Central Hawke’s Bay Museum – Jana Uhlirova and Rose Chapman

Jim Newbigin: [Background chatter] Good morning, I am at Landmarks at the Hastings Public Library on behalf of the Hawke’s Bay Knowledge Bank. It’s the thirteenth of October 2020, and talking to us is Joanna [Jana] Uhlirova [spells] and Rose Chapman, about [from] the Central Hawke’s Bay Museum.

Joyce Barry: Thank you for coming on this wet day. It’s a joy today to talk about something that [is a] huge credit to these two ladies here; it’s everything you would want in a small provincial museum. It’s beautifully curated; it is a beautiful little museum, so I have great joy in welcoming Jana Uhlirova from Czechoslovakia who has been curator for many years now, and Rose Chapman, who many of you know; she now is a Central Hawke’s Bay resident, but she loves it. So, I welcome both of you; Jana first, over to you.

Jana Uhlirova: Thank you.

[Applause]

Good morning, everyone. Thank you very much for inviting us. It is my pleasure to be able to talk about the Central Hawke’s Bay Museum, but first I thought I will introduce myself [a] little bit and explain my role in the museum. So as you could hear, my name is Jana Uhlirova. I have been Curator and Manager of Central Hawke’s Bay Museum for almost ten years. I came originally from the Czech Republic, not Czechoslovakia …

Joyce: Sorry … [Chuckles]

… in 2004, and I spent one year travelling around New Zealand. I graduated with a Master[‘s] degree in History of Art and Museology from Masaryk University at Brno in Czech Republic. Now I have two children, daughter Amalia, she’s fifteen; and my son Fionn is thirteen. I live in a tiny house which is parked at the Tukituki River at Patangata. [Background knocking]

[Shows slides throughout]

Little bit about my homeland. This is my home town back in Czech Republic. It’s a very traditional place with folklore still alive, that stood at the edge of hundreds of hectares of very old forest. This part of Czech Republic is called South Moravia, and lies on the border with Austria and Slovakia. It’s very similar to Hawke’s Bay, with lots of vineyards, forests and farms. They are the main features of the area, and these gave the village these unique folk traditions. This is the traditional costume which shows all the richness of the area in the colour, laces and decoration. So, it’s [a] very rich and colourful area.

But the place also has lots of history; not always the happiest. There have been many fights, attacks and occupation since the early sixth century, as the village sits on the natural borders of the other countries formed by two rivers. It is said that that’s the reason why people who live there are tough, hard and arrogant, but with big hearts. I feel [a] very strong connection with this place, especially with the prehistoric people of great Moravia who lived in the area of my village from [the] ninth to [the] tenth century. There is an archaeological site from the time of great Moravia in the middle [of the] forest, and today it’s a museum of course, with many artifacts found in the site which are illustrating the life of [the] great Moravian nation. I guess that’s where my passion for history has started, is this place which is very close to my home. But generally, my home country, the Czech Republic, is the historic and cultural centre of Central Europe and has [an] extremely rich history.

Now it is my great honour to be able to work at Central Hawke’s Bay Museum. The museum is [a] registered Incorporated Society with a committee of ten members who represent the governance of the museum. We have four weekend staff, and a group of very skilled and talented volunteers. We have about five thousand visitors every year, and receive a great support from Central Hawke’s Bay District Council, in the form of an annual grant and other assistance. Our mission statement is to provide an authentic, hands-on, educational experience with the focus on the historical, cultural and natural evidence of Central Hawke’s Bay.

Little bit about the history – the museum began with a group of enthusiastic volunteers in 1986 with the historic building of the Bank of New Zealand, which was given to the public by the District Council. The first honorary curator, Sam McCleary, opened the museum to the public in 1988; so [coughing] it’s [a] pretty young museum. George MacGregor, appointed curator in 1999, began the visual transformation of the museum displays. Here with the local artist, Jim Gosling, they created an authentic atmosphere, constructing shop frontages displays, painting the big mural in the foyer, and refurbishing part of the bank building into a replica of [a] colonial cottage.

