Fight for the future of the past

(Left to right) Andre Pointon, Ken Pointon and Graeme Quayle attend a steam and engineering section workshop day at MOTAT. Photo / Sarah Ivey.

They are blokes in seriously big sheds. Grey hair and glasses are the norm and, in between gently ribbing each other, they do a lot of tinkering with cold steel. They are tradesmen, engineers, scientists, surgeons.

These Motat volunteers are bonded by the love of a thing well made, the understanding of the technology and the skills to repair and restore. It's a respect for heritage - and, yes, nostalgia - which the blokes in the steam section share with the women who care for the Victorian clothing collection. Some have been coming to Motat for more than 40 years, through good times and bad.

On the surface, this repository for man-made objects big and small has gone from strength to strength since the late 1990s, when the Auckland City Council sent in troubleshooter Grant Kirby to sort out a financially stricken amenity. The subsequent passing of the Motat Act, requiring all seven councils in the region to fund the museum, has given the financial certainty - and a lot more money - for big improvements.

Today, it's drawing record crowds and income and winning national and international recognition for its heritage restorations. Extending the tram line to link its two sites on either side of the zoo has unlocked its potential as one of Auckland's prime leisure and tourism drawcards. The $13 million new aviation hall will finally bring famous planes in from the weather.

Facilities are better maintained (buildings no longer leak), there's better signage and exhibitions come with more information to put items in context (for punters who take the time to read the display boards). Still, there's scope for improvement, even as basic as the family room now nearing completion.

As director Jeremy Hubbard puts it, Motat is on a journey.

So why are some volunteers so upset that they are risking being thrown out to publicly raise concerns about Motat's management and direction?

"We used to do so much with so little, now we do so little with so much," says Ian Hambly, chairman of the Motat Society which represents volunteers.

"There's quite a bit of unrest - it may be a failure of communication of aims and achievements, but it's pretty deep-seated."

Motat volunteers are organised, military fashion, into 11 divisions - fire and emergency, aviation, steam, etc. Each has a collection manager (a volunteer who is paid an honorarium) and negotiates an annual budget. Hambly heads the road transport section but is currently barred from the site over a dispute with management which has dragged on for 17 months. He did not approach the Herald, though those who did are sympathetic to his plight.

Their complaints are wide-ranging: budget constraints on restorations and acquisitions, policy changes without consultation, lack of financial transparency and communication breakdowns. They claim morale has plummeted while staff turnover has soared.

"[Management] seem to group all volunteers as twits," says steam collection manager Ken Pointon. "We're not blokes off the street who don't know anything and have to be told what to do."

What's prompted them to go public, defying Motat's volunteer agreement, is a review of collections management which raises questions about the future role of section heads.

Eight of 11 volunteer managers have signed a letter raising issues including the review, their employment status, lack of consultation over policy changes, lack of interest in expanding the collection, and the time taken to resolve the Hambly dispute. They accuse management of creating a "stifled or frozen museum environment".

They point out that while income from the ratepayers' levy has gone from $2.5 million to $10 million a year since the Motat Act was passed in 2000, spending on the collections and restoration has stayed at around $1 million. And they claim a growing proportion of the restorations budget is being diverted to operating expenses such as the tramline. Some sections have had significant budget cuts.

They say there is limited awareness of the problems at board and electoral college level because of Motat's hierarchial complaints procedure and Hubbard's ability to act as gatekeeper. They cite his description in his August board report of their letter as coming from "eight volunteers" out of Motat's 300, rather than section heads.

They have previously raised with Hubbard concerns about relations with operations manager Derek Grieve, their main point of contact. These, says Hubbard, are being worked through.

Discontent can be traced to Hubbard's 2005 move to add a tier of managers covering human resources, operations and finance. Since then, spending on administration has increased from $3 million to $4.6 million. Some question why an organisation of 60 staff needs so many administrators.

"They want a business plan for each project," says Pointon. "They think they're running a corporate business and we [should] come in and do as they say."

Yet Hubbard, a former Shell Oil executive, continues to enjoy considerable support among several future of the pastThe four-dimensional simulator engages visitors of all ages.

The flying saucer is a modern twist on transport at Motat.Pictures / Dean Purcell

sections. Some say the complaints stem from a handful of Hambly loyalists. Military collection manager Mathew White is "excited" by the prospect of a collections management resource.

"It boils down to the museum using the brains they have at their disposal," says White, a volunteer for 24 years. "It's a hobby - we go there to enjoy it." He says he has always found management supportive of his "wild ideas".

The collections management discussion document draws heavily on a 2006 Audit Office report on the management of heritage collections, basically a best practice guide. Critics wonder why it has taken Motat four years to introduce it. One observer describes it as "the most elaborate way to get rid of a few stirrers I've seen".

Motat's tensions may be seen as a philosophical clash over the direction of this publicly funded institution in a highly competitive environment - striking the balance between heritage museum and leisure attraction. The dispute has echoes of the meltdown at Auckland Museum under Vanda Vitali, whose re-organisation downgraded curatorial roles and raised fears for the status of collections and research, while her management style polarised staff.

The difference is that Motat depends on volunteers. Clearly, some see their focus on collections being subjugated by management's focus on getting numbers through the gate. And while Hubbard says there are systems to discuss concerns, some believe they are not being listened to.

