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
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