Crossing the Road

Kia ora katoa.

We have had a most exciting time in the last few days because the men from MWH have been completing the traffic calming and crossing place between the museum and the library. While this may not seem terribly exciting to you, it is exciting to us because the project has been stalled for months by bad weather, and we have had partially completed traffic islands overflowing with water and collecting assorted rubbish. but this week the sun has been shining, and the men have been out with their machines......................



and with their hammers and cool Braille bumps so that people with a sight disability can find their way…………………
And after much drilling and gluing, sweeping and sticking, the crossing is complete. I really like this as it will it will slow down the traffic and make it much easier for people to get from the library to the museum safely. Hoorah! Thanks to Kat and her team at MWH – good work!

I have been having problems uploading images; the format has changed and I am struggling to get beyond a grey square with a circular series of dots in the centre..........so until I can figure this out there will be no illustrations on this blog. I do apologise for this.

If you know how to resolve this please let me know via comments, or
email me at: kristelle.plimmer@stdc.govt.nz or  phone the museum on 0064 6 273 8354.

I will keep trying

ka kite ano

Butter Marking

Kia ora katoa

a couple of posts ago I published some photos of a large wooden screw-type thing; we now know that it is a butter auger. Curious indeed - what does it do? Well, a butter auger came  into it's own towards the end of the process - once the cream had been churned and the butter formed, the whey was drained off and the butter fell into a large funnel where the auger was situated. As the auger turned, the butter was pushed along and out into a mould. It was then marked with a textured rolling pin-type device like this:

Thus labelled as being an example of New Zealand's finest, the butter was boxed up and packaged for export.

The rolling-pin butter labeller we have in our collection is very worn in places, attesting to a long and useful life and, no doubt, much scrubbing at the end of every shift so it was clean and ready for the next day's work. 

I have to say that I am very impressed with all these wooden tools that were used in the dairy industry; it must have taken a lot  of work to create them and  to keep them clean and hygenic. My hat goes off to the man who carved this particular beauty; it is so detailed and evenly cut, yet retains a  freshness of design. Tools that suit their purpose and that work well are a joy to the user, and this is one of them - enjoy!

Pests and Predators

Kia ora katoa

Rob Groat, our museum educator is very busy today as it is Conservation Week and he has a full schedule of bookings for his Pests and Predators programme. The class, which has a range of options to suit the different needs of younger and older students, looks at the range of pests and predators that live in Taranaki and the effects that have upon the environment. As we have only one example of the taxidermists art in the collection, this fine Harrier Hawk:

Rob has managed to borrow some very cool stuffed critters to enable the children to study these creatures close-up. No touching of course, but it is important that they can see the details of tooth and claw that make the opossum, the ferret and the stoat, amongst others, such successful predators.

He will be asking the students to look at such questions as: is a predator always a pest? What makes a successful predator? Are all introduced species pests? How do we define a pest? The students will then be challenged to design the ultimate predator.

Rob will be offering the Pests and Predators programme until the end of 2010. All our education programmes are free and any school or group of home-schoolers within South Taranaki is welcome to take advantage of this educational opportunity. Contact the museum for more details or to make a booking.

Ph: 06 273 8354  or email: rob.groat@stdc.govt.nz

ka kite ano

Kristelle