Prim Ary Education
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Primary Education Kit Exhibition Developed by Media Partners Developed by the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. This exhibition was made possible through the support of the New Zealand Government. Photo by Jem Cresswell VISITING THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM BRIEFING A Museum staff member will be on hand to greet your group when you arrive. They will brief your groups about how to move around the Museum and direct you to areas of the Museum you intend to visit. BAG STORAGE There is limited bag storage available on site. It is recommended that students just bring a small carry bag with the essentials for the day, however if required, storage can be provided depending on availability. EXHIBITIONS In addition to any booked educator-led sessions, students and teachers may explore the Museum’s exhibitions in their own time. Some special exhibitions may incur an additional charge. It is suggested that students visit the galleries in small groups to prevent overcrowding. LUNCH AND BREAKS It is recommended that students bring their recess and lunch and eat in Hyde Park or Cook & Phillip Park, both of which are across the road from the Museum. Alternative arrangements will be provided in the case of wet weather. BYOD AND PHOTOGRAPHY Students are encouraged to bring their own devices to take photos, video and/or audio to record their excursion. Some temporary exhibitions do not allow photography but you will be advised of this on arrival. FREE WIFI The Museum offers free Wi-fi for onsite visitors. It is available in 30 minute sessions. Students and teachers can log on for more than one session. PHOTOCOPYING Please photocopy the following materials for students and accompanying adults prior to your visit. SUPERVISION Teachers and supervising adults are required to stay with their groups at all times. Disciplining of students remains the responsibility of teachers and supervising adults accompanying the group. 3 PRIMARY EDUCATION KIT WHALES | TOHORĀ WHALES | TOHORĀ INTRODUCTION For centuries, whales have captured people’s imaginations. People have marvelled at whales, hunted them and passionately protected them. Now you have an opportunity to explore the world of these amazing sea creatures, through a unique blend of science and storytelling. This highly interactive exhibition will enable you to immerse your students in the wonderful world of whales. They will engage with skeletons 18 meters long, fossils, models, specimens of many different whale species and the beautiful taonga (treasures) created from highly prized whale bone. The Whale Lab is interactive science at its best. Your students will experience diving with a sperm whale pursuing the giant squid, and see how whales use sound to hunt and to navigate. They will learn how to identify killer whales, and can even try to crawl through a blue whale’s heart. MAIN THEMES The following themes are threaded throughout the exhibition and may be useful in framing how the exhibition connects with the curriculum: • Whale land • Whale people • Pataka Taonga • Whaling • Evolution • Skeletons and communication • Reproduction • Blue whale heart • Feeding • Stranding As you enter the exhibition, introduce the students into the wonderful world of whales in the porthole area. Explain what they will be doing (seeing fantastic videos, animations, skeletons and exploring the biology and human interaction of whales). 4 PRIMARY EDUCATION KIT WHALES | TOHORĀ WHALES | TOHORĀ 1. WHALE LAND Māori sometimes remembered significant events and stories about whales by naming islands and landforms after them. You can see examples of these places in the photos in the exhibition. The names referred to significant whale strandings, navigational pathways, and important journeys. An example of this is the following story: The hills near Welcome Bay in Tauranga Harbour are sacred to the Māori tribes Ngāti Pukenga, Ngā Pōtiki, and Ngāti Hē. The tribes believe a family of whales stranded and became hills. The story goes that a mother and calf ventured too far into the harbour and couldn’t return to the ocean. The father heard their cries of distress. Impelled to be by their side, he too stranded. Now the family remains together forever. The coastline here is noted for strandings. Locals believe whales are drawn to a spring at the base of the mother. The spring’s water sometimes runs milky white and is called Te Waiū o te Tehorā (the milk of the whale). 