Family Membership

• COST is $60 per year and it covers the children you name on the card and any two accompanying adults.
• You and your family can visit any of our exhibitions; whether they are free or paid, as often as you like.
• You will be invited to special member only events and activities.
• You will get early notice of family events so you are able to make preferential bookings.
• You will be given the opportunity to be invited to the opening of new exhibitions.
• You will get discounted entry to similar institutions - WOW, The Suter, Natureland, Science Alive in Christchurch.

Whats on These School Holidays

What came first - the dino or the egg?

Well that would be telling but you might be able to find out at the Dinosaur Nursery at The Nelson Provincial Museum.

With support from More FM we are able to bring you a special opportunity to meet a baby dinosaur during the July School Holidays. 11am and 1pm every day from 4 July with an extra show at 3pm on weekends. Just $2 per person - make sure you bring your camera. We are limiting it too just 40 people per show. After the show buy a ticket to see the amazing NZ FOSSILS - Dead Precious exhibition. Great for the whole family.

Fossils Roadshow

In the News

The Museum's Collection Services Manager Paula Haines-Bellamy and Collections Technician Timm Corrin recently donned high-visibility vests and hard hats and joined archaeologist Amanda Young in an exploration of the space beneath the floorboards of Richmond's Railway Hotel.

The space under the floorboards revealed a pile of rubbish some of which traces back to 1883 and included knives, forks, pieces of china as well as discarded mussel, oyster and cockle shells from the meals of the hotel's former patrons.

The Railway Hotel, built in 1883, is currently being demolished as part of a redevelopment of the site it occupies.

Read the full article on the Stuff.co.nz website by clicking here.

Nearly a hundred people a day have taken the opportunity to view this unique collection of objects. The reactions of more than 4000 visitors suggest that all the hard work of mounting the exhibition and arranging for the display of additional items such as the Giant Eagle and the Plesiosaur was worthwhile.

These fossils are the remains and evidence of things that lived in or near the land, we now call New Zealand, millions of years ago. The stories of how they were discovered in road cuttings and buried in rocks are well told and you can bet there will be another crop of children wanting to be palaeontologists when they grow up. We have some great programme ideas lined up; some for parents, some for families and some especially for children.

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Eagle model sponsored by The Lion Foundation

Literally a “parrot-beaked lizard” this small dinosaur wandered the earth in China and Asia about 100 million years ago. They seem to have occupied a similar place in the food chain to modern gazelles, munching on cycads and other tough plant material and being hunted by dinosaurs like T-Rex or other meat-eaters. Look closely and you may well see why biologists think it was probably bipedal, using its front limbs while feeding.

This specimen belongs to James Brewer who has set up a fossil shop in our foyer. The Psittacosaurus skeleton is on display in the Nelson Building Society window in Trafalgar Street and is well worth a visit while you are in town.

Ferdinand von Hochstetter
Father of New Zealand Geology
150th Anniversary of his survey of the Nelson Region
Described by many scientists as "the father of New Zealand geology" Ferdinand von Hochstetter arrived in this country in 1858 as a member of an Austrian scientific expedition and spent most of his time in this country describing and mapping newly discovered mineral fields.

In 1859 The Nelson Provincial Government invited Hochstetter to investigate the region's mineral deposits and report on their potential for commercial use.

The Hochstetter exhibition traces the work of this remarkable young scientist during his visit to New Zealand. It includes reproductions of his watercolours and maps and has some of the original specimens he arranged for the Nelson Institute on display.

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School Education Programme

New Zealand Fossils - Dead precious! Why do they call this exhibition Dead Precious? Students from all over Nelson are discovering the reasons. We did have dinosaurs and huge sea reptiles. We had gigantic sharks and tiny trilobites. In the school programme students have a chance to explore the exhibition and to have hands on experiences with real fossils and modelling exercises.

Senior students will also gain information about the work of Ferdinand Hochstetter in this region back in 1859. He is known as the ‘father of NZ geology'.

There are lots of spaces available next term for classes. Book now to avoid disappointment.

Education Resources Online

The Nelson Provincial Museum's Education Services team have a number of online resources available to the region's schools and educators. more

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