Tō Ao ki Tōku Ao – A Meeting of Worlds: now on display at Waitangi

MEDIA RELEASE: 28 October 2026

Discover Tō Ao ki Tōku Ao: A Meeting of Worlds exhibition at Waitangi.

This summer, visitors to Waitangi will be invited to encounter a pivotal moment in Aotearoa New Zealand’s history through Tō Ao ki Tōku Ao: A Meeting of Worlds, an exhibition presented by MOTAT, the Museum of Transport and Technology, in collaboration with Eru Kapa-Kingi and Heperi Mita.

Opening at Te Kōngahu Museum of Waitangi from 28 October 2026, the exhibition explores the implementation of printing technology in Aotearoa and the profound role the printed page played in the meeting of Te Ao Māori and Te Ao Pākehā.

Tō Ao ki Tōku Ao considers the printed page as a place of encounter where Māori language, knowledge, authority and political aspirations entered a new technological medium, creating opportunities for the transmission of ideas on an unprecedented scale.

At the heart of the exhibition is a 1837 second edition print copy of He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tirene 1835, the Declaration of Independence of the United Tribes of New Zealand, alongside a selection of early printed works that reveal the emergence of print as a powerful tool within the changing world of nineteenth-century Aotearoa.

Waitangi Treaty Grounds Curatorial Manager Owen Taituha-Mackay says, “what is particularly meaningful to me is seeing these works return to Waitangi. They belong to a period when the lives of Māori and Pākehā were coming into increasingly complex contact, and the printed page became one of the places where that encounter played out. To experience these works within the landscape where many of those conversations and political developments unfolded, is a powerful reminder that these are not simply historical documents but are records of Māori engaging with a changing world”.

Head of Library and Archives MOTAT, Simon Wetherill says, “the Walsh Memorial Library at MOTAT is humbled to partner with the Waitangi Treaty Grounds in bringing this exhibition to Te Tai Tokerau. The adoption of print technology so soon after Te Reo was formalised as a written language for varying agendas can clearly be seen in the exhibition, and the opportunity to have the copy print of He Whakaputanga return to the Paihia vicinity, where Colenso printed it in 1837, is something truly special.”

For visitors at Waitangi, Tō Ao ki Tōku Ao offers an opportunity to place these printed works within the broader history of He Whakaputanga 1835, Te Tiriti o Waitangi 1840 and the relationship between Māori and the Crown. This meeting of worlds was not a single event. It was, and continues to be an ongoing process of exchange, adaptation, negotiation and transformation.

Tō Ao ki Tōku Ao: A Meeting of Worlds opens at Te Kōngahu Museum of Waitangi on the 28^th October 2026 and runs until the 20^th March 2027.

Media enquiries:

Julie Bennett
Marketing Manager Waitangi Treaty Grounds
juliebennett@waitangi.org.nz

Samantha Perry
Head of Brand and Communications, Museum of Transport & Technology (MOTAT)
samantha.perry@motat.org.nz
(+64) 9 953 2308