Flute Man - Song for Kōwhai

Photograph © 2013 Catherine Onellion

Last year, fabric sculptor and Otautau resident, Hayley Lawn, put on an amazing display of her 65 figurines at the museum. Hayley has since moved from Otautau but generously left Flute Man behind for us to remember her by. Here he is playing to kōwhai flowers as we head into a blustery Otautau
spring.

We're open Wednesdays and Sundays, 2pm-4pm, and by request. Your comments are always welcome!

Invoices from 1940

One of our recent acquisitions is a box of invoices from the old Western Trading Store, dated 1940. The grocer/draper shop, owned by W.J.F. McCulloch, was where the new second-hand shop is now, 161 Main Street, near the Central Garage. The box was found in the roof by the new owner, Wayne, who offered it to the museum.

From chaos...

It took a few hours, but Jim Carson and I managed to select at least one invoice from each of the companies that W.J.F. McCulloch did business with and put them in polypropylene sleeves to protect them. The list of companies and what was ordered from them provides an interesting snapshot into wartime Otautau.

...to conservation.

McCulloch ordered goods from as far away as Auckland covering necessities such as bloomers, pyjamas, exercise books, tea, fruit and confections. Here is an invoice from the major firm Sargood Son & Ewen Ltd which had warehouses all over New Zealand. Here is a photo of their Invercargill Warehouse.

It was especially rewarding to find invoices from local businesses such as Gordon Sinclair, chemist; W.B. Ireland; J.E. Watson; Henry Laing, Baker; and Stephens and Walker, Butchers.

This acquisition was full of surprises and a pleasure to accept.

We're open Wednesdays and Sundays, 2pm-4pm, and by request. Your comments are always welcome!

Video on kākāhū conservation

Our Roving Museum Officer, Jo Massey, sent me this link on kākāhū conservation. It's from Māori Television's Project Mātauranga. This episode features Rangi Te Kanawa, a textile conservator at Te Papa who specialises in the conservation of kākāhū. She's identified the problem of the acid breakdown of fibers. Working with Dr. Gerald Smith of Victoria University, the two have come up with a way of treating the fibers so they do not breakdown. Great video.

We're open Wednesdays and Sundays, 2pm-4pm, and by request. Your comments are always welcome!