The museum is celebrating 40 years
OPINION
2024 marks the 40-year anniversary of Whangārei’s Museum, which was officially opened on March 24, 1984 under the name of The Heritage Park Exhibition Centre.
Nowadays, Kiwi North is a multifaceted destination with a fascinating regional history that visitors enjoy as they stroll the green space of Heritage Park grounds: original Victorian buildings tell the story of a bygone area, and the museum’s exhibitions dig yet deeper into the region’s past.
Kiwi North is also an active and internationally accredited conservation site, where dedicated wildlife specialists support endangered endemic species, such as gecko and kiwi. Moreover, it is increasingly a location where science meets art in powerful contemporary exhibitions that will spark curiosity, while captivating and informing viewers. However, the Kiwi North journey started humbly, and that story is an intriguing journey of determination, tenacity, and benevolence:
The museum initially evolved from a collection of artefacts donated to the Whangarei County Council by Robert Mair in 1890.
After placing the artefacts in the Municipal Buildings, which also housed the library, Mair himself exhibited them in museum display cases. When a new library was built in 1936, extra space became available for the ever-increasing artefact collection. By 1937 the collection had created such public attention that various local experts formed a Museum Committee, and as interest increased, the primary custodian of the collection, a Miss Katie Pickmere, presented inaugural Museum Lectures to Northland’s schools.
Although the knowledge seed was planted, traction for a dedicated museum building was protracted. By 1944 the council needed its building back, and although the idea of a dedicated museum and art gallery structure was discussed, nothing eventuated until 1962, when the council purchased a gracious old home, in what is now the Cafler Carpark, converting it into a museum.
For the next 10 years the museum flourished as a beloved community resource, creating displays for the public, along with those that supported the schools’ history curriculum, while also providing information and identification services, plus a reference library.
The scope of the museum continued to increase and by 1970 it employed three staff: The director, a keeper of the records, and an artist preparator. In addition, the Friends of the Museum, a voluntary group of specialists who held monthly meetings at the museum, further enabled the dissemination of knowledge. As it was always clear that the council planned to move the old house and reclaim the Cafler site for building purposes, an interim committee set out to scope a new museum site. In the meantime, the collection was carefully placed into storage.
A suitable location was found in 1972, when Basil Clarke agreed to sell his magnificent Maunu property Glorat, to the Northern Regional Museum Trust for $42,000, with a $1500 deposit, and the balance to be spread over 15 years.
The 22ha farm property, now known as Heritage Park, had been in his family for three generations, and was initially purchased by his grandfather, Dr Alexander Clarke, a doctor and surgeon originally from Campsie, Scotland. Clarke previously visited New Zealand as a ship’s doctor, returning with his wife and three children to settle in Whangarei in 1884. He and his wife Mary subsequently purchased the (original) 80ha in Maunu the following year, where they ran a mixed farm and built the family’s lovely colonial home, also known as Glorat, which still stands proudly on the Kiwi North grounds today.
Although the Museum Trust had found an ideal location, the problem of raising the initial $1500 to secure the deal loomed large. Eager to forge ahead, the trust called a public meeting to get feedback from leading organisations and citizens, outlining the suitability of the property as a permanent home for the Whangārei Museum. The trust envisioned a regional museum, which would include working exhibits, where today’s children could learn about the lives of their forebears. The meeting was well attended by prominent citizens, enthused by the concept of a Northland Regional Museum (NRM), and a deposit of $1500 was generously bestowed by Enid and Eric Blow, allowing the official document of purchase to be signed in February 1973.
Basil Clarke handed over the homestead keys to the trust, while retaining the right to live in part of his original old home, Glorat, and to continue farming 6ha of the property throughout his lifetime.
At the same public meeting Dick Sterling, who had worked as a foundation member on three previous museum projects, gallantly volunteered to dedicate the rest of his working years on actively promoting the NRM. Sterling had experience and drive, and an inspirational way with words. Aa year after the vibrant public meeting, a gloominess had settled in upon the Museum Trust members, due to their fund-raising worries. However, Sterling surprised them by expounding his unique vision of an administration building that would take the shape of a huge kauri, thus symbolising Northland. The museum would become famous all over the world for its unique structure. Even though the idea was farfetched, it sparked joy and spurred the trust on, just when they needed inspiration to continue the gruelling fundraising journey.
In 1976 the Clarke homestead, the first part of the museum complex, was opened to the public, thanks to the dedication of people too plentiful to mention in this article, but who are outlined in local historian Florence Keene’s publication, Heritage Park, which provided the basis of this article.
One of these remarkable people was Alan Stone, who influenced prominent citizens of Whangārei to take a leading role in the museum project.
Moreover, Stone and others continued to lead fundraising activities to build and finance the exhibition centre, now the Whangārei Museum muilding, right up to its official opening on March 24, 1984. Although the Whangārei Museum did not take the shape of Sterling’s visionary kauri tree, it does have a distinctive curved roof design reminiscent of a kauri leaf, which protects all within.
Look out for the museum’s upcoming 40th anniversary celebrations later this year, as they are guaranteed to spark your curiosity and inspire your vision of what can be achieved when Northlanders commit to a shared dream.
Nyree Sherlock is the Museum Assistant