Te Manawa Museum — Attraction in Palmerston North

Me and my 3 young children were in the kids area, that they love. The oldest 2 walked off, whichbi know they should no better. In the reception area staff asked they where there parent was, they replied dont know and were told children are not aloud in here unattended so you have to leave. kicking lost children outside should never be the appropriate action. I was wrangleing a 2 year old when i noticed my 5 year old walking around the car park in historics. I quickly ran and found her and her 7 year old sister that was also very upset. In coming back in side the staff had the nerve to tell me that they saw the 2 walking around unattended so told them to get out. Now everything else aside a venue for families or any venue should not be kicking lost childen out side to rome the streets. My 5 year was sobbing upset for an hour. If this is Te Manawas policy its disgusting if not there staff need training on how to handle these situations better.

As a family we go to TeManawa regularly it is a great venue for young kids, but this experience was in my opinion absolutely disgusting and will forever change my...

One of the reasons to live in Palmerston North, lord knows there are few enough. Te Manawa is an oasis of calm in the city until I take my child there. The museum has beautiful exhibits on the local river, the Rangitane iwi and has a rugby museum. Rugby is a game played by men with funny shaped balls. Quite popular in new Zealand apparently. The children's play area and active spaces are a treat for crazy busy adults looking for somewhere safe and educational to take their children. Children love the place, but ride it hard. There's conspicuously not enough money to keep up with the maintenance and you just wish these things were properly funded. I blame neoliberalism, a creed New Zealand people keep voting into not realising there's a connection between greed is good economics and the broken pipework exhibit. Go there. And drop a few...

The museum looks deceptively small from the front, but is cleverly designed where one room leads to another, and so on, so it's kind of "long". Of course, like many museums elsewhere where the nation is divided, to some extent, between an original indigenous population and European colonisers, the museums are organised from a certain dominant perspective, history of the nation is seen from a certain skewed lens. Having said that, this museum by itself was fascinating, because the country itself is. More than its people it's the flora and fauna that attracts attention, and here the museum has done an excellent job! As an extra bonus we managed to catch a fab show of the celebrated Maori artist...