Funding boost for museum build
A new exhibition space and muchneeded storage for items from South Taranaki’s past is a step closer thanks to a $618,756 boost to the South Taranaki District Museum Trust.
The grant, from the Lottery Environment and Heritage Committee, will go towards construction of a $1.45 million building at Aotea Utanganui, Museum of South Taranaki.
The new building is desperately needed as some of the museum’s collection is stored in an old part of the museum which has no insulation and in some places a dirt floor.
It is the second part of a planned, three-stage development project which began with major renovations in 2011.
A house on the site behind the museum has been moved off and trust secretary Marie McKay said construction could begin once the final $160,000 was secured.
The trust is hoping to receive the shortfall from the Ministry for Cultural and Heritage’s regional facilities fund, but a decision has been delayed due to Covid-19.
Meanwhile, a new museum team leader has been appointed to replace former curator and archivist Cameron Curd, who left in October.
Luuana Paamu, who has been part of the museum team since 2006, initially started as a volunteer to help audit and reorganise the museum’s records and collection.
What began as a temporary role became a long-term passion, and she stayed on.
‘‘Five years later, I got a job,’’ she said. ‘‘It was a job I started and I don’t like not finishing. I’m still here, 11 years later, still doing it.’’
She was joined this week by Amber Wright, a technical archivist whose role is to help make the museum’s collection more accessible to the public.
Wright, who comes from Opunake, has seven years of collection management experience, working in various roles at Puke Ariki and Yarra Ranges Regional Museum in Victoria, Australia.
‘‘It’s nice to come back home to South Taranaki. You can get why people love these things. When there is that local connection, you have a shared history,’’ she said.
A new exhibition opened on July 2.
Tales and Taonga is part of the project started in 2018 to publish a book of the same name to tell the district’s stories.
The community was asked to submit stories, photographs, memories and recollections of anything relating to the region, and volunteers were sought to write about some artefacts from the museum.
A date for the book launch is still being organised.