Widely acclaimed as one of the most innovative museums in New Zealand, Tawhiti uses life size exhibits and scale models to capture the past in a series of super-realistic displays. It is an impressive visual history of South Taranaki.
Products and specialities
Museum
Gallery
Shop
Exhibitions
Educational facility
Cafe
Hours
- Mon -
- TuesClosed
- WedClosed
- ThursClosed
- Fri -
- Sat -
- Sun -
- HolidaysClosed
Reviews
If you’re someone who who loves to dig deep and enrich themselves with culture and history, Tawhiti is somewhere you need to definitely visit! Although it’s labeled as a museum, it’s more of a showcase of what Taranaki was, and still is to this day. They even have an actual boat ride that takes you through historical dates and events throughout Taranakis’ history called ‘Traders and Whalers’. Everything is made on site in their body shop which you can also view.
Tawhiti Museum is located in Hawera, good if you live in the area but it's well worth travelling from New Plymouth - or anywhere in New Zealand - to see what this museum has to offer. They display life-sized wax models, depicting New Zealand’s history and heritage. You could show your kids what life used to be like hundreds of years ago and they’ll quickly realise how lucky they are these days. Traders and Whalers shows an exciting live presentation - get in the boat and be taken through a river revealing different scenes throughout our history. It’s so engrossing for kids, this will take up the whole day out for the family for the school holidays!
