Gerard O’Regan has worked in heritage management in New Zealand for thirty years. He trained as an ethnology technician and became manager of the Māori collections at the National Museum, Wellington. As regional museum officer for Otago and Southland, he provided professional advice to small community museums and art galleries. He has served on the museum’s association council, has undertaken contract research on bicultural developments in museums, and was a ministerial appointee to the Māori Heritage Council of NZ Historic Places. For several years he was on the executive of his local runanga (Māori community committee) and served on his tribe’s council, Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu, in the lead-up to their historic land claim settlement. Active in Māori heritage issues, he became the first heritage manager for Ngāi Tahu, his own tribe. Throughout, Gerard has maintained an active interest in Ngai Tahu’s rock art heritage, initially managing the tribe’s survey project, then setting up a tribal rock art trust and leading the establishment of the Ngāi Tahu rock art visitor center. He undertook a master’s thesis in archaeology examining South Island rock art and recently completed a doctorate at the University of Auckland; his dissertation is titled He Ana, He Whakairo: Examining Maori Belief of Place through the Archaeological Context of Rock Art. Dr. O’Regan is one of few Māori with a PhD in archaeology and is doing postdoctoral research focused on helping Māori develop better recording and understanding of rock art on the North Island.

→ Discover more about the Rock Art Network
→ Members and affiliated institutions of the Rock Art Network