Kauri Museum, Heritage museum in Kaipara District, New Zealand.

The Kauri Museum fills over 4,000 m² in Matakohe with exhibits on kauri timber and gum. A 22.5 m lengthwise section of a kauri trunk stands in the Volunteers Hall, and a working steam sawmill and a replica 1910s boarding house are among the displays.

The museum grew out of the Old Time Transport Museum, set up in 1957 by tram enthusiast Graham Stewart and Merv Sterling on Sterling's land at Matakohe. In 1961 a committee planning the Albertland centennial chose the site for a pioneer museum, opened on 29 January 1962 by Gilbert Archey of the Auckland War Memorial Museum. It was renamed the Otamatea Kauri and Pioneer Museum in 1966, and a replica kauri dam followed in 1969.

The exhibits present stories of Māori people, European settlers, foresters, and farmers whose lives were intertwined with this region. Visitors see how these communities shaped the landscape and depended on the kauri tree for their livelihoods.

The museum covers over 4,000 m² under cover, so allow time to move between the Volunteers Hall, the steam sawmill hall and the basement gum room. The 1878 school building, the 1908 post office and the 1867 kauri church stand outside, across the road from the main entrance.

The collection includes preserved gum specimens that were laboriously extracted from forest floors generations ago, showing the skill required for this forgotten trade. These pieces reveal the ingenuity and hard work of diggers who searched through ancient soils for resin deposits.