Dozens protest museum closure
The Invercargill weather was as angry as those who gathered yesterday to vent their frustration at the closing of the Southland Museum and Art Gallery.
At least 30 people gathered at Feldwick Gates, near the Southland Museum and Art Gallery, at 1pm yesterday, before having a public meeting about the closure at the Invercargill Workmen’s Club.
A blast of rain cut a planned procession from a walk through the city to a limited wander to the subject of the frustration.
The Southland Museum and Art Gallery has now been closed since mid April.
On Friday, the Invercargill City Council revealed 11 staff – eight part-time and three fulltime staff – have been made redundant.
As the crowd gathered, pre- cession and meeting organiser Bob Simpson said the event was set up for a range of different reasons.
‘‘I’m hoping people turn up to show the general public aren’t very happy, to grieve the decision to do it, and to talk over some ways to remedy it.’’
The protest saw town cryer Lynley McKerrow bellow out her messages about the closure from a convertible car with its top down.
Prior to taking-off, McKerrow said town cryers are meant to be apolitical but were also the purveyors of the news, and she felt in someway the day was about grieving a death.
She said it is important Invercargill maintain a cultural identity, and it should not be let go.
‘‘As Southlanders and Invercargill people, we need to dig our toes in and show we need to have facilities like this.’’
Others taking part in the protest on foot carried ‘‘open the museum’’ placards, with a hearse symbolically in tow.
Dressed in a suit and top hat, Nigel Edwards, co-owner of Invercargill’s Avenal Park Funeral Home, drove a hearse from Feldwick Gates to the Invercargill Workingmen’s Club.
Edwards got involved because he wanted to rally behind the community and help look after one of its major assets.
It was out of the hearse that a coffin, with a miniature version of the museum, came.
With mourners and protesters alike waiting at the Invercargill Workingmen’s Club, the sound of bagpipes rang through the door as they led in the coffin symbolically signifying the death of the museum and art gallery.
It was there where McKerrow told the around 50 people in attendance that while you can’t lay a building to rest, the day was about saying goodbye to the spirit of the museum.
During his speech, Lindsay Buckingham said that if the rest of the country acted like the Invercargill City Council, 25,000 buildings would have to close and thousands would be out of work.
Simpson told the crowd that decision makers need to learn from the museum’s famous resident tuataras, often going slowly, but can move quickly when they need to.
He suggested that it was the perfect time to show the needed urgency to get the facility open again.