In the News

The Nelson Provincial Museum was an award recipient at this years Museums Aotearoa Conference held recently in Gisborne. The award was presented to the Museum for it's Unpicking the Past exhibition researched and curated by Paula Haines-Bellamy and exhibited during April to July 2008.

The award is the Selecon Award for Exhibition Excellence presented for an outstanding new exhibition that contributes to best practice in the museum sector in Aotearoa New Zealand, and demonstrates excellence, relevance and vision particularly in lighting design.

The citation read as follows:

This exhibition of costumes succeeds in highlighting individual dresses, their design, technology, creation, use, wearers and history, telling their own story in their own right, while also contextualising and personalising them. It exemplifies how detailed object-based research enables our material culture to provide unexpected and meaningful insights into a community’s cultural history and social connections.

The Museum's Chief Executive Peter Millward and Museum Technician Timm Corrin recently made a mammoth 12 hour round trip to Wellington to pick up a life size model of a hypsilophodont carcass. The model will feature in the NZ Fossils - Dead Precious! exhibition opening on May 9th. The model was transported across Cook Strait courtesy of the Bluebridge ferry. Read the Nelson Mail article here.

The Tasman Bays Heritage Trust is the governing body for The Nelson Provincial Museum and the Trust Board has taken the opportunity to make a submission to both the Nelson City Council and the Tasman District Council about their Draft Long Term Council Community Plans. The two Councils jointly fund the operation of the museum on behalf of all residents in the region. Our Tangata Whenua are the third non-funding partner in the Deed of Trust. With visitor numbers close to 60,000 this financial year the level of support from our regional population is stronger than ever and we get excellent numbers of tourists from elsewhere over the holiday periods. The Trust Board has made submissions to both Councils requesting a bulk funding agreement on a 50/50 shared basis from the two Councils and supporting a feasibility study to develop a new joint councils storage facility and research centre to care for the regional taonga and collections. The Trust Board encourages readers to make submissions on the LTCCP which are available on-line and from Council offices. The deadline for TDC is Monday 27 April and NCC is Friday 8 May.

Events and Visitor Programmes

Well it is really an ELASMOSAUR but maybe here in NZ it could also have been a TANIWHASAURUS – yes we did have a species that was named like that. What started as big blocks of polystyrene got shaped by Steve and Timm and then hours of work smoothing and shaping resulted in something that was recognisable. To make the surface harder and smoother we asked children to help by covering it with glue and paper. The finished beast will be unveiled on 9th May when the NZ FOSSILS – DEAD PRECIOUS! exhibition opens to the public. These marine reptiles mostly ate fish and wait till you see the teeth in the fossil skull in the exhibition.

On the evening of 29th September 1859 Ferdinand Hochstetter gave a lecture to 500 people in the Wesleyan Chapel here in Nelson.

The Nelson Provincial Museum wonders if there would be sufficient interest in recreating an edited version of this lecture during the Hochstetter exhibition period that starts on 9th May 2009. Your thoughts would be welcome. ceo@museumnp.org.nz

Keep in mind that the total population of the Nelson Province was not much over 10,000 people at the time so 500 people was a substantial part of the population.

The topic of the lecture was the geology of the province and it was the Provincial Government that had invited him to work on the geological survey. The work was completed by another German who spent many years in the country - Julius Haast. The purpose of the survey and indeed the topic of the lecture was related to the possibility of substantial mineral wealth being accessed in the region which may well account for the attendance - rather than the lack of TV at the time.

'Our Stories' Project

My Name is:

I have been teaching for 37 years and this would have to be the most inspirational programme that I have experienced. It was a privilege to be able to facilitate the workshops with the guests and a class of students in the space where every image in the exhibition told a story. We had over 800 children attend these workshops and had 45 guests who told their personal story. All of the children who attended the workshops left as advocates for people living with disabilities and I am sure will recall their day with the guests for a very long time. This was the challenge given to them to ensure that they become strong advocates for their schools to be inclusive in all aspects of school life.

The launch of the 'Our Stories' Project which 126 people attended was a wonderful way to begin this three week experience. Marty Clark from Sport Tasman told his personal story which was an inspiration to all those present. The Employers evening had two employers and their employees relating their success in working together. The last evening during the 3 week period of educational workshops was The Community and Sports evening which was very successful. Some sports coaches and those who played the sports told their stories of what it meant for them to be part of a sports and community group. Many who attended were very reluctant to leave.

Bridget Anderson worked with two schools, St Josephs and Upper Moutere to make some DVD's. Five guests and fifteen students from each school worked with Bridget to develop the DVD which will be shown at the Film Fest on May 13th at the Victory Community Centre. This will be an evening of celebration for all who took part in this project which I am sure has resulted in some life long friendships for all.

This will be a great way to conclude this project being part of our community for a total of two months.

Education Resources Online

The Nelson Provincial Museum's Education Services team have a number of online resources available to the region's schools and educators. more

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