This Tourism New Zealand 2001/02 'Innovator Award' winning museum displays the largest collection of excavated objects unearthed following a volcanic eruption, while opening up the enthralling history of this Māori/Victorian village (Te Wairoa) and its association with the famed Pink & White Terraces. The museum is dynamic and interactive, informing and entertaining, an educational resource where you discover the history of Māori and European settlement, the fusion of two cultures and the birthplace of tourism in New Zealand. This journey ends with the devastating and emotional story of Mount Tarawera's eruption, the most recent in New Zealand history.