Shane Te Ruki gets the attention of Te Arikinui Kuīni Nga wai hono i te po to begin the blessing and rededication.
Waipā’s new mayor Mike Pettit and Māori Queen Nga wai hono i te po attended the reopening of Te Awamutu’s museum last week.
Te Arikinui Kuīni Nga wai hono i te po and new Waipā mayor Mike Pettit outside the museum. Photo: Jesse Wood
And for museums and heritage director Anne Blyth it felt like going home.
The Te Whare Taonga o Te Awamutu Museum reopened on Roche St on Wednesday following earthquake proofing, having been in temporary accommodation in Rickit Rd in the capacity of an education and research centre.
Ironically, a new Te Papa touring exhibition about earthquakes– Rūaumoko: Restless land – has been installed
“The biggest change was not having our collection to tell our stories with. We couldn’t achieve climate control, pest control and security,” Blyth said.
“Rickit Rd served a purpose and allowed us to keep a connection with our community, but to be back here, be able to tell our stories and share it with the taonga is amazing.
“We feel whole again.”
Museums and heritage director Anne Blyth and community services manager Brad Ward with Te Hokioi Printing Press. Photo: Jesse Wood
The project was completed under budget. The museum covers about a third of the building, the remainder, including the former library, is council staff offices.
Other than the specialist mount maker, community services manager Brad Ward said they didn’t engage any consultants or contractors.
Reusing and recycling has been a big part in keeping costs down.
New legislation being brought to the table regarding earthquake-prone buildings, but it’s likely the remediation work would have been carried out anyway.
Earthquake-prone buildings are those with less than 33 per cent of the strength of a new build.
“We were at about 20 per cent when we closed and now we’re at 50 per cent. We are a lot safer,” Ward said.
The improved museum comes with a wheelchair accessible lift for the mezzanine floor and a larger gallery for it pride and joy, Uenuku.
Uenuku is one of the oldest known Māori carvings dating back to between 1200-1500.
The re-opening of the Roche St building was three years to the day since the closure and the new museum had a royal visit.
Te Arikinui Kuīni Nga wai hono i te po attended the blessing and rededication alongside more than 50 mana whenua from across the region.
“It was a huge honour to have that support to help us reopen the museum,” Blyth said.
Te Whare Taonga o Te Awamutu Museum. Photo: Jesse Wood
“To have mana whenua in here as the first ones, to appropriately bless the space, bless the taonga and bring everything back to life again was incredible. Then to have the queen here, it was hugely special.”
The rededication coincided with 50 years since the opening of the original building – August 1975 – and 90 years since Te Awamutu Museum was established as the first in the Waikato region.
More than 20,000 collection objects remain in community hands under the auspices of the Te Awamutu and District Museum Trust Board.
Board chair and newly elected councillor Dean Taylor said he was pleased with what the museum staff have achieved.
“Our role is to ensure that the collection is looked after and used appropriately,” Taylor said. “Our interest is the fact that the collection was put together by interested parties, historians and locals, all those years ago.
“They started the whole process of having the museum, got it to the stage where it’s a significant museum in New Zealand and one of only 11 museums in New Zealand that are a proper archival museum.”
The new research room inside the museum. Photo: Jesse Wood
Waipā District Council iwi relations advisor Shane Te Ruki gets the attention of Te Arikinui Kuīni Nga wai hono i te po to begin the blessing and rededication. Photo: Jesse Wood
