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

An event with the Governor General

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.

The Friends of the Turnbull Library will provide refreshments after the lecture.

RSVP now for your seat

Seats are limited so book your seat now by emailing turnbullfriends@gmail.com.

Can’t make it in person?

Can't make it in person? This event will also be delivered using Zoom. You do not need to install the software in order to attend, you can opt to run zoom from your browser.

Register if you’d like to join this talk and we'll send you the link to use on the day.

Register now

The Alexander Turnbull Library

The Library’s founder, Alexander Horsburgh Turnbull, was born on 14 September 1868. He developed a passion for collecting everything he could about New Zealand and the Pacific, as well as rare books and significant works of literature. When he died on 28 June 1918, Turnbull made what was described in the New Zealand Times in July 1918 as “the most generous bequest to the people of New Zealand since the beginning of New Zealand Time”.

The collection comprised over 55,000 books, along with thousands of original artworks, prints and maps. These collections have been built through donation, bequest, legal deposit and targeted purchase, to contain millions of items in many different formats. The Turnbull Library opened to the public on 28 June 1920.

Alexander Turnbull and his collection

The Friends of the Turnbull Library

The Friends of the Turnbull Library, Ngā Hoa o te Whare Pukapuka Turnbull, offers a monthly programme of public talks that are free to all. The public programme highlights the work of researchers who draw on Turnbull material for their projects.

Friends of the Turnbull Library

About the speaker

In May 2021, Queen Elizabeth II approved the appointment of Dame Cindy Kiro as the next Governor-General of New Zealand, for a five-year term starting on 21 October 2021. Dame Cindy is the first Māori woman to be appointed as Governor-General. She is of Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Kahu and British descent.

Much of Dame Cindy’s career has been in the tertiary education sector, where she became a distinguished researcher and held leadership roles at Massey University, Victoria University Wellington/Te Herenga Waka and the University of Auckland. While at the University of Auckland she was Director of the Starpath Project, which investigated the impacts of socio-economic status on educational achievement in New Zealand.

Her public sector roles have included Children’s Commissioner (the first woman and first Māori to be appointed to the role), membership of the Ministerial Cross-Sector Forum for the Ministry of Education, and Chair of the Welfare Expert Advisory Group. Dame Cindy has had extensive experience in the public health sector, and has also devoted time to voluntary and community organisations. Prior to taking up her role as Governor-General, Dame Cindy was Chief Executive of the Royal Society Te Apārangi.

Dame Cindy was appointed as a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (DNZM) for services to child wellbeing and education on the New Year 2021 Honours List.

Safety measures when you come to the event

Find out about what you need to do when you visit the National Library Wellington for the event.

With social distancing, our events have limited spacing. Please arrive early to grab your spot.

Stay home if you are sick or feel unwell.

Safety measures in place for visiting the Library

Check before you come

Due to COVID-19 some of our events can be cancelled or postponed at very short notice. Please check the website for updated information about individual events before you come.

For more general information about National Library services and exhibitions have look at our COVID-19 page.