Western Bay Heritage Trust keen to bring museum to Te Puke

Western Bay Heritage Trust member Sue Matthews outside the vacant Jellicoe St building, part of which could become the Te Puke Heritage Hub.

An idea is being floated that would bring the history of Te Puke to life and utilise part of a high street building.

Optimism is high a Te Puke Heritage Hub in part of the former Mitre 10 building in Jellicoe St could get off the ground if sufficient support is found to launch the project.

The heritage hub would fall under the Western Bay Heritage Trust. The trust runs the Katikati-based Western Bay Museum that opened in the town’s former fire station in 2016.

Over the years, various attempts to host exhibitions in Te Puke have met with little success.

Sue Matthews, who has been part of the trust since 2015, says it has always had a Te Puke focus.

“[The museum] has always had some aspect of Te Puke in all the exhibitions,” she says.

Broad plans for the heritage hub are that there would be a permanent exhibition highlighting the development of the kiwifruit industry, with a space given over to temporary exhibitions that would draw on the museum collection and previous exhibitions.

“But Te Puke’s got to own it, so we do need to front up with the funding,” says Sue.

Sponsorship opportunities exist, with different tiers designed to suit businesses or families and individuals.

An estimated $80,000 is needed as a start, with ongoing costs of $35,000 a year for three years while other funding opportunities are explored.

“Initially, it’s to secure enough funding to lock the building down and get the thing going‚” says Mark Boyle of Te Puke Economic Development group and who is also part of the project committee.

The building previously occupied by Mitre 10 in Jellicoe St, Te Puke, could, in part, be turned into a heritage hub.

He anticipates prominent signage, including kiwifruit slices smaller than but similar to those at the western entrance to the town.

Sue says with the museum and trust already established, much of the work has already been done.

“All exhibits are stored in Katikati in temperature-controlled conditions and meet the museum code of compliance, and we need to link into them. It’s not a big headache to get it up and running, we can do it fairly quickly. The main expense is the building.”

While it is located in Katikati, museum manager Paula Gaelic says the museum was always there to serve the whole district.

“We’ve always shared the stories of Te Puke and Maketū and Pongakawa in our museum exhibitions, but it’s very difficult to allow accessibility for the people on [the Te Puke] side of our district,” she says.

Securing the building in Te Puke would overcome that.

“The museum has done all of the hard yards, all of the pilots and all of the trials were part of our growth and development. It’s all in place now, and to have this space would enable our exhibitions, on a smaller scale, to be showcased in Te Puke.

“All of our health and safety, HR, contracts, that sort of thing, all of our policies to do with museums’ best practice, they are all taken care of already. All we need is a space.”

She says a venue where the kiwifruit story can be told would be an asset for the kiwifruit industry as a place where visiting businessmen could be taken to get an idea of the development of the sector in Te Puke and the innovations that have taken place via a series of storyboards.

The Western Bay Museum in Katikati brings people into the town who then use other facilities and businesses.

Paula says the museum is a drawcard for Katikati, bringing people to town who then use other facilities and businesses, and the same would be true of a heritage hub in Te Puke.

She says the museum also respects its Treaty of Waitangi roles and responsibilities.

“It takes a lot of work to build trusting and meaningful relationships with hapū, but they’ll have an opportunity to tell their stories [in the Te Puke Heritage Hub] as well.”

There would be opportunities to tell the stories of local families, of other industries besides kiwifruit, to engage with schools, to recount more recent arrivals of other ethnic groups into the area and to highlight local identities.

“Museums are for the community and they are owned by the community, but they are something that people don’t always value. Sometimes people think they are a want, but they’re a need. Our history is really crucial.”