Mel Thompson

Mel Thompson

Mel is part of the Learning Team within Te Papa Tongarewa. She has a background in science, education & communication and has worked with researchers and curators to create these courses for you.

Location Aotearoa New Zealand

Activity

  • Oh how lovely, I hope you enjoy NZ. The knowledge you'll pick up in this course will really add to your experience!

  • Hello again Shirley, I think you'll enjoy this course :)

  • I'm so glad you're enjoying the course Irene!

  • Welcome Irene, I hope you enjoy your time in this course.

  • Yes wood, but not of the traditional native timbers.

    "Carvings for the wharenui were made by Whiting using the non-traditional material medium-density fibreboard (MDF) rather than rare native timber. This enabled the forming of unusual and elaborate three-dimensional shapes. Non-traditional colours as well as European, Asian, and Polynesian design...

  • Please do :)

  • Sorry to hear that Linda but your solution did make me laugh. Which links aren't working for you? I may need to find alternatives that aren't region locked if that is what's happening!

  • Kia ora, thank you for the feedback Linda. I have added the transcript to the text. :)

  • I'm so glad to hear that, Anne, thank you.

  • So true 'beth

  • Welcome Matylda, great to have you here!

  • Kia ora, welcome Rosella!

  • Thank you for sharing Jill, very interesting!

  • Welcome Jill, great to have you here

  • Welcome Lynn! Happy to have you learning with us

  • Welcome Nina, glad to have you here!

  • Kia ora Mark, welcome aboard!

  • Welcome Angela!

  • Very true, but New Zealand remained in the dark about such things for much longer!

    Gosh what I would give to have seen that museum though...

  • Beautiful description 'beth

  • Great insight Susan. I hope we are... it starts with facing that history head on and pulling the perspectives not told into the light.

  • Yes, fascinating!

  • Welcome Rebecca!

  • If it was indeed Te Papa you visited, this is probably the waka taua (war canoe) you recall. This waka is named "Teremoe" and was carved sometime in the 1800s.
    (sorry to link to google, but this is the best source of images as it has not yet been digitised by the museum...

  • Welcome Clare, I hope this course (and perhaps our sister course too) will give you a good start on that journey!

  • Lovely to have you here Gillian, welcome!

  • I'm so glad you're enjoying it Tracy!

  • Welcome to the course Ian!

  • I'm glad you found it interesting, Connie! I would love to visit Malta someday.

  • Thank you for your lovely feedback Ingrid

  • I'm sure travel is its own challenge if you aren't in Wellington. But once you get to the museum, this info may be helpful -
    https://www.tepapa.govt.nz/visit/plan-your-visit/accessibility

  • Kia ora Anne. You are part of a growing movement to bring this nations history and heritage back to the fore, so that we can hopefully move forward while respecting the past. We have a ways to go, but its so encouraging to see how many people are now seeking to fill gaps in their knowledge they may not have been aware of even a few years ago. Tēnā koe.

  • Brilliant! Thank you for sharing Anne. Always worthwhile to hear stories from kaumātua.

  • New Zealands two 'official' languages are Māori, and New Zealand sign language.

    However, English is by far the predominant language, and is considered a 'de facto' official language.

  • Welcome Paul!

  • Welcome Joanne, glad to have you learning with us!

  • I'm glad you enjoyed it, John!

  • Welcome Jan!

  • I'm so glad you enjoyed it!

  • Were you there? How terrifying.

  • Welcome Penelope, lovely to have you here

  • I encourage you to look at our sister course too Marguerite, it shows another side of New Zealand that is just as fascinating!
    https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/biodiversity-guardianship-and-the-natural-history-of-new-zealand-a-museum-perspective

  • Very admirable 'beth, welcome.

  • On that kind of timescale, I agree it seems futile. But there is beauty in protecting these wonders for other generations to marvel at while we can.

  • We hope to have you someday! Our borders are open again but tourism numbers are still lower than pre-COVID.

  • Great to hear!

  • There's so much about this amazing land that even most kiwis don't know (yet)

  • It's amazing to think of how big this whenua might have once been!

  • Not directly in the course content, but we did have a kōrero (chat) about them in the comments later on and shared some links. Keep an eye out for that.

