Kia ora katoa.

This is the best weather to be at work - chilly grey days with frequent spatters of rain.......so what is happening in the museum?

We have had our textile collection fumigated and now it is being condition-reported and carefully placed in these delicious new textile cabinets. It is a privilege to have safe storage for these fragile collection items and I really appreciate the work that Marie McKay, secretary of our trust board, and Libby Sharpe, our manager at South Taranaki District Council put in to obtain the funding for these - thanks very much.

As you can see the cabinets are just luscious.

The other  photo is of Ena Baker's  bridal veil and wedding dress. Ena and her husband Livingston Baker were married on June 11, 1953. She looked an absolute picture in this gorgeous frock with the long floating veil. Ena and Livingston were very active in the Patea Historical Society and founding trustees of the museum that is now Aotea Utanganui - Museum of South Taranaki. 

It is lovely to have her wedding dress in the collection and now, to be able to store it safely and give it the best care for posterity. 

ka kite ano

Kristelle

every day............

Every day in this job I am learning something, about South Taranaki, about the collections and the rich history of the area. Yesterday I was hunting out some images of the Freezing Works for the display further down the street - worth checking out if you are ever passing through Patea, by the way - and a colleague was looking at the album pointing out her relatives in the various photos. It just makes it more personal.

Here's some photos of a couple of the union protest posters that we have in our collection

Lord Vesty did Patea no favours and the whole district suffered when the Works closed but, in the immortal words of Chumbawamba " I get knocked down but I get up again - you're never going to keep me down"

Kia kaha, stand proud!

Another glorious day............

It's another glorious autumn day in South Taranaki. Right now the Machinery Restoration Group, some of our dedicated and fabulous volunteers, are busy converting the packing cases, that the new textile storage drawers arrived in, into shelving units. Nothing goes to waste in #8 fencing wire land!!!

Here area couple of pictures of some of the volunteers in the workshop - they are a pretty happy lot, but so would you be if you  spent the day pottering about fixing  stationary engines and manure spreaders.

more soon
Happy Monday
Kristelle

where does the time go?

Kia ora - and where does the time go? it seems like only yesterday I was starting this blog and now it's a week! eek - I will get better!]

It is a gorgeous autumn day in South Taranaki and we are busy at the museum hunting through the collection for the hero items - that which we cannot leave out of the show. It is terrifically interesting to unpack all the boxes and unwrap the treasures, and, although not every thing comes into that category, it's surprising how cool a lot of the things are. What is most important is that each item contains the story of where it came from,  who made it, who used it, what they did with it and why it was given to the museum.

We are also adding new things as they are donated or collected; just last Monday we spent a coupleof very profitable hours at the beach collecting a large rock that contains the fossilised jawbone (we think) of a baleen whale.

We had the rock blessed by our kaumatua, Jim Ngarewa, before we set about removing a lot of sand and then, Jim Baker, one of our trustees, arrived with his mighty green tractor and lifted it out - hoorah!

Rob Groat, our education programmes person, and discoverer of the rock-bearing fossil was extremely pleased. The rock is now sitting in our collection storage waiting to go on display in the new galleries.

Our grand adventure at the beach concluded with chocolate bikkies for afternoon tea.

So you see, it may not be all fun and treasure hunting, but we do have a good time occasionally.

ka kite ano

kristelle x