View source for Te Hao Nui: The Great Catch

== Te Hao Nui: The Great Catch - Object Stories from Te Manawa ==

Fiona McKergow, Kerry Taylor 2011 Random House, Auckland, N.Z. ISBN 9781869797188 1869797183


== The Blurb: ==
   [[File:Tehao.jpg|right]]

From  the  clumsy  industrial  design  of  an  early  portable  computer  and  a  delightfully  crafty  pine-needle  tea  set 
made  for  the  New  Zealand  Centennial  Exhibition  to  a  fragile  kahu  kiwi  and  the  intricately  built  optometric 
Refractor Head, a new book celebrating the collection of Te Manawa Museum provides a fascinating insight into 
the Manawatu region and our broader national history.

Te  Hao  Nui:  The  Great  Catch,  to  be  released  in  December,  is  a visually  stunning  and  textually  fascinating  collection  of  the treasures held within New Zealand’s only regional museum to weave together the three disciplines of history, art and science: 
Te Manawa.  Museum collections are a treasure trove of objects, each with the capacity to tell a compelling story or stories. Many 
objects in Te Manawa’s collection speak of a deep curiosity for the world ‘out there and beyond’, while others evoke an intense 
sense of belonging to the Manawatu, with many of the objects in  the  book  introduced  with  the  name  of  the  local  resident  it 
once  belonged  to,  such  as  ‘Joyce  McKelvie’s  Queen  Carnival Costume’.  
Te Hao Nui features a diverse and impressive list of contributors from  a  range  of  backgrounds  and  fields,  including  leading 
historians, curators, and Maori scholars, as well as descendents of the people who donated the objects, and informative text 
that  delves  far  deeper  than  providing  mere  captions  for  the objects. 

The  striking  photography  is  by Te  Papa  photopgrapher  Michael  Hall,  supplemented  by  fascinating  archival 
photos from various sources. Te Hao Nui brings the objects found on its pages to life, telling us not only about 
what it means to be a New Zealander, but howwe have come to be this way. The book’s high production values and bold design make it a treasure as beautiful as the objects it contains. 

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There is a review [http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/features/arts-on-friday/6075027/Here-there-and-now here].

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== Mini Review ==
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Many of the major museums have produced like books to this – but this one is different. Te Manawa Museum is of more recent origin than most of our museums – it has operated continuously only since opening in 1971. The collections have mostly been gathered since then and have concentrated on the local – with a garnish of a few more far-flung items.  It might seem this would be a start to a mishmash of objects dissociated from their social context that characterise too many parochial museums. Not so. The history of the objects chosen here has been meticulously researched by a variety of scholars, not just the museum curators. No one could read this book without becoming very aware of the history of the Manawatu and its communities. The objects are not always striking examples of art or crafts (though some are), many are quite prosaic. The focus of the book is not displaying them on the page, nor is it exhaustive descriptions, it is the stories that shine through. A shame more of the objects are not archaeological – but that is a small debit. 

[[Law Garry|GL]]

[[Category:2011_Books]][[Category:Reviews]]