The award-winning Kauri Museum tells the story of the kauri tree and the European settlers who worked in the early industries of kauri milling and processing kauri gum, which was exported for making varnish, linoleum, marine glue and denture mouldings. The industries began and ended in less than 100 years. Betty Nelley, in her 17th year at the museum, has progressed from the role of registrar to collections manager and developing the archives, photographic collection and research library. She became curator in 2008 and then CEO. In 2008 she was finalist in the Museums Aotearoa Awards for an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the museum sector.
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New Zealand had 2.63 million international arrivals in the year ending July, an increase of 5.6 per cent on 2011.
July arrivals were down 1.6 per cent on July 2011, but arrivals from key markets China and Australia were up 24.9 per cent and 0.4 per cent, respectively.
More than 50.6 million stay days were generated by international arrivals, an increase of 1.2 per cent against the year ending July 2011. Australian visitors accounted for 24 per cent of total visitor stay days (more than 12 million).
Japanese arrivals declined significantly after the earthquakes in Japan and Christchurch in early 2011, but are now picking up. Arrivals for July 2012 were 6048, just below the arrivals for July 2010, pre-earthquake.