The Far North Regional Museum holds a remarkable collection. Its purpose is to illuminate the stories and histories of the very Far North District [Te Hiku o te Ika] of New Zealand. Treasures among the pre-european Maori collection include greenstone, early carvings and 500 year old skeletal remains of the extinct kuri [ Polynesian dog]. Other major themes are gum digging and the Dalmatians, kauri gum and timber, early shipwrecks, missionary pioneers. The Museum ahs a large archives collection - documents, journals, newspapers, maps and photographs from the extensive Northwood Collection. It is the proud home of the first European item left in New Zealand, the might de Surville anchor.