Founder Lecture

A series of events: Wednesday 27 June 2018 to Friday 30 June 2023

This lecture is held annually to honour Alexander Horsburgh Turnbull as founder of the Alexander Turnbull Library. Alexander Turnbull collected everything he could about New Zealand and the Pacific, as well as rare books and significant works of literature.

Learn more about Alexander Turnbull and his library

Head and shoulders photo of Witi Ihimaera wearing a black shirt.

Indigenous envoy: The Māori writer as New Zealand practitioner and indigenous artisan

Founder Lecture

Wednesday 21 June 2023, 6pm to 7pm
Taiwhanga Kauhau — Auditorium, National Library Wellington

This year the annual Friends of the Turnbull Library Founder Lecture will be given by acclaimed writer Witi Ihimaera and is in two parts as well as a celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Witi’s ground-breaking debut novel, ‘Tangi’, with the launch of a new edition.

Join us in person or online for this event.

A Māori woman wearing a pale grey jacket, gold chains of office, and a number of medals.

Kia whakatōmuri te haere whakamua: Approaching our past with curiosity and courage

Founder Lecture

Tuesday 28 June 2022, 6pm to 7pm
Taiwhanga Kauhau — Auditorium, National Library Wellington

The annual Friends of the Turnbull Library Founder Lecture will this year be given by Her Excellency The Right Honourable Dame Cindy Kiro, GNZM, QSO, Governor General of New Zealand.

Join us in person or online for this event.

Woman wearing a hat looking through a camera viewer.
Full

Image to imagination

Founder Lecture

Wednesday 28 July 2021, 6pm to 7pm
Taiwhanga Kauhau — Auditorium, National Library Wellington

Dame Gaylene Preston tells of a lifetime of integrating archival footage into her feature films in the 2021 Friends of the Turnbull Library Founder Lecture.

Woman wearing a hat looking through a camera viewer.
Postponed

Image to imagination

Founder Lecture

Monday 28 June 2021, 6pm to 7pm
Taiwhanga Kauhau — Auditorium, National Library Wellington

Dame Gaylene Preston tells of a lifetime of integrating archival footage into her feature films in the 2021 Friends of the Turnbull Library Founder Lecture.

Woman sitting at a desk in front of lots of bookshelves, wearing gloves and looking at heritage books.

Knowledge is a blessing on your mind: Whakapapa, science and history

Founder Lecture

Video | 1 hour 16 mins
Event recorded on Tuesday 23 February 2021
Tuesday 23 February 2021, 6pm to 7pm
Taiwhanga Kauhau — Auditorium, National Library Wellington

Dame Anne Salmond ONZ, Distinguished Professor of Māori Studies and Anthropology at the University of Auckland, will deliver the 2020 Friends of the Turnbull Library Founder Lecture.

Woman sitting at a desk in front of lots of bookshelves, wearing gloves and looking at heritage books.
Cancelled

Knowledge is a blessing on your mind: Wānanga and the Scientific Project

Founder Lecture

Monday 14 September 2020, 6pm to 7pm
Taiwhanga Kauhau — Auditorium, National Library Wellington

Dame Anne Salmond ONZ, Distinguished Professor of Māori Studies and Anthropology at the University of Auckland, will deliver the 2020 Friends of the Turnbull Library Founder Lecture.

Associate Professor Damon Salesa sitting in a chair

Into native seas: Europeans encounters an Indigenous ocean

Founder Lecture

Video | 1 hour
Event recorded on Friday 28 June 2019
Friday 28 June 2019, 6pm to 7pm
Taiwhanga Kauhau — Auditorium, National Library Wellington

Hear Toeolesulusulu Damon Salesa, a prizewinning scholar and Associate Professor of Pacific Studies, University of Auckland, speak at the annual Founder lecture, marking the date that the Turnbull Library opened to the public in 1920.