Seddon Bennington

Seddon Leonard Bennington (8 October 1947 – 11 July 2009) was a New Zealand museum executive. Bennington was the chief executive of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, the national museum of New Zealand, from January 2003 until his death in 2009, and had also been the director of the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1994 until 2002.

Biography Early life Bennington was born in Hanmer Springs, North Canterbury, on the South Island of New Zealand. His parents, Charles and Lillian Jean Bennington, reportedly named him after the former New Zealand Prime Minister Richard Seddon, whom they admired for his efforts to benefit working class New Zealanders.

Bennington attended Hanmer Springs Primary School, Culverden District High School and Shirley Boys' High School. He credited a teacher at Culverden with introducing him to biology, his favourite subject. An art teacher also took him and other students on a birdwatching trip to Kapiti Island when he was in seventh grade, and the trip left him with a lifelong appreciation for art and nature. and also studied a variety of subjects, including New Zealand history, Māori studies, art history and anthropology. He wrote a book entitled Handbook for Small Museums while living and working in Australia. Authorities were alerted after they failed to return from a weekend of tramping.

Memorial service A memorial service and funeral for Bennington was held at Te Papa. His body was taken to Te Papa's marae on 21 July 2009. Bennington's family members carried his coffin to the entrance of the marae, where it was given to Te Papa staff members who carried it up the stairs accompanied by Māori instrumental music and conch shells. His casket was then returned to his family at the top of the stairs, to be carried onto the marae. Bennington's coffin was greeted by Te Papa's staff with a haka, and was then placed on a stage in the center of the marae and covered with three kahu kiwi (kiwi feather coats) as a sign of respect. One of the kiwi cloaks had been used for the tangi, or funeral, of the former prime minister, Richard Seddon, in 1906. The cloak was significant not only because Bennington was named after the Prime Minister, but also because Bennington had personally accepted the cloak from the Seddon family as a donation to Te Papa. The second cloak was originally from Tuhoe, where Bennington spent time during his younger years. The third kiwi cloak used to cover Bennington's coffin had been used previously to repatriate the remains of New Zealanders who died abroad back to their homeland.