  • Welcome Connie! Great to have you here. You may also enjoy our other course focused on the natural history of New Zealand - the two go very well together!

  • Indeed, it could have been a very different story!

  • Kia ora, thank you Andy

  • Sounds like a great course for you Laura, welcome!

  • Thank you for your kind words Zelda

  • You can zoom into the displays and detail panels of the walkthrough tour in step 3.4, you can also look at some objects more closely here, at Te Papas Collections Online
    https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/search/m%C4%81ori/results?pager=4

  • There are so many perspectives that's difficult to answer. There has been several Treaty settlements that have addressed grievances for some iwi, but there remains a lot of resentment and anger for others. There is a way to go.

  • Absolutely! The arrival of an apex mammalian predator like humans was something none of the other life here was at all prepared for.

  • You can turn on captions in the bottom right hand corner of the video!

  • Welcome to the course, Sheenagh!

  • That's great to hear! Thanks, Ruth

  • That's a fair and important question. You can read more about how the Waitangi Tribunal (the entity charged with ruling on Treaty disputes) navigates that question here:
    https://waitangitribunal.govt.nz/treaty-of-waitangi/meaning-of-the-treaty/

  • @AnneStewartBall Welcome Anne, lovely to have you here!

  • They didn't come from quite so far away as Hawaii, but somewhere near Tahiti. So still from the same hemisphere (while still an incredible journey by canoe!), and perhaps they brought some form of the maramataka to Aotearoa with them and adapted it to the local climate over time to help them know when to begin planting or harvesting here.

  • You're not wrong!

  • Welcome John, we're happy to have you here!

  • Thanks so much!

  • Gorse everywhere!

  • That's so wonderful to hear Mary, thank you!

  • Which link Gill? They're working for me but if there's an issue I will try to fix it!

  • Thank you for that reflection Jan, very true.

  • What lovely feedback Dorothee, thank you.

  • Welcome Harry!

  • Thanks so much Lav!

  • Island biogeography is a fascinating subject and NZ is a great example of it. Other places similarly "weird" are Hawaii, the Galapagos Islands and Madagascar.

  • Welcome Mary, happy to have you here!

  • I'm so glad you enjoyed it Tracy!

  • Always fascinating to peek behind the curtain, isn't it!

  • What an inspirational lady

  • Understandable!

  • Pūrākau (Māori myths and legends) vary by iwi, but here are some interpretations of stories of creation, life, and death:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnOWHeJNbZM&list=PLM9s_6vtwoeYH1DvDjfC-teUjxLuNK-PS

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rd_6y0tPvqs&list=PLM9s_6vtwoebx5d1C2PJycOfJ2T_KCPFM

  • Kia ora Kristyn, welcome. Wonderful to have a historian here!

  • Unfortunately all too common Hayley, I hope this is changing - thanks for being part of the change!

  • Mary, what wonderful feedback! Thank you so much

  • Tautoko Hayley, stoked to have you here

  • We have a sister course on the Natural History of new Zealand that you might also enjoy Jan!
    https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/biodiversity-guardianship-and-the-natural-history-of-new-zealand-a-museum-perspective

  • Welcome Ruth!

  • Thank you Jean for your kind words

  • Thank you Anne, that's great to hear!

  • @ColmClancy A powerful sentiment, and especially apt as this week is 'Te Wiki o te Reo Māori', Māori language week, here in Aotearoa!

  • @JennyC Very true, Jenny!

  • Thank you so much Madge!

  • Kia ora John, welcome

  • Thank you for sharing Dorothee, fascinating (and devastating) to hear the different ways a similar story played out around the world.

  • Tautoko Mary, I agree.

  • Thank you for your kind words Madge, I'm so glad you enjoyed it!

  • Wouldn't want to meet one in a dark alley, that's for sure!

  • It's so counterintuitive for a huge beautiful lake to be a volcano, isn't it!

  • I'm so pleased you enjoyed it Anne!

  • A few too many tbh! We don't feel very many of them (relatively) though, and are trained in how to respond to them from about our first year of primary school.
    New arrivals are always shocked when they experience their first decent quake and their school or workmates immediately dive under tables or doorways while they're still processing what's going on!

  • Glad the answers are unfolding for you! I'll try to help where I can if anything else comes up :)