Bell Gully welcomes inaugural school trips under new fund

Bell Gully welcomes inaugural school trips to award-winning He Tohu exhibition under new travel fund

MONDAY 11 DECEMBER 2017

Bell Gully is delighted to welcome the inaugural school trips to He Tohu exhibition under the new Te Puna Foundation Travel Fund for Schools.

The travel fund gives school aged children from all around New Zealand the opportunity to participate in He Tohuand learn about the historical, constitutional and cultural significance of three iconic documents that have helped shape New Zealand. The documents are: the 1835 He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni (Declaration of Independence of the United Tribes of New Zealand), the 1840 Te Tiriti o Waitangi (Treaty of Waitangi), and the 1893 Women's Suffrage Petition (Te Petihana Whakamana Pōti Wahine) led by Kate Sheppard.

He Tohu is an award-winning permanent exhibition held at the National Library of New Zealand in Wellington. The aim of the exhibition is to improve access to these iconic documents for all New Zealanders and visitors, to preserve them, and to enhance learning opportunities for young New Zealanders.

"We are immensely proud to be able to contribute to such a unique project, bringing these documents to the public", said Bell Gully Chair Chris Gordon, who spoke today at He Tohu during the first student visits. "Our community is built on these documents, and it is exciting to see where they will take us."

All schools from anywhere in New Zealand can apply for travel assistance to attend the He Tohu learning programme in Wellington.

Bell Gully was one of the first corporate sponsors of the Te Puna Foundation, which is the fundraising body for the National Library of New Zealand.

To learn more about the Te Puna Foundation, or to donate, go to www.tepunafoundation.org.nz.

To learn more about He Tohu, go to www.hetohu.nz.

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