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Local Museums

Jeff Newport

Some few years ago, I had the opportunity to visit a number of small museums in various parts of the country. There are the large, specialised ones, such as the Otamatea Kauri Museum at Matakohe in Northland, or those concerned with a particular industry, such as coal-mining or gold-mining and there are the larger museums, which are usually financed by local bodies or industry.

What interests me are the small museums, run by the local Historical or Museum Societies, where all the work is done voluntarily. Sometimes these start by being able to display someone's private collection. One of the usual problems is to provide suitable housing and enough room to adequately arrange the collections.

In some country areas old dairy factories have been utilised and these provide good, fireproof conditions. The only place in this part of the country where such a building is in use is at Rockville, where a wonderful collection of old tractors, engines, farm machinery and similar items are housed. Two Fairbanks Morse thirty horsepower diesel engines, out of one of the old Bay traders, are also housed there.

Mrs Wilson's Museum at Takaka should be retained in the district and probably will be. In Motueka, the old Parklands Schools is being used and work is in progress to get the museum set up. There they are fortunate that the private museum collection of the late Laurie Canton has given the district an established collection of exhibits.

We have the small museums in many country areas, such as Murchison and Wakefield. On the highway between Nelson and Blenheim, one can call at the local museums at Havelock and Renwick. There is a good local museum at Picton, well situated to attract visitors, and there are other local museums, apart from those named.

One thing that has to be remembered is that each museum should have its distinctive interest. If every collection just included the same exhibits as all the others, there would be little to attract visitors.

The Nelson Historical Society was set up to retrieve and preserve as much as possible of our historical material. The-committee promoted the idea of setting up a provincial museum, which would also provide a home for archival material and become a research library. It soon became evident that this could only achieved if the project received the financial support of the local bodies. Eventually this was agreed to and the Nelson provincial Museum was established. The committee members of the Historical Society, at that time, believed that the Society would be able to take an active part in the management and work of the new organisation, but their hopes were soon dashed.

The historical research library could only be set up when fireproof housing was available. When the new Museum was built at Isel Park, the Dr Bett collection was returned to Nelson from the Alexander Turnbull Library. An experienced librarian works full time and is of great assistance to people doing research. Nelson Provincial Museum has a vast collection of photographic material, which is one of the outstanding collections in this country, it will take years to catalogue all the negatives.