In 2000 the construction of the exhibition hall began to house the museum[’s] largest artifact which is the Elsthorpe waka, which is made from a single totara log more than one hundred years ago, and it’s on loan from the [?] family. The Hall was officially opened by the Governor-General in January 2001. Three years later the Hall was renamed in honour of George MacGregor. In 2016 the Hall was upgraded with insulation, LED lights and temperature control systems, so that’s the current image.

Right from the beginning of the museum the aim was not only to collect artifacts, but also to build an archive with documents relating to Central Hawke’s Bay, and that was the mission of curator, Rosheen Parker, who set up some of this routine of helping with research and genealogy. But it will be Rose talking [a] little bit more about the museum archive; I’m talking more about the museum.

So our very authentic displays enable visitor[s] to take a step back into the everyday of early settlers. The museum houses an extensive collection of local and national treasures including military, taonga Maori, and technology. [Showing slides] This should be a replica of our colonial cottage with dining room, kitchen, bedroom and nursery, which is all set up of [as] the 1890s era; and some decorations came from the original house which was built in 1893 for James and Mary Bibby.

Over the years the museum has become a cultural facility for Central Hawke’s Bay, with its many different exhibitions ranging from local history – this was an exhibition about [the] Peter Pan Ice-cream factory based in Waipukurau; this was [a] World War 1 exhibition showcasing our local soldiers who originated from Central Hawke’s Bay. We do have art exhibitions, again mainly focusing on local artists – that’s the recent lockdown exhibition; but also we had a major exhibition about local Maori taonga in 2018, and that was our waka in the centre of the display. We also regularly host school visits and other group visits, so we have many local schools coming to learn about our history. We provide interactive, hands-on exhibitions and displays so the children can learn in [a] different way, not just through reading. And also, we offer openings of new exhibitions with drinks and nibbles for the public to come and [cough] catch up and socialise. One more service we do – the museum volunteers take turns in visiting Hawke’s Bay rest homes with [a] suitcase packed with old treasures, which have become very popular. We have about probably thirty visits every year in different rest homes, and it’s [there’s a] big demand.

As you could [would] notice, the museum has recently changed its name, and it’s not Central Hawke’s Bay Settlers Museum; but we are now called only Central Hawke’s Bay Museum, to be more inclusive of other cultures, and different periods in New Zealand history as well. So, next time you are passing, or you are going to Wellington, please stop in Waipawa. We are open every day from ten to four, and although we charge admission fees it’s not bad, it’s only $5. Thank you very much; now Rose will … [Applause]

Rose Chapman: Good morning, everybody. My part of in our talk today concerns the archival records held at the Central Hawke’s Bay Museum. All our archival material is stored in the old bank vault which is fire and flood proof, although fortunately it’s never been tested with either. But it is somewhat overcrowded. All our documents, books, photographs and even firearms have accumulated over the past thirty years of the vault, with the only real catalogue being in Jana’s head. But five years ago, I started as a volunteer, with a background in Libraries, and began to enter all these items onto our Past Perfect digital database. This is a work in progress, a long slow job. None of our material is accessible online publicly yet but we hope and intend to make our records available. At present it is necessary to make an enquiry in person, or to send a letter or an email with as much detail as possible about what you want. We actually got a hand-written paper letter from Hunterville not so long ago, but usually people ring up or send an email

[Showing slides] This is the uncatalogued part of the vault. As you can see, we need some new boxes, and none of the things of this side of the room are actually on our database yet. This side … I’ve been passed this side, so all the books have been catalogued in subject order, and the boxes also are new archival boxes.

These documentary paper archives concern local businesses, organisations, events, schools, churches, farms and stations, and localities. The majority of these relate to Waipawa, because difficult as it may seem nowadays, Waipawa was once a very significant inland town, established in 1860, fourteen years before Hastings was on the map. [Hammering and power tools in background] There were three large banks, three big two storey hotels, a brewery, railway station and many shops. However, we also have material relating to Waipukurau, and the townships and localities of CHB.

