Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira

The Auckland War Memorial Museum, Tāmaki Paenga Hira or Auckland Museum is one of New Zealand's most important museums and war memorials. Its neoclassical building constructed in the 1920s and 1950s, stands on Observatory Hill, the remains of a dormant volcano, in the Auckland Domain, near Auckland CBD. Museum collections concentrate on New Zealand history (and especially the history of the Auckland Region), natural history, and military history. Auckland Museum's collections and exhibits began in 1852. In 1867 Aucklanders formed a learned society—the Auckland Philosophical Society, soon renamed Auckland Institute. Within a few years Auckland Museum was transferred to Auckland Institute, thereafter known as Auckland Institute and Museum until 1996. Auckland War Memorial Museum was the name of the new building opened in 1929, but since 1996 it has been more commonly used for the institution as well. From 1991 to 2003 the Museum's Māori name was . Early history Auckland Museum, established in 1852, was originally housed in a small cottage in Grafton Road, referred to as "Old Government Farm House" or "The Governor's Dairy", near the corner with Symonds Street; an area now part of the University of Auckland. The public were first admitted on Sunday 24 October 1852, and every Wednesday and Saturday thereafter; Honorary Secretary John Alexander Smith announcing that the museum was now open to the public in the newspapers from 29 October that year: