Te Puna Foundation Launch, National Library, Wellington

Kia ora tatou.

I am very excited to be here to celebrate the launch of Te Puna Foundation.

The Foundation is the start of a wonderful new chapter in the National Library story and for the people of New Zealand.

For Aotearoa to thrive as a nation, for its people to become all they can be and achieve their potential, we need to unlock the knowledge held within the National Library.

This well spring of knowledge needs to flow freely to all New Zealanders and the aspirations of the National Library’s new strategy sets out to do this. Based on the themes of Taonga, Knowledge and Reading, the aim heading towards 2030 is that New Zealanders will trust that their documentary heritage and taonga are collected, preserved and accessible.

New Zealanders will easily access, share and use the National Library’s knowledge resources to inspire and innovate to create new knowledge.

And New Zealanders will have the literacy skills to achieve social, educational and employment success and be inspired to create new knowledge.

The National Library is already achieving great things but there is so much more that can be done to enrich New Zealand culturally and economically. We have already seen successful examples with Services to Schools enabling children across the country to have access to the information that the National Library holds.

He Tohu is an exciting new permanent exhibition opening in early 2017 and featuring three of the documents that have shaped our nation:

• 1835 He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni – Declaration of

   Independence of the United Tribes of New Zealand

• 1840 Te Tiriti o Waitangi – Treaty of Waitangi

• 1893 Women’s Suffrage Petition – Te Petihana Whakamana Pōti Wahine.

A special feature of the He Tohu Exhibition is that it has been developed in partnership between the Crown and iwi Māori, and in collaboration with women’s groups and other key stakeholders, both in Government and nationwide, and I acknowledge all those who have been part of this special partnership for the  massive contribution they have made to date.

The National Library will be working with the Chief Archivist of Archives New Zealand to develop programmes that will offer an interactive experience to learn about these important documents and what they mean to our nation’s history.

For those children who visit, He Tohu will be an invaluable experience.

I am pleased to announce today that I have approved the Department of Internal Affairs proceeding with the refurbishment of the Auditorium on the ground floor of this building. This will enhance the Library’s ability to deliver programmes focused on the He Tohu exhibition as well as being a great facility for the many valuable programmes the library delivers.

But for those who may not get the chance to travel here, how do we provide access to this taonga? The answer to this question is not simple, but it is exciting.

With digital resources and dedicated teams we can create innovative programmes.

We can create new opportunities for people to access knowledge about the exhibition and the documents within it. Programmes which enable children from Halfmoon Bay School on Stewart Island to Kaingaroa School in the Chatham Islands, up to Te Hapua School in the far north to learn about these documents.

This will have a huge impact on New Zealand children’s awareness of our documentary heritage.

As part of the He Tohu educational programme, Services to Schools is working with Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Whangaroa in Northland to design digital resources from a Māori knowledge perspective that affirm iwi and hapū histories, based on the three documents.

This approach uses local content to provide meaningful learning experiences that reinforce the student’s language, culture and identity.

The philosophy of kura kaupapa Māori, Te Aho Matua, says that students well-grounded in their own history will be better equipped to make sense of their world and find their place in it. Digital material like this will encourage our communities to engage with He Tohu and create their own stories and connections with the documents and share them with the nation. 

Just like my own personal connection with He Tohu with the discovery that my great grandmother signed the 1893 Women’s Suffrage petition. 

The digital education project has involved working with Apple Computers Education where the three documents provided the content for teachers to learn about and use Apple iTunes U and iBooks applications.

This example is the kind of innovative and creative work that Services to Schools and National Library would like to do more of and through your support, the Foundation can help make it happen.

So it is with great excitement that I announce the first fundraising campaign that the Foundation will support. Te Puna Foundation has chosen to support the He Tohu Education programme as the first of many campaigns.

Our aspiration is for every student to experience He Tohu at least once during their school life, either in person or virtually through a digital involvement.

And the help the Foundation will be providing will go a long way towards realising this aspiration.

Through activities such as the collection and preservation of our heritage and protection of documents, through to the development of policy, Services to Schools and development of new ways to distribute information, the National Library enriches our culture, society and economy.

I am excited at the potential of greater access to the knowledge held by the National Library that will be further enabled through your support of the Te Puna Foundation and I look forward to an Aotearoa New Zealand that is a much better place for it.

Thank you.