What are the opening hours?

Monday 09:00 - 03:00 Wednesday 09:00 - 03:00 Friday 11:00 - 03:00

https://www.facebook.com/163678447378705/

Massim Museum & Cultural Centre

Home
Papua New Guinea
Alotau
Massim Museum & Cultural Centre

MASSIM MUSEUM AND CULTURAL CENTRE is the initiative of the MASSIM Cultural Foundation Inc. Massim is a general term for all cultures found in our Province
(2)

The Massim Museum and Cultural Centre PNG
The Massim Museum and Cultural Centre will open on Friday 4 November this year in association with the National Kanu and Kundu Festival, in Alotau the capitol of Milne Bay Province, PNG. It took the very successful Malinowski Legacy Conference in 2015 to regain the impetus to establish this Museum, this year. The Massim Museum is at Education Milne Bay's W

anigili Centre, in a large wooden building reputed to be the largest wooden structure in the South West Pacific. Co-resident with the Museum is a cafe, conference venue, accommodation and the very successful Egwalau Tours and Events. EMB, as it is known, has a unique charm on the site of fierce fighting during WW2 and close to peaceful Milne Bay. For the last six months The Director, an experienced Pacific Islands curator Joan Winter, has been working with a diverse range of local men and women from all over the Province and international scholars on the seven exhibitions to open the Museum covering a diversity of forms- history, carving, weaving, contemporary art, community photography and more. Much of this work has been done voluntarily, as the entrance honour board will indicate. The museum's permanent collection started with the very impressive 40 carvings and 12 story boards from the Malinowski Legacy forum carving project as part of the Anniversary conference in 2015. Since then the Museum has acquired over 50 further objects for its permanent collection, some as donations, which will also be on display at the opening. Some people in Milne Bay Province MBP have already understood that a museum keeps precious objects safe and so have offered their cultural heritage in a community spirit of sharing. A reference library has also been started with much interest from the book starved public. Building workers have spent their lunch times reading and viewing from this library, again developing mainly through donations. The second year for the Museum will be able to provide an outreach program for the many village dwellers, with a special community engagement and knowledge sharing and access program, with the help of external funding. This will include the development of a film, photographic and text based media archive at the disposal of our peoples living here. Our programs will be representative, inclusive and balanced, over a three-year period, to include all our diverse cultures from inland, mountain communities to scattered small islands. Our exhibitions and other programs must be in partnership and collaboration with what else is developing in the province such as educational initiatives, contemporary artists and artisans, and the nationally designated Tourism hub that Milne Bay is. In preserving the old and the threatened we will also promote the transitional and the new. The Massim Museum has three galleries, including a flexible multipurpose exhibition, screen and performance space and an artefact and souvenir shop. The first exhibitions will include the central feature: a Kiriwina Island wood carvers double exhibition of storyboards telling the mythopoetic cautionary tale of Imdeduya based on the Kula Ring, and 40 statuettes based on Trobriand Islands cultural heroes, villains, ancestors, everyday and ceremonial life. Smaller exhibitions include: one of the few named 19th century carvers, Mutuaga from the Suau region assisted by Dr. Harry Beran, and the artefacts of the permanent collection. The two opening history exhibitions are: The Rise and Fall of Samarai, and Milne Bay's place in World War Two, The Battle of Milne Bay 1942. More contemporary displays include Milne Bay artists painting exhibition and WWOMB Women Weavers of Milne Bay including traditional and contemporary objects and fashion statements. The fun photographic show 1001 Faces of Milne Bay takes in images from the 1980s to today of all our people. The Massim Museum speaks of oneness in diversity, balance in exhibition presentations and respect for all the peoples of our Province. Please visit us.

17/08/2024

Some post WWII history right there. Thanks Leanne.

17/08/2024

Farewelling P&O Pacific Encounter from Top Goilanai this afternoon. Thank you to all the visitors who came through the museum doors today. We hope you enjoyed your visit and look forward to another visit soon.

Cheers,
MM team

17/08/2024

Thank you to all the visitors who came through the museum doors today.

Pacific Encounter docked in Alotau, Papua New Guinea today: ^Stu

12/08/2024

The record-setting crew that captured the hearts of the nation are back. The highly anticipated documentary SAILAU is set to premiere in Papua New Guinea at the National Kenu and Kundu Festival in Alotau 1-3 November 2024.

04/06/2024

Wereldmuseum holds a model canoe from Milne Bay. Does anyone know who made it?

05/02/2024

Dear All,

We've just received the 2024 Cruise Ship Schedule from Milne Bay Tourism Bureau. Should there be any changes later, we will try our best to update you. Please see attached.

Cheers,
Team MM

08/11/2023

Lamberto Loria was an Italian anthropologist who spent many years in PNG in the late 1800’s. Of the 1200 photographs he took, about 350 were from Milne Bay and many are from Kwato. We’ll be working in coming months to try to reconnect these photos with the descendants of the people they feature. Stay tuned!

08/11/2023

And the Museo della Civilita also features a beautiful collection of lime sticks, a pestle and some mortars. Do you know who made these?

