By Puawai Cairns, Director Audience and Insights, Te Papa
This is the Tauranga Village Radio building, at the Tauranga Historical Village, an open air museum just below Tauranga Hospital.
This photo brings up crazy nostalgic feelings. I spent a lot of time at the Historical Village, playing in the Red Phone Booth you see in the picture and wandering about the old buildings.
The Tauranga Village radio would support Māori Language Week in the 1980s by offering community members use of their AM broadcast for te reo slots in their programme. While my parents, uncles and aunties would be in the radio booth, I would be hanging around outside for hours playing around the village and looking at the objects under glass downstairs.
It’s a reminder that allies and accomplices for cultural restoration can come from anywhere.