No place like it
Caitlin Timmer-arends, curatorial manager at Waitangi Treaty Grounds, talks to Elisabeth Easther about working in one of New Zealand’s most significant historical places
How do you explain Waitangi to someone who has never been there?
There is no other place where you feel history as strongly as you do when you walk on to Waitangi. This place changes people, whether it’s through learning about our history, or interacting with our staff and hearing their stories, or just having an awesome day out in a beautiful setting, because everybody leaves Waitangi a better person, which is why everyone should come here at least once.
We all know Waitangi was one of the places Te Tiriti was signed, but what’s the background of the visitor attraction?
Lord Bledisloe was the original purchaser of the estate in 1932 and he had a vision. When you read the original trust board minutes from the 1930s, they say things like, “when we build a museum we’ll do this and we’ll do that”. But after the estate was handed to the nation in 1934, it took till 2016 to see just one of Lord Bledisloe’s visions realised, which was building the first museum, Te
Ko¯ ngahu Museum of Waitangi.
How has Covid affected business?
The Ma¯ ori Battalion Museum, Te Rau Aroha, opened on February 5, 2020, and was only open for about six weeks before we went into lockdown. Actually, some good things came out of this difficult time. Management made a real commitment to retaining our visitor-facing staff. When they couldn’t do their regular jobs, we found other things for them to do. After the first lockdown, I shared team leadership with our visitor services manager and we removed eight woolsacks of invasive ladder ferns.
And visitor numbers?
Without Aucklanders, sometimes we’d get just three or four people through a day, but that allowed us to do things like put up scaffolding inside the Whare Ru¯ nanga and clean all the carvings, which normally we’d never get to do. So maintenance projects have been good for staff retention, and visitor numbers are picking up. The recent school holidays were busy, and we’re starting to see a few internationals.
Is it fair to say that our perception of Aotearoa’s history has evolved in recent years?
Definitely. The majority of us now realise we have a history that’s longer and richer than just Captain Cook or Abel Tasman. There are also really important changes being made to the school history curriculum, because it’s never been more important for us to know where we come from and Waitangi is a wonderful place to help people learn and understand.
You’re currently the curatorial manager at Waitangi Treaty Grounds. Are you originally from Northland?
I was actually born in a little town called Marton in the Rangitı¯kei District, and because Mum liked to move around a lot, I also lived in Waikato, Coromandel and Bay of Plenty. The biggest impact of living in so many places, I’ve never
minded moving somewhere new. Like when I went from Palmerston North to Dunedin for university, it was no big deal. Then after graduating, when I saw this job advertised in Northland, I just applied, because moving doesn’t bother me.
Did you have specific career plans during those mobile years?
I intended to be a doctor or a lawyer but, following half a semester of health science at Otago, I realised I hated it and I finished with a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and a Bachelor of Science in Clothing and Textiles instead.
What did you think you’d do, with a multifaceted double degree like that?
Like most students finishing university, I was wondering what to do with my life, then I heard about the postgraduate Museum Studies course at Massey. I did four papers while interning at Te Manawa Museum, and working part time — but I don’t recommend doing it in a single year, as it was very hectic.
Was it a direct path from Manawatu¯ to Waitangi?
Pretty much. After I graduated a temporary position for a curatorial assistant at Waitangi came up, but it was meant to be only a summer internship to help prepare for the museum opening. I applied in November just as I finished my post-grad studies, and I was brought on to locate and catalogue items that had been collected over the past 70 years and dispersed all around the estate. Once I started, we realised it would take longer than the original contract so it extended for three months, then another three, then another. After a year we realised there was enough work for my role to be permanent. That was seven-and-a-half years ago. I always say the day I get bored is the day I start looking for a new job, but I can’t see that happening any time soon, because new and exciting things happen here every day.