Exhibitions

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  • Domain Tales | 160 years of Ashburton Domain

    Ashburton Art Gallery and Museum 329 West Street, Ashburton, New Zealand

    Grandly named The Grange on Ashburton's first map in 1864, this fenced-off area designated for recreation was largely indistinguishable from the untouched countryside around it. It wasn’t until 1877 when a newly appointed gardener began a systematic programme of planting that the area began to develop. Today known as the Ashburton Domain, it has evolved into…

  • Mawhiti Tino Rawe | Clever Crustaceans

    Ashburton Art Gallery and Museum 329 West Street, Ashburton, New Zealand

    Crabs, shrimps, lobsters, barnacles, slaters and other crustaceans are the stars of this new mini exhibition at Ashburton Art Gallery and Museum, developed by NIWA and Te Papa. Opening on Saturday 28 September 2024, Mawhiti Tino Rawe | Clever Crustaceans is a playful exploration of the bizarre and diverse world of five marine crustaceans. They can change their shape,…

  • Bridging the chasm – 150 years of Ashburton District Railway

    Ashburton Art Gallery and Museum 329 West Street, Ashburton, New Zealand

    Arriving in August 1874, the Great Southern Railway opened Ashburton to the world. The station became the arrival and departure platform for thousands of people coming and going over the next 128 years until all passenger services ceased in 2002. It was, in its heyday, the central hub for our community. A railway trip was a day out…

  • Lost Luggage

    Ashburton Art Gallery and Museum 329 West Street, Ashburton, New Zealand

    Lost luggage includes items of luggage or personal goods left behind or that have not arrived at the correct destination with the passenger. Whether travelling by rail, bus, ship or airline, lost luggage usually and hopefully follows shortly after. Luggage with no claimant was (and in some cases, still is) forwarded to the nearest city,…

  • Land, Sea and Air

    Ashburton Art Gallery and Museum 329 West Street, Ashburton, New Zealand

    On 4 September 1939, the main headline of the day’s Ashburton Guardian newspaper was: “THE EMPIRE AT WAR”. This was the beginning of the Second World War for the people of Whakatere Ashburton. The pattern of what followed the declaration of war was familiar to those who had lived through the First World War. Patriotic…

  • Sharing Histories | Gifts of 2024

    Ashburton Art Gallery and Museum 329 West Street, Ashburton, New Zealand

    Each year new treasures are collected by museums all around the world and ours is no different. In the past year, a variety of items have been donated to the Ashburton Museum and Historical Society’s collection, which is housed and cared for by the Ashburton Art Gallery and Museum. The treasured objects, archives and photographs…

  • Puaka Matariki: I Tō Mātou Wāhi, In Our Place

    Ashburton Art Gallery and Museum 329 West Street, Ashburton, New Zealand

    Puaka and Matariki hold great significance for Māori, marking the beginning of the Māori New Year as these special whetū first appear in the midwinter sky. While the Matariki star cluster is celebrated by iwi across Aotearoa New Zealand, Kāi Tahu in Te Waipounamu also observe Puaka – the brightest star in the Orion constellation.…

  • Caught in the Moment: Guardian photographs of 1975

    Ashburton Art Gallery and Museum 329 West Street, Ashburton, New Zealand

    What moments in time did the Ashburton Guardian photographers capture around Whakatere Ashburton throughout 1975? This selection of photographs from our large collection of Guardian negatives will take you on a journey across various aspects of life in our district 50 years ago. Although some of these images were published in the daily newspaper, most…

  • SS Ventnor

    Ashburton Art Gallery and Museum 329 West Street, Ashburton, New Zealand

    In this exhibition, explore the story of the SS Ventnor, which sank off Hokianga Harbour in 1902 carrying the remains of nearly 500 Chinese goldminers being returned to their villages. When those remains washed ashore, local iwi and hapū buried them, and passed the story down through the generations.

  • Pop-up Exhibition | Ng King Bros. Chinese Market Garden Settlement

    Ashburton Art Gallery and Museum 329 West Street, Ashburton, New Zealand

    This Labour Weekend, Rokowhiria presents a pop-up display of "A New Era: Ng King Bros. Chinese Market Garden Settlement". This small exhibit features archaeological items from the original site, video interviews, and related objects from our collection - on display in our Learning Centre from 25-27 October 2025. Ng King Brothers Gardens was a commercial…