Historic day for Stewart Island, thanks to $1m grant

Maggie Barry has been using Parliament’s recess week to take her Arts, Culture and Heritage portfolio for a spin down south. On Stewart Island yesterday, she announced funding of $1.08 million to help build a new $3.6m heritage centre in the main township of Oban. Barry said the current museum was too small for its increasingly large and valuable collection. The new facility, first mooted in 2010, would allow half of these artefacts to be displayed. The project is conditional on it gaining resource consent.