If you have any particular access requirements, please get in touch with us before your visit.
Appointments for private and group visits, and guided tours of the museum’s collection, can be arranged by email or phone (03) 304 8611. Catered morning or afternoon teas, and lunches, are available by request with one week advanced booking.
1146 Okains Bay Road, Kawatea/Okains Bay
Te Pātaka o Rākaihautu/Banks Peninsula
Just 25 minutes by car from Akaroa or 90 minutes from Ōtautahi /Christchurch.
Price
Adult: $15.00 Child: FREE (up to 13 when accompanied by an adult.) Concession: $10 (Student, Community Service or Hāpai Access Card Holder & Essentual Companion.)
Thank you to everyone who joined us for our Annual General Meeting on Sunday, 16 August. It was wonderful to welcome such a strong gathering of friends, whānau, local residents, descendants of early Okains Bay families, Banks Peninsula’s MP, and Council representatives as we looked back on a year of progress and shared our vision for the museum’s next chapter.
At the meeting, Kerry Mason, Founding Director of MAP Architects, introduced early design concepts and spatial layouts for the museum redevelopment. These plans visualise enhanced collection storage, refreshed exhibition spaces, and flexible new areas that can be used by local community and school groups, and pre-booked tours for years to come. View the redevelopment plans here.
We would love to hear what you think. Your feedback, questions, and ideas will help shape a welcoming museum for the future. Please email
Welcoming our new Board of Trustees
We also took time to acknowledge and farewell Trustees who have given so much to the museum. Helen Brown stepped down as Board Chair and Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu appointee after eighteen years of generous service. We also farewelled Canterbury Museum appointee Sarah Murray, and elected trustee Justin Fields, with deep thanks for the knowledge, care, and experience they have shared with the Board.
Newly elected Board Chair Tyrone Fields joins current Trustees Graeme Page, John Thacker, and Michael Laing in welcoming new associate board member Fairfax Moresby and four new Trustees: Matt Bateman, Brylee Flutey, Rebecca Helliwell, and Sam Hampton. Together, they bring a rich mix of cultural knowledge, education, conservation, community leadership, finance, and heritage expertise to guide the museum into the future.
Looking ahead, Waitangi Day 2027 will mark 50 years since the founding of Okains Bay Museum. As we prepare for this special anniversary, we invite you to revisit memories from Waitangi Days past in our image gallery here: https://okainsbaymuseum.co.nz/events/waitangi-day-2/
Nau mai, tautī mai! Welcome to the Okains Bay Museum. Visit a very special museum at the heart of historic Kawatea Okains Bay.
Enjoy the relaxed environment as you learn about life on Te Pātaka o Rākaihautū Banks Peninsula and Aotearoa New Zealand in former times. Nationally significant taonga Māori and early colonial items are among the exciting range of treasures on display in the museum’s diverse complex of heritage buildings.
We welcome all visitors and aim to do everything we can to make sure every visitor has an enjoyable time. A Visitor Host is on hand to assist you during your visit. If you have any particular requirements or access considerations, please get in touch with us before your visit.
Small waka tiwai. This is one of three small waka carved by Murray Thacker in 1983. Murray used the knowledge gained carving these waka to great effect when he undertook extensive work in the 1990s on the construction of the Ngāi Tahu waka, Kōtukumairangi.
Hand painted bass drum, c.1920s. Painted bass drum heads like this one became hugely popular in the 1920s and 1930s. Lake and mountain scenes were a favourite theme. The landscape depicted on this drum is most likely an interpretation of New Zealand's Piopiotahi (Milford Sound).
Hand carved embellished gourd, Theo Schoon, c.1960. Schoon was an artist, photographer and carver of Dutch descent. He was very interested in Māori art and began to grow and carve his own gourds in 1956–57. Most of his gourds were sold to tourists and only a few remain in New Zealand today.
Canterbury relief map, 1940. This large relief map of Canterbury was created for the New Zealand Centennial Exhibition held at Rongotai, Wellington in 1940. It was restored on site at the museum in 1993.
Scrimshaw bullock horn powder flask. Scrimshaw is the art of etching patterns into bone or ivory. It was a common pastime among sailors and whalers.
This rare three tiered thread caddy made from whalebone was used to hold spools of thread for tapestry work. It was collected through John Doleman of Christchurch in the 1950s.
Waka huia, Taranaki style. This wakahuia was collected in 1959. It is carved in the Taranaki style and features spiralled figures intertwining with paua shell eyes. The box is very old while the lid is of more recent design.
This magnificent block of pounamu (greenstone) from the Arahura region of the West Coast was in the process of being cut into adze blades. It was found by Thomas Ware at Pā Bay near Okains on Banks Peninsula in c.1888. It was presented to the museum by H.J. Bond Ware and his son John in 2005.
Tāniko waistcoat. This rare waistcoat incorporates traditional tāniko weaving into a garment of European design. It was gifted to the teacher at a small school in rural Taranaki upon his retirement.
Hei tiki (pendant in human form), collected 27 June 1959. Originally part of the collection of K.A. Webster. It has one wax eye and one original paua shell eye. It also has an old cord and toggle still attached.
Male Huia beak brooch, c.1900. This gold mounted brooch is made from the beak of a male huia, a bird native to New Zealand that became extinct in 1907.
