I can personally testify to the amount of work MONZ staff have put into
front-end evaluations and prototyping to develop approaches for the new
building. they have done far more, in a very short period, than has any other
museum down under and 99% of museums world-wide. I had a very strong impression
that MONZ had realized that, in the old building, the MAORI story was not well
told. The approach to the new building, from the bay, will begin the process of
correcting this in a very dramatic and tangible way.

I also spent the better part of a day, the last time I was in Wellington (Nov
95) with the MONZ designers, most of whom were Maori, discussing approaches to
signage, labels and bilingualism. I was very impressed by their attitude and
approach and I very much liked many of the samples they showed me.

It is worth noting that other mueums down under with big capital projects, are
watching and learning from the MONZ experience.

Harry Needham
Canadian War Museum