Our very own version of the Milky Way
A jersey cow named Jenny walked 250 kilometres to begin her dairying career in Taranaki.
Her story is told in Our Milky
Ways, a new exhibition on the history of dairying in Taranaki that opened at Aotea Utanganui Museum of South Taranaki on Friday.
District archivist Cameron Curd, who curated the display, hopes to gather more stories from visitors sharing their own memories.
‘‘We are hoping that people will bring in objects, stories and photographs that we can add to the exhibition,’’ he said.
As well as vintage milking equipment and photos, it features six films documenting farm life and how butter and cheese were made in the little dairy factories scattered around the mountain.
A scarlet 1947 Farmall tractor sits in the centre of the exhibition and the displays are numbered with yellow ear tags.
Taranaki’s first jersey cow ambled in to Taranaki in 1876, after being walked 250km from Marton to Bell Block by her new owner William Hulke. A vintage centrifuge machine (circa 1910) was used to test the fat content of milk and ensure that dodgy farmers didn’t water down their milk, and a NZ Department of Health sign from 1946 proclaims the benefits of pasteurisation.
During the exhibition a series of talks about the future of dairying were planned with speakers from Dairy NZ, Fonterra, and farmers, as well as people from environmental groups, Curd said.
Those who preferred a more hands-on approach to learning could try making butter with a vintage butter churn during a workshop that would include eating it on scones with cream and jam.
The exhibition was funded by the Taranaki Regional Council and took about four months to prepare and runs until May. It was opened with a brief ceremony on Friday.
One of those attending was farmer Keiran Dwyer of Patea. He remembered using some of the equipment on display during his farming career.
‘‘But not the horse drawn ones, it was tractors and trucks in my time.’’
We are hoping that people will bring in objects, stories and photographs that we can add to the exhibition
Cameron Curd