Honolulu's Bishop Museum holds treasures once owned by the royal family. Photo / Supplied
Honolulu's Bishop Museum holds treasures once owned by the royal family. Photo / Supplied
Graeme Lay visits a museum featuring an arresting display of Hawaii’s colourful history.
The neighbourhood doesn't look promising. The street corner the bus has dropped me off at is surrounded by the dull suburbia of outer Honolulu.
But following the bus driver's instructions, I take a short walk down the hill and there, amid the nondescript streets, is the entrance to Hawaii's renowned cultural institution, the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum.
Having read of the museum's reputation as an institution for the preservation and presentation of Hawaii's heritage, it was gratifying to be here at last. At the front desk, I'm greeted by Kelli, the Bishop's Communications Supervisor.
Kelli leads me out on to a sloping lawn, at the head of which is an imposing, three-storeyed, block-stone Victorian building. This is the original Bishop Museum, and still its heart.
"It was built between 1889 and 1903," Kelli explains. Founded by New Yorker Charles Reed Bishop, the museum was dedicated his late wife, Bernice Pauahi Bishop, a descendant of the first king of all Hawaii, Kamehameha the Great.
In the museum's archives, which hold 2.4 million historic photographs, artworks and rare Pacific books and materials, I meet historian and author DeSoto Brown. We discuss the achievements of explorer James Cook. I ask whether Cook actually was the first Haole (European) to come across the archipelago of eight islands.
It's known that when Cook first arrived here in 1778 the Hawaiians already had knowledge of iron, and prized it highly. But since iron does not occur in Hawaii naturally, how did they know of it? Did other Europeans bring it here, earlier? Cook theorised that the Hawaiians' knowledge of the substance derived from iron salvaged from the wreckage of Spanish galleons, sailing west out of Central and South America from the 16th century onwards. "To the Hawaiians iron was a miraculous substance," DeSoto explains. "Before then they had only stone and wood. So when they came upon wreckage containing iron it was as if a meteorite had fallen to Earth."
Later, in the Bishop's art gallery, Kelli draws my attention to a 1783 oil painting depicting the death of Cook, by English artist George Carter. The great explorer was stabbed to death on 14 February 1779, on the shore of Hawaii's Kealakekua Bay. Ironically, the weapons used to kill him included some of the very iron daggers the Hawaiians had traded their produce for with the English sailors, just days earlier.
The premier gallery of the Bishop Museum is the recently renovated Hawaiian Hall. Built of native hardwood, it houses one of the world's finest anthropological collections on three galleried floors: Kao Akea (the ocean realm), Wao Kanaka (the realm of daily life) and Wao Lani (the realm inhabited by the gods).
The three levels contain a treasure trove of pan-Pacific artefacts: deity images, outrigger canoes, slit drums, woven mats, basalt adzes, shark-toothed clubs, kapa (tapa) cloth and carved dance masks. The artefacts are superbly presented, from the traditional Hawaiian "Hale Pili" (House of Grass) on the ground floor to the preserved remains of a gigantic sperm whale which hangs from the ceiling, one flank cut away to reveal its bone structure.
The hall also shows interviews with Pacific experts, including the region's most renowned scholar, Japanese archaeologist Yoshiko Sinoto, the great-grandfather of Pacific archaeology.
The Hawaiian Hall's architecture and contents are stunning. I could spend days here.
Aloha shirts in the Bishop Museum. Photo / Supplied
For a New Zealander, these displays are a reminder that we share with the Hawaiians the Pacific's natural and cultural sphere. Our land marks the southern apex of the great Polynesian triangle - Hawaii, Easter Island and New Zealand - within which remarkable ocean canoe voyages occurred, long before European expeditions arrived in the Pacific.
The revival of traditionally navigated, double-hulled canoe voyaging - which began with the voyage of the canoe Hokulea from Hawaii to Tahiti in 1976 - has also stimulated interest in the Pacific's pre-European history.
A separate, elegant room houses genealogical displays and portraits of Hawaiian ali'i (royalty), from the illustrious Kamehameha I (1758-1819) to his many influential descendants. These include Queen Lili'uokalani, who was overthrown in 1893 by a group of US businessmen. This led to the annexing by the US of the Hawaiian islands, in 1898. Hawaii gained full statehood in 1959.
Museum aficionados visiting the Bishop should set aside at least a full day to do justice to its many treasures and presentations.
Out again in the bright sunlight, looking across the sweep of lawn to the distant towers of Honolulu's CBD, I pause to watch a group of elderly Hawaiian men crafting traditional artefacts in the shade of the great museum. This seems a fitting location for their labours.
CHECKLIST
Getting there: Air New Zealand flies direct to Honolulu from Auckland with up to four return services per week.
Details:The Bishop Museum, 1525 Bernice St, is open to the public every day except Tuesday, 9am-5pm.
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Bridget Fogarty, House of Travel's Assistant Destination Manager, shares her top tips on how to make the most of your trip to Hawaii.
1) For the best shopping bargains, head to Waikele Premium Outlets where you can save up to 65% on brands such as Levi's and Vans. Or, closer to Waikiki, shop 'til you drop at the world's largest open air shopping centre - Ala Moana. With over 290 shops and counting you'll find something for everyone.
2) Dine at some of our favourite restaurants such as Morimoto's, Nobu and Duke's Waikiki.
3) Escape the hustle of Waikiki and hire a convertible for the day to check out the famous North Shore Beaches. Make sure you stop off for lunch at one of the famous shrimp trucks or cool off with some shave ice on your tiki tour of the beautiful island of O'ahu.
4) For amazing snorkelling head to the marine conservation area of Hanauma Bay but get there early as it is very popular!
5) If you've always wanted to learn to surf or try the new craze of stand-up paddle boarding, head along to the Waikiki Beach Boys hut on the beach and they'll teach all they know. With calm waves, Waikiki Beach is the best place to learn.
