A virtual exhibition created by Auckland City Libraries.
This exhibition celebrates Ferdinand von Hochstetter: father of New Zealand geology (1829-1884) and commemorates the 150th anniversary of the arrival of Hochstetter and the Austrian Novara expedition in Auckland (1858-2008).
The exhibition is special because about half the items on exhibition have especially returned on loan to New Zealand shores from Vienna after 150 years - personally selected in Vienna by guest curator Dr Sascha Nolden.
Items on display include:
- Hochstetter’s original diary from his visit to Nelson
- original sketches by Hochstetter and his assistant Julius von Haast
- rare early New Zealand photographs from 1859
- a bust of Hochstetter on loan from the Austrian Geological Survey in Vienna
- Hochstetter’s original scrapbook of New Zealand newspaper cuttings
- original manuscript letters written to Hochstetter by people from all around New Zealand
- books by Hochstetter and others
- letters to Sir George Grey and photographs from his collections
- rocks and fossils, including small dinosaur bones – from both historical and recent collections
Some of the major collections represented include:
- The Dr Albert Schedl Collection, Vienna
- The Gerhard Holzer Private Collection, Vienna
- The Austrian Geological Survey, Vienna
- The Natural History Museum Vienna, Department of Archives and History of Science.
From the New Zealand collections:
- GNS National Paleontology Collection
- Dr Mike Johnston, Nelson, fossils and mineral specimens.
- The exhibition also includes important treasures from Special Collections at the Auckland Central City Library.