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The Waitangi Treaty Grounds museums in��Northland��have been evacuated and police have searched the premises following a bomb threat on Wednesday morning.��

People visiting the birthplace of the nation posted on social media they were evacuated from the two museums and Whare Waka cafe.��

Waitangi Treaty Grounds chief executive Ben Dalton said the threat came from an email that had been sent to museums throughout the country, along with several hotel chains.��

A senior Treaty grounds staff member opened the email about 9.35am and alerted Dalton, who phoned police.��

“A chain email went out to museums across the country and a number of hotels, saying there were hidden bombs and they were due to go off in the next few hours.��

“Given that there’s always the potential for people’s safety, we followed the advice of police.��

“We had police go through the museums with us, then the police cleared us to reopen.”��

Dalton said about 23 to 30 people were in the museums — Te Rau Aroha Museum of the Price of Citizenship and Te Kōngahu Museum of Waitangi — at the time.��

However, the cafe was not evacuated, despite reports on social media.��

“It was still early, so we went through the standard operating procedures ... we were advised to evacuate. We moved people out quickly from the museums and moved staff out.��

“Officers said to us this is happening across the country.”��

By 11am the grounds were reopened, and it was business as usual, Dalton said.��

“We were told we could resume our normal business.”��

Police would not comment and provided only a statement saying “police will no longer be providing information on non-specific mass email threats where there is no apparent risk to public safety”.��

“Threatening emails have caused significant and unnecessary concern to public services over the last month,” the statement said.��

“In some recent cases, services have been disrupted due to needless evacuations.��

“Police will continue to take all reported threats seriously and will release information when necessary for public safety.”��

Jenny Ling is a news reporter and features writer for the Northern Advocate. She has a special interest in covering health, roading, lifestyle, business and animal welfare issues.��