Pacific Virtual Museum

Together with the Australian Government and National Library of Australia we are working with colleagues from across the Pacific to develop a shared online place that enables Pacific peoples to connect with their cultural heritage from around the world.

Talofa! Ulufale mai! Kia orāna! Ni sa bula! Fakaalofa atu!

Single access point to digitised Pacific cultural heritage

The ‘Pacific Virtual Museum’ Pilot Program will produce an online portal that provides an easy single access point to digitised Pacific cultural heritage items held in different museum, gallery and library collections around the world.

The Pilot Program is an Australian Government initiative managed by the Office of the Pacific in Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). It will be implemented by Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, the National Library of New Zealand, in collaboration with the National Library of Australia.

Pilot programme

The Pacific ‘Virtual Museum’ will connect a diverse and dispersed people with their distributed treasures and cultural materials in a way that does not currently exist.

Pacific cultural heritage is rich and diverse — often little understood by those outside the region. The Pacific Virtual Museum offers one way of celebrating Pacific cultural diversity and recording culture for future generations of Pacific peoples.

This pilot phase, through to February 2022, will test the concept and focus on providing access to digitised Pacific heritage photographs. The program will be looking to partner with organisations to contribute to the Pacific Virtual Museum.

Award-winning technology with a co-design approach

Beneath the surface, the Pacific Virtual Museum Pilot Program online portal will be powered by the Library’s award-winning Digital New Zealand platform and technology.

Importantly the project will take a co-design approach with Pacific educators, researchers, culture and heritage professionals, and contributors of Pacific content to help make sure the pilot meets their needs and is usable.

Contact us

If you have any questions about the project don’t hesitate to contact fiona.fieldsend@dia.govt.nz or mark.crookston@dia.govt.nz.