On Friday 27th July the Taranaki branch of NZ Founders hosted a special presentation by Andrew Moffat at Puke Ariki called "Rebels, Rats and Ructions: New Plymouth in the 1840's". This was well attended with 37 people listening to the talk that covered scandals, drama and characters of New Plymouth's early years. New Plymouth founders faced storms, sickness and death. The talk highlighted that the early years of New Plymouth was a pioneering period where nothing was truly settled.

Puke Ariki currently have an exhibition covering this topic which any visitors coming to Taranaki may be interested in checking out.