2. PATAKA TAONGA GUIDING QUESTIONS • Ask students what they think a treasure might be. • Ask students to think about something they consider as valuable to them, and why. • Ask the students where they might keep their treasures today. A pataka is a customary food storage house for Māori. The pataka houses food and treasures and was a great source of pride to the people whom utilised it. People retained knowledge through many different sources, in the past this has been through storytelling, dance, carvings, art and song. In this section there are many different uses of whale bone such as adornments, weapons, reference to geneaology. The weapons made from whale bone are very hard and intricately carved. The practitioner would hold a great deal of mana or spirituality to be able to own one of these treasures. GUIDING QUESTIONS • Ask the students what their favourite treasure/object was in this part of the exhibition. • Ask the students what the treasure/object was made from. • Ask the students what they think it might have been used for. • Ask the students why they think that object might have been considered a treasure to the Māori. 5 PRIMARY EDUCATION KIT WHALES | TOHORĀ WHALES | TOHORĀ WHALE PEOPLE (CONT.) 3. WHALING GUIDING QUESTIONS • Ask students to imagine they are living in 1795 - think about why you might want to be a whaler. • Have the students investigate this part of the exhibition to come up with some reasons. WHALING IN NEW ZEALAND Before whaling there were an estimated 10,000 Southern Right Whales (Eubalaena australis) in New Zealand waters. In the early 20th century that had dropped to approximately 250. They were called Right Whales because they were the right whales to hunt. They only swim at 9 km/h and have high yields of bone, flesh and blubber. The average swimming speed for whales is 22km/h. Māori welcomed whale strandings as they supplied meat, bone and ivory and were considered a gift from Tangaroa - the guardian or god of the sea. European people arrived in the late 1700s and took back the knowledge of many whales in the southern waters. The most sought after were the Sperm Whales (Physeter macrocephalus) and Right Whales. Whales were hunted for meat, baleen, ambergris, oil, ivory and bone. New Zealand’s attitude to whaling has changed radically since about 1970. From a nation, which like other nations in the nineteenth centry, ruthlessly exploited whales it now promotes a worldwide ban on commercial whaling. Even as late as the 1950s, New Zealanders welcomed whaling fleets to their ports.Their attitude began to change with the virtual overnight collapse of the small shore-based whaling industry in the country in 1964 - a direct result of over-fishing by foreign fleets in the previous decade.The near total disappearance of humpback whales that normally migrated to New Zealand shores shocked people. The growth of the ‘green’ movement in the 1970s coincided with the recognition that whales are intelligent and sophisticated creatures - people began to feel empathy for these fellow mammals. People were also shocked by graphic and gruesome footage of whales being killed, which was released around this time. From 1991 opposition to whaling became official and the promotion of a global ban on commercial whaling entered New Zealand Government policy. After a 200 year association with whaling, New Zealand is now a ‘committed conservation country’. 6 PRIMARY EDUCATION KIT WHALES | TOHORĀ WHALES | TOHORĀ WHALE PEOPLE (CONT.) WHALING IN AUSTRALIA The whaling trade was a major industry in Port Jackson, Sydney, earning over £4.2 million in the mid-nineteenth centry and employing hundreds of ships and thousands of men. At least one third of convict transport and store-ships sent by the Governor before 1800 were British whalers under charter. From 1820-1855, 558 deep sea whaling voyages were undertaken from Port Jackson. Whales were hunted for their prized oil (which is clear and odourless) for use in lamps. The oil was also used as a lubricant in machines during the Industrial revolution. Baleen (sometimes called whalebone) was used for items such as corsets, whips and umbrellas. The whaling industry in Australia slowed with the discovery of gold in 1851. A spike in the price of sperm oil in 1870 restarted an interest in whaling and by July that year, 8 whaling vessels were deployed from Port Jackson. The development of harpoon guns, explosive harpoon and steam-driven whaling boats in the late 19th century made large-scale commercial whaling so efficient that many whale species were over-exploited and came very near to extinction. Over-exploitation eventually led to the demise of the whaling industry in Australia. As whale numbers plummeted in the 20th century, laws were passed to protect a number of the species. More than 2,600 Southern Right Whales were hunted in Australian and New Zealand waters between 1822 and 1930. In the early 1930s numbers of certain whale species were declining and the effects of whaling were becoming apparent. In 1935, the Australian government introduced laws to protect the Southern Right Whale. Whaling of Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) didn’t cease until 1963 and they became protected in 1965 due to a dramatic decline in numbers. Sperm Whales continued to be hunted until 1978 when commercial whaling in Australia came to an end.