Saturday, November 28, 2026

10:00 AM - 1:00 PM

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Overview

Registration required.

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Details

Thorndon is one of Aotearoa’s oldest suburbs, originally known as Haukawakawa (the wind in the kawakawa trees). Discover the rich history of this area with guided visits to Te Whare Taonga o te Urupā - Bolton Street Cemetery Museum and Old St Paul’s, and a performance at Katherine Mansfield House & Garden. Te Whare Taonga o te Urupā - Bolton Street Cemetery Museum is set in Wellington’s oldest burial ground. Opened in 2022, the museum is housed in a replica mortuary chapel and tells the stories of those buried in the cemetery, as well as the cemetery’s own complex past. Old St Paul’s, a magnificent timber Gothic Revival pro-cathedral, is not only one of Wellington’s best-loved heritage landmarks, it is intimately linked to the capital’s spiritual, civic and social life. Many Wellingtonians have been married or mourned at Old St Paul’s, and, as its role as an Anglican parish church has wound down, it has become increasingly a place for everybody to share and enjoy. Katherine Mansfield House & Garden is the 1888 birthplace of internationally celebrated Modernist writer Katherine Mansfield. Experience Mansfield’s writing brought to life in a performance that celebrates her queer identity, then have the opportunity to discuss the opportunities and challenges of performance in an historic house museum. This fieldtrip will give participants an introduction to the history of Wellington and the area in which the conference will be held over the following days. Three groups will rotate through each site with plenty of opportunities to ask questions and engage with the site hosts about how their organisation works to connect people with heritage. This tour involves approximately 55 mins of walking between venues. There are steps to enter Katherine Mansfield House & Garden, but the other two venues have step-free entrances. At the end of the programme, participants may like to have lunch at one of two historic hospitality venues: The Thistle Inn, the oldest surviving bar and restaurant in Wellington, or Chapman Taylor’s, the 1912 workshop of renowned New Zealand architect James Walter Chapman Taylor. Lunch is optional and not included in the registration fee.