Fiordland National Park Visitor Centre on Lakefront Drive.

Check the DOC website here for opening hours. 

To commemorate 250 years since first contact between Southern Māori and Captain James Cook in 2023, He Waka Tuia Museum + Art space in Invercargill showcased the Tamatea Exhibition. ‘Tamatea’ marks the time between March 26 and May 11, 1773, when the crew sheltered in Tamatea (Dusky Sound).

We're excited to have ‘Tamatea’ coming to the Fiordland National Park Visitor Centre for Te Anau Waitangi Festival. This is a collaboration between TAWCT, DOC and Te Kupeka Tiaki Taoka (Southern Regional Collections Trust).

Manager Southland Regional Collections Wayne Marriott says unlike other first contacts between Māori and Cook, Tamatea was unique with no loss of life and several reciprocal visits and exchanges being made between both parties. 

"It is really important to share this history, our collective history – that people understand what occurred during that first contact – and what it progressed into. This first contact marked the start of a new set of stories that set us on the path to the region we are today. This shouldn’t be forgotten.”