Whanganui joins in 10th national Archaeology Week with walking tour and public talk

Historian and Whanganui District Council heritage planner Scott Flutey invites people to attend this year's Archaeology Week events. Photo / NZME

New Zealand Archaeology Week turns 10 this year, and Whanganui is joining in for the first time.

Events will be held nationwide from May 2 to 10, highlighting the importance of protecting Aotearoa New Zealand’s archaeological heritage.

People in Whanganui can take part in a walking tour and a public talk.

Historian Scott Flutey (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Māmoe) said it was the first time Whanganui had observed Archaeology Week.

“Whanganui is a very historic city and district ... and a lot of people are walking or driving right over the amazing archaeological history.

“This is a way that people can learn more about the city centre’s stories, going back to the pre-1900s.”

Whanganui City Bridge and town centre in the 1890s. Photo / Te Papa

Flutey will host The Archaeology of Central Whanganui walking tour on May 2, with archaeologist Hamish Crimp.

Participants will meet at 2pm in Pukenamu Queens Park at the top of the Veteran Steps.

Attendees will visit the Rutland and York Stockades, the Pākaitore river frontage and reclamation, locations of early European businesses and other significant sites.

“We’re really limiting it to the immediate town centre and the layer of histories that are around there,” Flutey said.

He hoped to offer attendees a more mindful understanding of local histories.

Work needing archaeological authority usually required engagement with the relevant iwi and hapū, Flutey said.

“We’ll talk a little bit about what that process looks like.”

It will take between an hour and an hour and a half. Attendees should wear suitable outdoor footwear.

The event is free but koha is welcome.

Flutey will present Hidden in Plain Sight, a talk about an 1850s tōtara slab whare (house) in Okains Bay, Banks Peninsula, on May 7.

The 1850s tōtara whare that will feature in the Hidden in Plain Sight talk by Scott Flutey for Archaeology Week. Photo / Scott Flutey

The humble single-roomed slab whare supported whaler-sawyer John Joseph Fluerty/Flutey, his wife Merehana Puaha (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Māmoe, Waitaha) and their large whānau.

Flutey, a descendant of John and Merehana, will speak about the whare’s significance and recent work to begin its conservation and restoration.

“It’s really a personal project for our whānau that I’m sharing a bit more on. There are a few of us who live up in Whanganui and Taranaki.

“There are some Whanganui connections with Okains Bay. So come along and I’ll talk about those ties,” he said.

The talk is at 6.30pm on May 7 at the Davis Lecture Theatre, Whanganui Regional Museum. Entry is $5.

No registration is required for either event.

Flutey said he hoped to keep up the momentum during future Archaeology Weeks.

Noam Mānuka Lazarus (Ngāti Whātua o Kaipara) is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle.