'All intelligent subjects' – Presenting scientific collecting and identity at the Hawke's Bay Philosophical Institute Museum, 1865-1899

This paper traces a shift in New Zealand’s Scientific Heritage, and the performance and presentation of scientific knowledge and identity through collecting and museum practice – based on a case study of the Hawke’s Bay Philosophical Institute Museum, during the period 1865 -1899. Two very well-known figures of New Zealand science, Museums and collecting were central in Hawke’s Bay: William Colenso FLS FRS; and Augustus Hamilton, who later became Director of the Colonial Museum in Wellington. Through them, can be traced how scientific collections and identities evolved, from the work of gentlemen of science to that of a newly professionalised vocation, realised within the spaces of Museums.