08/11/2023

Yesterday I had the pleasure of doing a little research at the Museo Della Civilita in Rome and made a surprising find of an extensive collection of Milne Bay maritime artefacts and chewing equipment. This beautiful canoe, Sopakarina features a lagimu and tabuya created by Towitara Buyoyou and Gumaligisa Bela. I’ve included the labels and Google translation for you here.

02/11/2023

31/10/2023

Huge thanks to Jan Hasselberg. 100 historical Milne Bay photographs have sucsessfully been mounted at Massim Museum in Alotau - a first exhibition of its kind in PNG.
Great work by Lucinda, Gorothy, Roselyn and Rodney.
The photos come from 15 different archives in Europe, Australia and PNG. Come down and have a look. We would love to hear your thoughts about these photos!

06/07/2023

Hi All,

Feel free to get in touch with Helping Hands - Alotau if you have something to donate.

Cheers☺️

06/07/2023

22/03/2023

George Beardow was a carpenter from Brisbane who joined the RAAF at the age of 46. Come and see the George’s War Exhibition at the Museum curated by Dr Juanita Muller. Do you recognise any of the faces & locations in these photos?

16/03/2023

Two photographic exhibitions curated by Dr Juanita Muller are currently on show at the Massim Museum and Cultural Centre. Non-combat wartime photos show daily lives of RAAF servicemen and local people. Can you help her identify any other people in the photos? See juanitamuller.com.au

05/03/2023

Welcome to Alotau and the Massim Museum!!
Currently docked at the Alotau Port, the MSC Poesia ...

We invite our visitors to drop by the Musuem located at Service Delivery Centre just opposite the Alotau Bakery for a brief tour. Our entry fee for visitors is K10/$5 per head. children under the age of 17 are free.

We hope to you see you there.

Cheers,
MM Team

28/02/2023

Finding an old box of photos led to the discovery of a documented journey around PNG in 1943/44. George Beardow was identified as one of the main people in the photos. He was a carpenter from Brisbane who joined the RAAF at the age of 46. Can you identify any of his mates? Come and see the George’s War Exhibition at the Museum.

28/02/2023

The George’s War exhibition currently on show at the Museum is a story about George Beardow and his RAAF mates from 30 Squadron during WW2 in Milne Bay. See if you can recognise any other faces in the photos. If so, you might like to contact Juanita Muller via her website juanitamuller.com.au

27/02/2023

Hi Residents of Alotau.

Massim Musuem is open every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, do take some time to drop in and take a look around. If you wish to pay a visit at specific times, please send us an email on [email protected] or for any further enquiries.

Cheers,
Team MCF

12/02/2023

Farewelling "Le Laperouse" now as it prepares to depart Alotau.
Massim Museum & Cultural Centre would like to sincerely thank Siale Tours and for making it possible for the tourist aboard this Cruise ship to visit the museum today. We appreciate you and hope all our visiting friends had a lovely time with our team today.

Safe travels to your next stop.

Cheers,
Team MM&CC

05/02/2023

Temporary residents of the Museum...

A family of 2 baby birds and their mother on the lemon tree that grows out front at the Museum today. 😊

And one of them literally came out for a couple of photos too!! Now who's photogenic? 😆

05/02/2023

Look at the second cruise ship for this month that called in yesterday...

The noticeable "Seven Seas Explorer" of the Regent Seven Seas Cruises.

This is the first of its 2 scheduled visits to Alotau this month. See you when you call in again on the 18th of this month. 😊

29/01/2023

P&O's Coral Princess docked at the main wharf yesterday and a smaller Conflict Islands vessel passing by. This was the first P&O ship for this year. Looking forward to having more later in the year.

&O #

02/11/2022

Thank you Fred Monabai and family for your hard work today! Junior Martin Monabai and his cousin Siotama repairing the carvings for the museum this afternoon.

22/01/2022

Last piece to finish of my collection for our Grads Show, National Art School.

21/09/2021

Is your name is a melody? See this fascinating article about the Yopno people's name tunes - konggap (the image is clearly not of a boy from Madang but an Ethiopian community who have a similar melodic name tradition ;)).

Name tunes are unknown in most of the world, but they are found in two very distant communities.

19/09/2021

Saia David gave us permission to share his fabulous post about the art of bagi makers from Rossel. Enjoy!

19/05/2021

Shoutout to Roz Koisin tonight for putting together David Payne’s exhibit of his drawings of Milne Bay canoes at the Massim museum. Fabulous lecture at the National Art School in Sydney tonight listening to him share his love of MB sailing technology.

Address

Service Delivery Centre
Alotau
1211

Opening Hours

Monday	09:00 - 03:00
Wednesday	09:00 - 03:00
Friday	11:00 - 03:00

Website

facebook.com

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Massim Museum & Cultural Centre posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Massim Museum & Cultural Centre:

Videos

Wereldmuseum

Wereldmuseum holds a model canoe from Milne Bay. Does anyone know who made it?

Thank you Fred Monabai and family for your hard work today! Junior Martin Monabai and his cousin Siotama repairing the carvings for the museum this afternoon.