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  3. Islands in time — a photographer records Palmerston Atoll in 1960
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Islands in time — a photographer records Palmerston Atoll in 1960

  • Date: Wednesday, 21 March, 2018
  • Time:

    12.00 to 12.30pm

  • Cost:

    Free — booking is not required

  • Location:

    Turnbull Room, Ground Floor of the National Library, corner Molesworth and Aitken Streets

  • Contact Details:

    events.natlib@dia.govt.nz

Come and celebrate Race Relations Day with us at the newly opened Islands in Time exhibition. The exhibition features photographs from the Alexander Turnbull Library, taken on Palmerston Atoll in the Cook Islands in 1960 by John Colles Burland. Enjoy a tour with National Library Exhibitions Specialist and curator Peter Ireland.

Photographs from Palmerston Atoll 

The exhibition features photographs from the Alexander Turnbull Library, taken on Palmerston Atoll in the Cook Islands in 1960 by John Colles Burland

In 1992 the Turnbull Library acquired 700 colour transparencies recording John Colles Burland’s four-month stay on Palmerston Atoll in the Cook Islands in 1960, together with his unpublished manuscript describing this time.

Capturing a time of transition 

The ‘close-knit community of sturdy character’ that Burland found on Palmerston, descended from Englishman William Marsters who, in the mid-19th century, with a number of Cook Islands wives, created the three main families of the atoll.

The exhibition captures Palmerston at a particular moment: a time of transition between a largely independent existence and one that tied the atoll more closely to the Cook Islands administration, while exposing the population of the atoll to the opportunities of a wider world.

Woman looking at detailing on glass window
Manukura Marsters standing against the Church interior panelling from the wrecked La Tour D’Auvergne and the door of the ship’s pantry with ‘de provisions’ carved on it.’ Ref: PA12-0512-04

Other events in March

  • 8 Mar: Celebrate International Women’s Day
  • 9 Mar: Call Me Royal
  • 10 Mar: Lots in translation!
  • 10 Mar: Kate Sheppard Place Women
  • 14 Mar: 'A Strange Beautiful Excitement, Katherine Mansfield’s Wellington, 1888–1903'
  • 16 Mar: Open the book: Literature at the heart of literacy — Nelson
  • 20 Mar: Sun, Sea and Sustenance: the story of Otaki Children’s Health Camp
  • 20 Mar: Caring for your family treasures: family letters
  • 20 Mar: 1918 Influenza Project, Karori Cemetery
  • 22 Mar: Lunchtime poetry
  • 24 Mar: Essentials of oral history day two: Wellington
  • 27 Mar: Open the book: Literature at the heart of literacy — Auckland
  • 31 Mar: Saturday Easter art and egg hunt

Public history talk

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1 March - 25 December, 2018

The Public History Talks are hosted by the Ministry for Culture & Heritage History Group at the National Library of New Zealand. They are usually held on the first Wednesday of the month March to November.

Talks in this series are recorded and will be available online

See what's on

Family history monthly talk

Atojs

4 April - 31 December, 2018

See what's on
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