Maps – we have about two hundred maps and are very fortunate that at some stage, a purpose built oak map cabinet was donated to us, so that’s a perfect place to keep maps flat. Almost all our maps have been scanned into jpegs and can be sent to people by email for a small charge. Waipawa County map here, you see, originally stretched all the way from Patangata to Takapau. It was a very large county, more than [?] Hawke’s Bay. This map – it was one of many [?] maps we have that were drawn up at a time when the big station estates were being broken up for closer settlement or for soldier settlements after World War one. So these plans were always drawn up and a sale was held. So we’ve got quite a lot of these.

We hold about five hundred historic photos donated to us by people over the years, and many have been digitised to files of two to three megabytes. They include individuals, sports teams, schools, buildings, and are stored in archival quality containers. A few examples of our early photos – you can see the BNZ building which later became the museum. And right next to it, the Empire Hotel was a massive two storey building. It stretched all the way from the museum, which of course is still in its original location, right down past the bottle store, the garage, and we had pleasure gardens out the back where the guests could walk. It is impossible to believe nowadays how big and important Waipawa was, in the time mainly before the first World War.

This is another great photo; look here’s the original bridge. The new bridge, of course is at the end of High Street here, but that’s the original bridge. And Ruataniwha Street here, was the main street with many shops, important buildings, big houses. In Kenilworth Street here was the Municipal Theatre which was renovated in more recent times but still the same building, and it was the Council Chambers. Here’s the original school, now just an empty lot; then we come back down here and this is the High Street of today that we know. And here’s the museum, and here’s the Empire Hotel. You can see it was … unfortunately, like so many wooden colonial buildings, it burned down spectacularly in 1961.

It was a very wet day when our town clock was opened, but it’s such a lovely picture of Waipawa. Probably our most famous photographs in the collection would be those of the elephants from Wirth’s Circus towing a stranded traction engine from the river in 1909. Isn’t that a great picture?

And we also have the late Alistair Jones Collection of photographs of Waipukurau and District, including sports teams, and the hospital. We have a huge collection of photographs from the hospital; after Waipukurau Hospital closed their paper archives and many objects too, came to the museum.

We also get a lot of requests from people interested in their family history. We’re usually able to help people, although of course cataloguing in greater depth is needed – another work in progress. Many people simply send us an email or a letter, or ring up and say, “My grandfather, John Smith, worked in CHB in the 1800s. Have you got any pictures of him?” [Chuckles] Well, we need a lot more detail than that. And of course it was mainly the people who owned land or businesses who were recorded. Not so much the ordinary, everyday workers. So when people contact us, we like them to give as much detail as possible to begin the search, as most of the searching is done by volunteers, and it all takes time.

Here’s a couple of great family history pictures; the Hardy family at Mount Vernon Station, going off in their lovely new motorcars. Some people will know what cars those are. And I love this one – this is a picnic at the Avison family homestead on New Years Day, I think 1911 … I’m not too sure of that date actually. And that’s just a staged boxing match, but isn’t that perfect? There’s [a] lot of well-known Waipawa names in that picture.

So, one last thing. Newspapers. At the museum we have a sequence of microfilms and an antiquated reader, which has films of the Waipukurau Press from 1906 to 1973; and we do have some copies of the Waipawa Mail. It’s hoped that our full sequence of the Mail, now held at MTG, [Museum Theatre Gallery] will soon be digitised to appear on the National Library’s website, Papers Past. But ‘soon’ has so far has been about three years, [chuckle] so who knows? Hopefully it will turn up. So that’s all from me, so if anybody has any questions for Jana or myself, please just ask.

I’ve actually got one, Rose. One of our previous farming families talked about the massive holding stations you had for the stock there at Waipawa – it was Waipawa, wasn’t it?

