, her godson was a grandson of the chief Pomare II, one of the original signatories of the Declaration of Independence and the Treaty of Waitangi.

- See Saturday's Advocate to read more about the museum and Queen Victoria's Maori godson.