Pae Korokī (Dawn Chorus of the Birds), the library Heritage Platform is now one year old! It feels older than that to be honest (2020 through 2021 was about 8 years long after all). At that time we were pretty impressed with the 18 thousand photos, maps and archive items we'd managed to put on the site.
Our very first Facebook Post used an image of Paraone Brown Reweti opening the Tamawhariua wharenui at Te Rereatukāhia marae in Katikati (1969). Here is that first post:
Today as I look at the breakdown of items we have on the site I can see nearly 35,000 photographs alone. One particular photograph collection that is growing fast is the Gifford Cross Collection. A collection of negatives from the 1960s - 1980s by the Bay of Plenty photographers of the time, this collection of about 160,000 negatives is undergoing re-housing and digitisation as we work hard to protect them from the ravages of time.
Schoolchildren's bicycles parked during a film, from the 1964 - Gifford-Cross series (Photo gca-6571)
Although photographs make the majority of our content, we've been working hard to get our archives online as well. It will be a long time before all of them are online, but we've nearly got all our high level descriptions online so that at least you can know what we have in our climate control facility. Currently 387 archive collection descriptions are up on Pae Korokī.
Our newest addition are 152 artworks. You can see a link to these off of the Image Collections page.
The Art Collections contains the follow :
- Collection by an unknown soldier with the 43 Regiment (three watercolours)
- Collection by an unknown soldier (15 watercolours)
- John Kinder collection (four original framed works)
- Horatio Robley collection (three framed paintings and an index sketch)
- Ethel Macmillan collection (55 watercolours)
- Emma Vogan collection (10 watercolours)
- An additional 31 works from a variety of artists.
We've been tracking how many people use Pae Korokī, to help us understand it's impact. Here are a few of our insights.
Over the 11 months we've been live, the number of people who visit fluctuates, and gradually increases on the whole. These stats exclude anyone accessing from within the council buildings because we wanted to exclude staff activity working on the site.
If we add staff activity to these figures we can see a similar pattern (in orange).
So how are people finding content on Pae Korokī? By Google of course, though only about half of them. For every two people that "googled something" and came to Pae Korokī, someone else out there has either typed in the address and come directly or had it bookmarked in their browser. Facebook referred just 12% of our traffic and the rest are small fry referrals. The list of sites that sent just a single visitor our way in 11 months is long and interesting. Pāpāmoa College is one, and a place called Swiss Cows another.
What are people most interested in?
Unsurprisingly the most visited pages are the Main Page and the major collection pages like our Image Collections and our Archive Collections. But at a more granular level, here is the Pae Korokī top ten!
Coming in at number 10 is a photograph.
"Sanfords, Sulphur Point Depot, Tauranga c. 1970s. Front left; from man in dark suit - Doug Edwards (Edwards Engineering), Jack Costello, unknown, unknown, Roy Edwards with sleeves rolled up (Edwards Engineering). Also in photo; Vince Crossman, Eric Smith (unloading foreman), Dave and Frank Holloway."
We don't know who took this photo, which will no doubt still be in copyright. So if you you know anything more about that, we'd love to know.
Finally we want to acknowledge the passing of Huikakahu Kawe (Ngai te Ahi, Nga Tamarāwaho and Ngāti Tapu) who gifted the name Pae Korokī to Tauranga City Libraries. The name and explanation he gave us as to its meaning was instantly and enthusiastically embraced by our staff. We even had T-shirts made for all library staff.
The mihi that welcomes all who visit the site captures this meaning well.
"Ka korokī ngā manu,
ka tākiri ko te ata."
Ko te tangi a te tūī, tui, tui, tuia.
Ko te tangi a te huia, hui, hui, huia.
Ko te tangi a te tangata, kanohi ki te kanohi
Tihei mauri ora!
Kei aku manu taki, kei aku manu tāiko,
kei aku manu kai i te mātauranga, tēnā koutou katoa.
E tiu taku manu, e topa taku manu,
e tau taku manu ki Pae Korokī, tau, tau, tau ana e.
"The dawn chorus of the
birds signals a new day."
The resounding cries of our native birds,
the tūī, and the huia, call us to gather
together, and reminds us that we are all
connected. Behold, tis the breath of life!
To those of you who have come here
from the four winds, to partake in knowledge,
welcome one and all.
Just like the birds whose journey calls
them to fly, to soar, and eventually settle,
let 'Pae Korokī' be the place where
you can come to learn,
to be informed, and inspired.
For more information about other items in our collection, visit Pae Korokī or email the Heritage & Research Team: Research@tauranga.govt.nz
Written by Harley Couper, Heritage Specialist at Tauranga City Library.
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