It was, yes.

Yes. And what happened with all that land?

Well, I think I’m right in saying that the railway of course, was very significant – came through Waipawa and reached Hastings in 1874. And huge numbers of sheep and wool were loaded on at Waipawa Station, and there were big holding pens there for thousands and thousands of sheep. But at some stage, the Railways Department I suppose, wanted to expand those pens, and whoever owned the land said no; so they went to Waipukurau. Waipukurau is now of course, a much bigger town than we are, but we like Waipawa. [Chuckles] So that’s what happened there.

It was funny talking to Jana and Rose, because they just brought up that there’s still that old parochial thing [chuckle] between Waipawa and Waipuk[urau] … very similar to another one we won’t name. [Chuckles]

But that rivalry between Waipukurau [and] Waipawa, all started because of a kitset Courthouse. The kitset courthouse was due to be delivered by bullock dray I presume, or perhaps horse dray, to Waipukurau. But the person bringing it from Napier didn’t quite know where Waipukurau was, so he offloaded it into a paddock beside the road halfway between the two towns, and Waipawa was quick enough to grab it. [Laughter] So although the only courthouse now is in Waipukurau, it was in Waipawa for a long time. So that’s where our rivalry started.

And the City Council is still Waipawa, isn’t it?

No. Oh, no, no, I see what you mean – the building is … the Regional Council are both in Waipawa.

Yes, yes.

Question: I visited the St Peter’s Church, the cemetery there, and a nice gentlemen there told us the story about influenza; and there were wooden plaques, or crosses, but it’s now gone. Does the Church have a list of all those people buried in the graveyard, or do you?

Rose: Are they not on a plaque in the graveyard?

Reply: It only goes to 1906. There is nothing about influenza.

Rose: Council … Miriam Squires might be able to help you. It must be the council ‘cause I don’t think we do.

Question: Do you have a connection with the churches in Waipawa who want to share their records with you?

Rose: Not really. We do have some church records, but they’re mainly their small publications, like when they have a centennial or something like that. We don’t have any of the original stuff, do we? In fact, it’s perhaps something we should look at doing … gather a bit more into our archive.

Reply: I like the headstones there.

Rose: People often don’t realise, firstly how big Waipawa is, and also how beautiful … the many beautiful old buildings. So when you come through Waipawa a little bit early, giving yourself time to come to the museum, also take time to drive up around the old streets and you’ll see many beautiful buildings, a lot of which have been bought by incomers, if I can call them that, who do them up most beautifully – new paint and get beautiful gardens. So we’re looking very spic and span these days. Well it seems CHB is the place to be. [Chuckles]

Yeah, you’ve become quite trendy actually.

Oh, I think we have. [Chuckles]

Helen?

Helen: This is a question that other people want to know, I’m sure. Rose, if you have something in your family that you wouldn’t mind sharing with the museum for a little while so other people can appreciate it, what’s the procedure with that?

Rose: Jana’s the best one to answer that.

Jana: So do you mean by that the family artifacts, or family documentation, or ..?

Helen: Just history of the area; something that you might have, like the waka that you have.

Jana: Okay, so currently we don’t accept any loans because previously people just put on loan everything they didn’t have a space to store at home, [chuckles] so we just become just like a storage place. And then after they find a new place they just came and said, “Oh, we want it back now”, and then we ended up not having the artifacts. So we don’t accept loans any more. So anything you want to donate, it has to be [a] donation, and we’ll transfer the ownership of the artifacts or the documentation to the museum. So that’s the new policy; unless it’s something very exceptional, or for a short term, but definitely not for [a] long time.

But what we do is, when [a] family decide to donate [a] family collection to the museum, that is always accessible for all members of the family. We write [a] special policy [about] who has the access, so if anyone comes we always sort of show it and people can see it – or if we use it for [an] exhibition – because it can not always be on permanent display. So that’s the new policy.

