Inmate gifts model train to Motat
Motat’s library staff were surprised to receive a parcel sent from an Auckland prison inmate.
The unexpected package contained a large model steam train which had been painstakingly crafted from papier mache into a money box.
The model had been designed and handpainted by an inmate from Kohuora Auckland South Corrections Facility.
Earlier this year, the inmate had contacted the Museum of Transport and Technology (Motat) with a request for pictures of steam trains.
Motat’s Walsh Memorial Library and Archives manager Philippa Robinson says she had a look through the museum’s heritage collection.
‘‘Prisoners don’t have access to the internet so I gave him some alternative resource suggestions and included a batch of images, mostly copies of photographs from the Motat collection and sent that off to Kohuora,’’ she says. ‘‘I honestly thought that was the last we would hear of it.’’
Robinson says she was surprised when the large model steam train was delivered to her door soon after. ‘‘The craftsmanship is remarkable,’’ she says.
Motat has also discovered that their gift-giving inmate has created an array of similar money boxes to be put under the Christmas tree at Starship Hospital.