Amethyst

Kia ora | hello, I'm Amethyst and I'm 14 years old. I'm from Napier, New Zealand. I live in Melbourne now and I go to Fountain Gate Secondary College and I'm in Year 8. I'm half Māori and half Samoan.

When we went to the Pasifika collection store at the museum, it was really cool when I first walked into one of the rooms with just like different things and it was really cool to see them. I got to see new things that I haven't seen before in my life. The designs on them were so cool.

I remember seeing masks from other countries. I saw the patu | club and then I saw the taiaha | staff weapon. The weapons were really cool to see. I was surprised and like, shocked. It's just really cool to see them and like, how the staff explained them, what they were used for and where they came from. Yeah. It exploded in my brain. I still wonder, like, who made them and stuff. I would really love to go back to see it again, to see them all again.

I think it's important for people to visit the collection because so that they can experience new things in life and learn more about their culture, and where and how it all started and stuff. So that they can learn more about like, where we're from and just learn more about our Māori culture and our Samoan culture.