Waitaki Museum Collections
The Waitaki Museum collects artefacts and objects that tell the natural, cultural, agricultural and industrial stories of the Waitaki District: from early Maori occupation around the Waitaki River mouth, European settlement by whalers and runholders through to the discovery of gold and the wool and meat industries which led to the development of Oamaru as a significant port town.
Staff are working hard behind the scenes to select objects for our redeveloped displays. This can be a complex and time consuming process, but it is usually also very interesting. An object is selected because it is able to tell a story or stories about our district.
In 2019 we will be launching our Collections Online. This will ultimately mean that our community (local and global) will be able to search our collections and view information and images of the collection online.
In the past Museums often collected indiscriminately, becoming a bit like community attics.
One of the outstanding collections of the North Otago Museum.
Moa were large, flightless birds that were unique to New Zealand. There were nine species of moa in New Zealand. All moa are now extinct.