Puke Ariki LGBTQIA+ Archive
We are pleased to announce that we have formalised this relationship and signed a Memorandum of Understanding with New Plymouth District Council
Pride Taranaki & Puke Ariki will work together to establish, develop and promote a Taranaki based LGBTQIA+ archive. The joint project will focus on collecting, preserving and providing access to materials that reflect the rich and until now untold stories, lives, histories and contributions of the LGBTQIA+ communities in Taranaki. Pride Taranaki begins this process by collecting audio and video spoken histories and stories. A number of remarkable individuals have strong links to Taranaki and have made important contributions to the changing social fabric of life nationally and locally. Stories will initially focus on individuals such as Lew Pryme, Georgina Beyer, Vivian Hutchinson and Fiona Clark. Other focuses will include the History of New Plymouth Prison and generally life and times throughout the 20th Century including early activism and support groups that date from the 1970’s.
The revelations of these stories will support and validate the LGBTQIA+ community currently in Taranaki and honour those from our past who made groundbreaking contributions into shaping the understanding and support our community enjoys in 2025.
The Rainbow Archive Project is a joint iniative between Puke Ariki Museum and Pride Taranaki undertaken through a Memondandum of Unterstanding that was signed in November 2025 following discussions over the previous 18 months. The project was described by PukeAriki in a Press Release:
Here at the museum, we’re excited to announce a new partnership with Pride Taranaki to collect, preserve, and promote the stories of Taranaki’s LGBTQIA+ communities. The resulting archive will be shared through Puke Ariki’s website, events, and exhibitions, and provide a rich resource for researchers.
Pride Taranaki Chair, Chris Herlihy, says: “A number of remarkable LGBTQIA+ individuals in Taranaki have made groundbreaking contributions to our society, yet their stories remain largely untold. This partnership will honour their contributions, and support and validate the community currently living in Taranaki.”
I wholeheartedly agree. Our role as kaitiaki of Taranaki’s collective history is to ensure all voices in our community are represented, and support greater understanding and inclusion. A big thanks to Curator Glenn Martin for shepherding the partnership into place with Pride Taranaki. Keep an eye out for Pride Week next year, when we’ll mark the first outcomes.
Pride Taranaki would also like to acknowledge previous efforts by Taranaki Artist Shannon Novak to begin this project.
The "Taranaki Rainbow Archive" was formally proposed to Puke Ariki in 2019 by local queer communities. It was worked on for 4 years until resources ran out. During this time 5 objects were added to the Puke Ariki Heritage Collection from local queer people, with support from Creative New Zealand - in the hope they would one day be part of a formalised queer archive at Puke Ariki - which, thanks to Taranaki Pride, is now a reality.
A brief history can be found at the end of this page: https://www.shannonnovak.com/signal-render
One of the first objects collected for this archive: https://collection.pukeariki.com/objects/184661/him-her-them-us-lightbox-triptych
Key people involved: Queer communities:
Pasha Clothier, Loux McLellan, Anonymous donor Shannon Novak
Taranaki Iwi: Takatāpui from Taranaki Iwi
Puke Ariki: Colleen Mullin, Lucy Macfarlane, Laura Campbell, Chanelle Carrick
Creative New Zealand
