Special Exhibition 2026

‘Imagined Geographies and First Encounters.’

Our 2026 Exhibition examines how Enlightenment-era exploration transformed European understanding of the world and its peoples. Sparked by the journals of explorers such as Captain James Cook, it explores the profound questions raised by long-distance voyages: whether humanity shared common origins, how people might be classified, and how Indigenous societies were positioned within European ideas of progress and development.

Focusing on Cook’s encounters across the Pacific—from the Northwest Coast of North America to Aotearoa / New Zealand—the exhibition considers the uncertainty of first contact on both sides. Europeans arrived with myths of giants and lost civilisations, while Indigenous communities faced unfamiliar visitors whose nature was not immediately clear. These encounters shaped geography, literature, popular culture, and even children’s games, leaving lasting impressions of the wider world. The exhibition concludes by reflecting on how geographic knowledge has since evolved, and how it is taught today to encourage more balanced, informed, and nuanced perspectives on people, places, and histories.