That’s good – which does actually bind in with the Knowledge Bank who put up with the same problem. And I wonder, Grant, if you’d just explain what happens when things are suggested to go to the Knowledge Bank, because you have an assessment … This is Grant Ancell, everyone, he does a lot of work at the Knowledge Bank.

Grant: We do assess everything we get, and we do have sometimes a similar problem where people will turn up with a huge amount of stuff. But we go through it, and respectfully hand back what we don’t want to digitise. And once we digitise – and that’s a fancy word for scanning and typing up – we hand it back. We do not hold on to anything, we just … as you know, the quality of storage, and the storage, is impossible. But we still encourage people to bring stuff in, because we occasionally get some treasures that we cannot believe; and we have a process of putting them online and sharing them with everybody.

Comment: It’s not a question, it’s just a sort of a response. You were saying people drive past this place; I’ve driven past it for about sixteen years, and decided to go and have a look it one day. And out in the foyer in the front where the machinery was – I remember it quite well – I read about the history of it – it was made in Waipukurau, and it was used on the swamp at Te Aute. It was pulled by … and there’s a photograph inside that museum of eighteen bullocks pulling this set of harrows; it was just staggering. You know, that could’ve gone to the scrap yard, or one of the scrap drives during the war, or anything. But you’ve got quite a lot of interesting stuff.

Jana: I must admit that, of course we have more large artifacts outside, as well as at the back, because … yeah, not enough space. And also, we are not any more just a place for collecting old artifacts; we are sort of changing [our] dynamic, or our vision, to be more working with the local community. So we provide space for the community so they can be involved with our museum. So it’s not just a depository for old stuff any more; we’re still, of course, looking after the history, and that’s the main focus of the museum is to look after our local history. But we are providing now more space to be open with the community and work with the community, which also, it’s great to build a relationship because now we are still getting donations. People want to be part of it; they want to share their family history with us. They really are feeling that they want to be part of what we do, so that’s why we don’t have that many large artifacts any more. But also of course, they need lots of care which … it’s difficult, because we are not that … you know, we don’t have the great funds to operate and do restorations.

Jana, I’d love you to expand on how you went into the aged care homes. How did all that come about?

I’m trying to remember how it all started. I think I just went to some conference, and I really liked the idea, because especially in Central Hawke’s Bay, the geographical situation of the area doesn’t allow everyone to come to see the museum. And I think the original idea from my point of view was for schools, because I wanted the schools to be able to access the historical documents, or the historical artifacts. So I thought, ‘Oh, these small suitcases will be [the] perfect way how to go to the individual local small schools in the country’, to at least, you know, share some of the local history. But somehow it actually turned [out] that we instead of the schools, started to go to the rest homes. [Chuckles] And of course, the residents of the rest homes … because it’s triggering their memories and they can share their memories with everybody else. And they remember the objects, and they can handle it [them], and they don’t need to travel because they are usually … there’s physical disabilities and stuff like that. So it become [became] really, really popular, and now we work with probably about six rest homes around Hawke’s Bay, and we go there regularly. And our main volunteer, Hazel, she change[s] the suitcase; she makes it a bit [with] different objects, depending on the audience; what they, you know, would like to see and what they are interested in, and it’s … yeah, it’s been really, really popular. And we really don’t charge, we just accept donations for it, so yeah … the money’s always a problem, but we are trying as much as possible – I don’t want to say use our volunteers – but we do use our volunteers a lot because it enables [us] at the museum to expand to do all these different activities we do; otherwise we would not be able to do much without volunteers, of course. Yeah.

I think it’s a great idea because we just see this marginalisation in society getting more and more extreme. And yet, there you are, taking the memories back which, they love, don’t they? That is fantastic.

Question: Jana, are you on the payroll?

Yes, I am.

It’s a very small payroll. Thank you to those of you on behalf of Landmarks. We’re so grateful at the effort you’ve taken, both of you. Thank you, ladies.

Pleasure. Thank you very much.