Dargaville - Northern Wairoa Museum

This museum is in Harding Park, on a hill above the town from which there is a fine view of the Wairoa River. The museum displays a variety of objects from before the European settlement and the early days of the settlers, including kauri wood and resin.

An item of particular interest is an ancient war canoe, built using only stone tools. The canoe was buried on North Head (70km south of Dargaville) in 1809 after inter-tribal fighting and was rediscovered only 20 years ago.

A recent addition to the museum's collection is the masts of the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior, which was sunk by French agents in Auckland Harbour in 1985.