When: Every 20 minutes from 10am (film lasts 13 minutes)
Bookings: Although booking isn’t always necessary, avoid disappointment by booking at Golden Days on your arrival at Level 4. Golden Days is popular!

Celebrate what makes us Kiwis tick. Enter our cluttered junk shop and watch the objects come to life as key moments from our country’s past play on the big screen. Golden Days is one of Te Papa’s most innovative and popular places, full of magic and drama. Take a seat and step back in time.

Entrance to Golden Days. Photograph by Mike O'Neill. Te Papa

Historic events

A high-impact film whisks you through our nation’s tragedies and triumphs, both personal and national. From a beach ball bouncing across the hot sand to Jack Lovelock bringing home Olympic gold, and defining moments such as the Erebus, Wahine, and Tangiwai disasters. From pride in the All Blacks to the achievements of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, and the nostalgia of calf day, plus much more.

Events include

• Mt Tarawera eruption (1886)

• Royal visit by the Queen (1953)

• Tangiwai disaster (Christmas Eve 1953)

• Hawke’s Bay earthquake (1931)

• Ballentynes fire in Christchurch (1947)

• Inangahua earthquake (1968)

• Wahine sinking (1968)

• Mt Erebus plane crash (1979)

• The death of Prime Minister Norman Kirk (1974)

• Young people at James K Baxter’s funeral (1972)

• Princess Te Puea’s burial (1952)

• Poverty Bay floods (1950)

• Hutt Valley floods (1976)

• Mount Ruapehu eruption (1996)

• Dame Whina Cooper on the Māori Land March (1975)

• Bastion Point (1977–78)

• Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior (1985)

Inside Golden Days. Photograph by Jan Nauta. Te Papa

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