"We can't talk to them about things - they don't understand," says fire and emergency services section head John Walker, a Motat volunteer since it opened in 1964.

"There's almost a disparaging attitude to the pieces - they don't understand the nuances and they won't come and ask us because they fear looking silly."

Lyndsay Whittle, who heads the bus collection, believes an independent review is needed to heal the rifts. "We have raised a lot of concerns but they don't seem to reach the board. I don't think they are being transparent in running the museum. We know we can't have everything we want."

The Voyager spacecraft ride, which sits just inside the museum entrance, is a firestarter for the disenchanted. Some see it as evidence of Motat veering towards a Rainbow's End-type, theme park future whereas the annual rental could be spent on restorations. They point to drawcards which have been downgraded or disappeared: from horse and cart rides to popular blacksmith Errol Shute. Hubbard points to the queues of children and adults awaiting the 15-minute "4D" Voyager ride and notes the machine is a New Zealand invention. It's technology, Jim, but not as we knew it.

On the first day I visit, a more traditional scene unfolds out the back of Motat2, where Pointon's steam section is hosting a demonstration day. The aim is to encourage new recruits - a growing issue in sections dependent on familiarity with century-old technology. These blokes won an Australasian Engineering Institute heritage award for Motat last year by restoring the beam engine in the Pumphouse.

A boy with grease-covered hands wonders who is in charge of the steamroller, which is ready to roll. "You are," shouts Pointon.

As volunteer Graeme Quayle puts it: "We see ourselves as custodians until the next generation comes and uses it."

There's obvious potential for such live workshops to interest punters while the nearby rail section could pick up where the trams leave off and take Motat2 to another level.

But this place runs on volunteers and they are not always around at peak visiting times. On this visit, a Saturday, the heritage trams are hidden in the tram barn and the engineering workshops are closed. When I return a few days later, volunteers are taking a superbly restored 1906 double decker tram for a test run.

It's a professional operation but not all sections are as well run as the "trammies", says Hubbard. "All sections are on a different stage of their journey." He later adds: "Some people you just can't take with you."

Hubbard's critics say he and operations manager Derek Grieve are corporate managers who lack "empathy" with Motat's heritage collections. He says it's a marvellous collection which owes its success to it's "great people". But increased funding brings a need for better systems and accountability.

He says he wants to see more of Motat's unseen collections on display - "and it's really about story-telling; putting the objects into a context. We need to be able to evoke emotion in people".

While this is happening - the upcoming I Am The Last Tram exhibition promises a significant advance in the visitor experience - Motat first needed to put its house in order, says Hubbard. When he first arrived, in 2002, he says the 15ha site didn't have a full-time cleaner or gardener, let alone a finance manager, operations manager and HR manager."We had 31 shipping containers of museum objects that had been outside for more than 15 years."

The immediate task was to ensure the collections were properly stored, cared for and catalogued and to introduce information systems. Repairing buildings soaked up a lot of funding.

Motat's master plan calls for big new exhibition halls on both sites to house items which remain scattered incoherently. There's considerable scope at Motat2 to develop the rail section and run the historic trains and rolling stock and to develop the workshops as attractions.

Hubbard says while funding is much-improved, it remains an issue. "Things can't happen quickly enough for all of us."

There are other hurdles - such as Motat2's siting on a former landfill, which raises health and safety issues. This means a step-by-step approach, he says.

It's this outlook which frustrates volunteers who argue significant heritage items that tell important stories about Auckland and New Zealand have been passed up. Their list includes: Auckland's original mobile library; North Shore's rare original diesel fire engine; a well-preserved Citroen Light 15 - the world's first front-wheel drive car; a modern diesel boiler which could have powered steam exhibits ...

The society's Ian Hambly says each generation has its own nostalgia. "People who are interested in pre-World War II stuff are dying. Youngsters today think it's amazing that we had black and white police cars in the 60s. History keeps moving. Unless you move with it you lose touch."

Hubbard says all acquistions are considered by an accessions committee. "We can't collect everything and it's very clear that a lot of people want to collect. Before we go into what we acquire we have to have a clear vision of what stories we want to tell. We don't always need the whole object to tell a story and not all our people understand that."

Says Pointon: "It's the volunteers who know the stories and we're the ones they are trying to smash down."

Hubbard says centralising management could free-up section heads from report-writing and accounting worries. "We need to have a discussion about what function they will perform. If anything, it's going to enhance the collections because it will put paid resources around them and it will bring collections together to a clear plan."

Organisational changes are never smooth and Hubbard notes the volunteers are passionate - "but we have a track record of getting through these things gently. But I can't not make these changes - if it's in the best interests of the collections then that's what we need to do."

He runs through a list of achievements: the Unesco Heritage Award for the pumphouse, beam engine and engineer's cottage restoration; the tram line extension; the aviation hall, which will be open for the Rugby World Cup; periodic free visits for ratepayers and superannuitants; award-winning tram and rail vehicle restorations, 40 new exhibitions in two and a half years, getting Qualmark tourism certification ... "You don't get this level of achievement unless the whole place is going really well."

Pointon: "I can see 45 years of work by a lot of clever and dedicated volunteers being slowly washed away. They're turning it into an amusement centre rather than a museum."

Find out more:

motat.co.nz