Tauranga Libraries has today launched its new online heritage platform.

Pae Korokī: Tauranga archives online gathers thousands of taonga from the city's extensive archive collection and makes these treasures accessible to view online as well as preserves them in digital format for future generations.

For more than 40 years Tauranga City Libraries has collected and preserved our rich and varied history from early Māori voyagers through to European settlers.

Tauranga City Council general manager of community services Gareth Wallis says up until today these taonga have been carefully stored under lock and key.

"Now we're making them easily accessible to our community, wherever they are, to discover and enjoy.

" 'In making these historical items more accessible we hope it helps to build meaningful connections between people, their sense of place and understanding of the communities they are part of.”

With more than 20,000 historic items available, Pae Korokī is intended to be an online hub for residents and researchers which gathers the region's diverse history into one central place.

Archivists will continue to grow the collection over the next decade as they digitise the many thousands of items the library currently holds as part of the Tauranga Library Archives collection.

The library's complete collection holds more than 200,000 pieces spanning the coastline of the Western Bay of Plenty, from Waihī Beach to Ōtamarākau. It includes photos, oral histories, manuscripts, maps, artefacts, art books, letters and personal diaries as well as research.

Gifted the name, Pae Korokī by local kaumātua, Huikakahu Kawe (Ngāi Te Ahi), this name stems from the following whakataukī:

'Ka korokī ngā manu ka tākiri ko te ata”
'The dawn chorus of the birds signals a new day”

This whakataukī speaks to birds and the power of birdsong greeting the early morning light, giving rise to a new day and a new beginning, as a metaphor for a new era of enlightenment.

Aligned to the colour of a new dawn, the platform's Awatea red logo has been created to reflect the ideas of the dawn chorus and signifies enlightenment through knowledge.

Pae Korokī: Tauranga archives online is available to the public for free from December 8 2020 and will supersede the current online platform Kete.

The archives can be viewed here.