Museum shuns rotting pine tree icon

By BERNARD ORSMAN

Auckland Museum no longer wants the lower trunk of the felled monterey pine on One Tree Hill because the wood is rotting, costly to keep and poses a danger to other treasures in its collections.

The 2m section of the trunk is lying partially covered in an outside courtyard at the museum, infected with ants, cockroaches and borer.

These insects and spores from mould pose a threat to other artefacts if it is moved into the museum.

Oliver Stead, the head of collection management, said the trunk could be preserved but the cost would be disproportionate to its value to the museum.

"I believe it is unnecessary to preserve 1.5 tonnes of timber to tell a story," he said.

The museum is hoping to preserve a small sample of the trunk for the City Gallery, which charts the history of Auckland, and give the rest back to the Auckland City Council under new guidelines being developed for the disposal of items.

The council divvied up the remains of the pine last year to various groups, including the museum. The 125-year-old tree was felled on October 26, 2000.

The museum received the section of the lower trunk, including the area damaged by activist Mike Smith with a chainsaw in October 1994, to go on public display.

Shortly after receiving the trunk, the museum sought expert advice from Forest Research and arborists on the wood's condition and options for treatment.

Experts advised that the trunk could be dried naturally but that would take years and require a permanent shelter. Otherwise, it could be kiln-dried at Forest Research in Rotorua at a cost of more than $4000, or by a private sawmill.

"In terms of the expense that is involved in managing an item of that size, it is more than the museum can cope with," Mr Stead said.

"It is very difficult to move big items through the museum and it poses significant risk to other material that is in the collection."

Auckland Deputy Mayor David Hay, who was instrumental in giving the lower trunk to the museum so it could be displayed to a large audience, said yesterday that if the timber could be treated it should be and go on show.

"If the timber is not treatable and it is just gradually rotting, then the sooner they get rid of it the better," he said.

The largest section of the trunk, about 6m, was given to the local tangata whenua, Ngati Whatua, for carving. The rest of the tree was given to the Cornwall Park Trust Board, the Auckland Observatory and to Auckland University for research.

The council also kept a cross-section of the historic log.