Recent Acquisitions

We've added a new page to our blog called Recent Acquisitions. It has a little bit about the items that people have donated to us over the last year. We show an image or two to give you an idea of what the object looks like. And if you recognise a face or want to share a memory, there is a place at the bottom of the page to add comments.

Hope you like it!

Note: We're open Sundays, 2pm-4pm and by request.

Wallace Mounted Rifle Re-union program

Here are some images of a rare program for the Wallace Mounted Rifles First Re-union at the Crown Hotel, Otautau, 13 July 1913. Photos courtesy of Ken Chilton.

Quote: "This for the waxen Heath, and that for the Wattle-bloom,
This for the Maple-leaf, and that for the southern Broom.
The Law that ye make shall be law and I do not press my will,
Because ye are Sons of The Blood and call me Mother still."
--Rudyard Kipling

Quote: "Some ha'e meat and canna' eat,
And some may eat that want it;
But we ha'e meat and we can eat,
and sae the Lord be thankit."
--Robert Burns

Some well-known names on the Toast page.

Note: We're closed for the winter but will open again in October 2015. You can request an individual visit by request if you would like to see the museum in person.

Corn Grinder

Our latest acquisition is a corn kernel grinder made by the Enterprise Manufacturing Co., Philadelphia, USA. This heavy duty machine - and I do mean heavy because it probably weighs about 25kgs - could also grind bones and oyster shells to make calcium-rich grit to improve the strength of egg shells. It can pulverise crockery and glass. A hundred years ago, the Enterprise mill and the Mann's Green Bone Cutter were the two most common machines on poultry farms across the south. A fantastic addition to our collection.

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

Lillicrap's Hone

A few weeks ago, we were lucky to receive a Lillicrap's Hone from a couple who had found it whilst cleaning out an old house in Mossburn.

The hone was still in its original box and was used for sharpening razors. It's made of uranium glass which means it contains uranium and has a low level of radioactivity.

We put it under a blacklight (or UV light), and were amazed at its phosphorescent characteristics.

The next test is to see how radioactive it is. Anyone have a Geiger counter?

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

The Old Baths

We were delighted to receive these photos of the old baths at Holt Park. This seems to be the official opening of the baths as Adam Hamilton, MP for Wallace, is in them. The photos probably date from the 1930s although we don't know. Hamilton was MP for Wallace almost continuously from 1919 to 1946.

Adam Hamilton, MP, with hat in hand, opening the Otautau Baths at Holt Park.

First swimmers to try the pool?

Happy swimmers - can you name anyone?

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!

Phone Books

Today we received a boon to our family history resources - 14 Southland phone books. Now and then, people ask us where their ancestors lived. We usually check the old NZ Postal Directories however there were no numbered addresses in those days. But in the future, these phone books will be invaluable to find where someone lived.

We still need more phone books though...If you have the following years, please consider donating them to us. We'll give them a good home!

Every year before 1983; then 1984, 1985, and 1989.
For the 1990s, we need: 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995.

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

Otautau Senior Rugby, 1974

One of our recent acquisitions is this photo of the Otautau Senior Rugby Team, 1974. This was passed on to us by someone in the Winton Genealogy Group who happened to come across it. It's so great when people give us stuff relevant to Otautau & Districts. We really appreciate it, and it helps our collection grow.
Recognise anyone?

Names on the photo
Back row: J. W. Cribb, D. S. Collie
Third row: T. S. McKenzie, W. Gray, H. K. Clark, G. R. Newton, J. C. McDougall, J. L. Ballam, M. Huira.
Second row: N. A. James (Player-Coach), B. R. Hearsey, E. R. Thomson, D. A. Clark, G. W. Manning, K. D. Taylor, A. N. Stalker, J. M. Cullen (President).
Front row: B. J. King, N. D. Cameron, I. D. McKenzie, K. J. McRae (Captain), G. D. McKenzie (Vice Captain), W. F. Collie, V. K. Melsom.
Absent: L. Barnes.

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

New Acquisitions

Our most recent acquisitions are these two post cards of early Main Street, c. 1908. The one above shows part of the original town hall, and new post office (built in 1906) on the right, but no courthouse next to it as it wasn't finished until 1909. On the left are the Glen and Glen shops. Note the hitching post with horse or donkey tied up to it.

This picture was probably taken from the standpoint of the original town hall on the right. Midway on the left is the building where the Central Garage stands today.

These post cards were mailed over 100 years ago and now have a place in our musuem. Thank you to the donor.

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

WWI Medal

Today at the museum, a local couple came by with this gold medal for me to photograph. It was created by Otautau jeweller, William J. Wesney at the behest of the Otautau Patriotic Committee at the time of World War I.

According to the Western Star, 1916:

These are to be presented to all returned soldiers who at the time of enlistment had been resident 12 months in Otautau, and to the parents of those who have died in the service of their country.

William had registered the design and encouraged other groups or communities wanting to present this medal to their returned soldiers to contact him.

The medal measures only 26mm x 45mm (approx. 1in x 1 3/4in). On the back is an inscription including the soldier's name and rank.

A rough estimate would indicate that at least 100 of these medals were created and probably many more.

Thanks to the couple for sharing their piece of history with us.

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

Flood!

We regularly receive photos from the public to scan for our collection. We then return them once we have made a digital copy. This is a win-win situation because people get to keep their original photos, and we get to use the images for our displays without having to use up valuable storage space. We're always grateful when someone comes forward with something to share.

One of our recent donations involved images of the floods and fires around Main St in the 1930s and '40s. Every picture tells a story but these flood pictures are overflowing with information.

This photo shows the Otautau Stream and would've been taken in the '30s or '40s, long before the stream was radically straightened and the flood banks built. I'm not sure if it's in flood here or just its natural state. It looks like a wetland. The edges of the stream seem almost level with the road. Off to the right is the old flour mill. I had heard that when the mill was demolished in the 1980s, it was used as filler for the flood bank. I don't know if that's true but would like to find out. Just looking at the picture, we see a vastly different landscape than what we have today.

This next picture is the Otautau Stream in flood in 1948. In the distance is the Otautau War Memorial. It's amazing to see all the trees by the water (now there are none!), and the stream is so wide it could be challenging to swim across.

These are just two of the pictures we've received. There are more. Feel free to come by the museum and ask to see them. We are open Wednesdays now as well as Sundays.

Your comments are always welcome!