The Esplanade, Petone, Wellington Aside from extensive local social history displays, this museum researches, curates, designs and constructs social displays and exhibitions, often in partnership with the community.
Staff also liaise with local elders to research Maori history and whakapapa.
Another activity is recording and making available the stories of migration and settlement from the many multi-ethnic cultural communities of the Hutt Valley and Wellington region. For family history researchers, the museum has an ongoing project of developing the computerised passenger ship list of Wellington arrivals 1840-1910, and family history public access system.