OPENING CEREMONY


The official opening of The Treasury was held on Saturday 12 September 2.00 PM.


We spotted S. Wright, M. Nankivell, A. Lamb and S. Lautenbach
amongst the crowd at the opening ceremony.



The Treasury open for business on Opening Day.




Mayor Philippa Barriball unveiling the newly restored painting
of Andrew Carnegie by F. Luis Mora, given to the Council
by the Carnegie Foundation in 1935 to hang in the Carnegie Library. 


THE TREASURY
705 Queen Street
Thames, New Zealand.




CHAIRMAN'S CHAT


STAGE II OF THE TREASURY BUILDING PROGRAMME:

The building of an archive room to national standards with an associated work area for restoration of documents and photographs, on the adjoining site: Council have purchased the section and house on the southern side of the Carnegie building and the Trust must build the archive on this site within five years or Council will sell it. The Trust is currently preparing the resource consent application for the archive building. This will be a publicly notified application and therefore an expensive and time-consuming process to go through. We hope that we will be able to submit the application early in September. Once we have received submissions and can assess the support for the proposal, we will then need to launch a fund-raising campaign to meet the costs of the consents and the construction which are roughly estimated at $600,000. We do have some funds already earmarked for this.

HELP NEEDED

Trust members have been hard at work labelling the Trust's collection and sleeving hundreds of records. With the imminent opening of The Treasury we are at the stage where we need to compile lists of people we can call on for all manner of things as we try to spread the workload. We need volunteers rostered to man the centre on the days it is open (training given and not onerous - there will be written instructions to follow). If any of our members are prepared to help, please let us know as soon as possible.

Thanks to:
ADRIAN CATRAN - for meeting the cost of having several videos changed into DVDs.
DAVID WILTON - for paying for the remainder of the videos to be changed into DVDs. Also grateful thanks for all the running round in Auckland he does for us re-ordering DVDs, collecting CD ‘stacks’ etc.
RUSSELL EDWARDS for installing the dishwasher at no cost.
JIM GLENN for a valuation of the building for insurance purposes - at no cost.
PETER RICHARDSON for installing the computer systems - at no cost
MALCOLM SOWMAN for making and donating two rimu lecterns. These will be used in the foyer to display the Commemoration Pages.
LEE BISSETT for the management plan ­ one less task for the committee

HERITAGE DAY

We are also at the stage where we have to consider next year’s Heritage Day March 2010. The Trust committee has now organised this day for four years. We urgently require personnel to convene and plan for next year. Please contact us if you would like to get involved and help organise this event. It has been extremely successful and has gained popularity every year. We do need to have more manpower as our Trust members and committee will be very committed with the day to day running of The Treasury and the planning and fund-raising for the construction of the archive adjoining the Carnegie building.

DONATIONS:

The Thames Branch of The New Zealand Society of Genealogists are also using the building for their resources. They now have their collection in place and have spent time and money ensuring that it looks good on the shelves. They made a generous donation to help with setting up The Treasury. This was used to outfit the kitchen which they will use frequently too. They also presented us with a piece of Thames History to go on the wall - a plaque made by Price's Foundry.

GRANTS:

Thanks to:
LION FOUNDATION: We are grateful for a grant of $11000 towards computers, printers, software etc. in the research room.

WAREHOUSE STATIONERY: A very generous discount for all our purchases.

Lightshade: Donation: a lovely large art deco shade which perfectly matches the shades in the Carnegie building with the added advantage of being decorated. We plan to use this in Stage II of The Treasury. This came from the Lamb home and we are delighted that it fits in so well.

ON THE SHELVES

WE ARE COLLECTING ...

Birth, death & marriage certificates; family reunion books; school jubilee books; school year books; history books about the region; photos; maps; family trees; business records; club records; oral histories; family reports by local historians including Toss Hammond, Alistair Isdale and David Arbury.

New additions:

Books:
“St. James Church Thames Centennial 1898-1998” compiled by Barry Brokenshire (from Doug Johnston)
“History of Thames Valley Provincial & Branches Womens Division Federated Farmers”
“160th Reunion of the Thorburn Family in New Zealand” by Alison Ryan (from Gaylene Farquhar)
“More Bullswool and Barbed Wire” ­ Keith Austen
“Pukewa Waihi” ­ Don Lockwood
“Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart ­ A Century of Pictures 1883-1983” (from Angela Morrison)
“The NZ Roll of Honour 1845-1995”( from Janet Bruce - from the Robin Holst Estate)
“The Descendants of Samuel Hetherington” by Chris Austin (from Chris Austin, Australia)
“100 Years of Rugby at Waitakaruru 1909-2009”
“Centenary of the Hikutaia & Consolidated School Districts 1879-1979”
“Young Logan Campbell” by R. C. J. Stone (from Geraldine Dunwoodie)
“Mercury Bay Area School Magazine 2002”
“The Lanning Family and Cousins Family Reunion” by Ronald Lanning (from Jean McPherson)
“Thames Gems” by Valerie Richards (from Jean McPherson)
“Waikino A Celebration ­ 100 Years of Waikino School and District” ed. Neil Peglar
“Archaeological Investigations of T12/1298, 1299, 1300, 1312: Thames” (Hospital site) by Caroline Phillips and Brent Druskovich (from Caroline Phillips). This book acknowledges help from The Treasury and its researchers. David Wilton reports that Dr Phillips delivered a paper at the recent Archaeological Assn conference on this investigation and made mention of the help she had from us.
“Open the Window Charlie” by Constance Reynolds Goggin.
“A Century of Service ­ Waihi Hospital Centenary 1903-2003”
“Historic Gold trails of the Coromandel” by Tony Nolan (from D. Wilton)
“The Thames Journals of Vicesimus Lush” ed. Alison Drummond (from D. Wilton)
“Kauaeranga Kauri” by Bruce W. Hayward (from D. Wilton)
“St Georges Thames 1868 ­ 1968” (from K. Rabarts)
“Oku Mahara” by Rei Hamon (from K. Rabarts)
“Far As a Man May Go” by Shirley Maddock & Don Whyte (from K. Rabarts)

Isdale Manuscripts:
The Kauaeranga River
The Kauaeranaga Water Race

Other Manuscripts:
Inventory of Historic Logging Sites in and around the Kauaeranga Valley; list of same; 2 maps ­ by Owen Wilkes
Early Kauri Logging Days in the Kauaeranga and Elsewhere ­ by Heman Lennan

Obituaries, Eulogies, Church Service Sheets:
Church service sheets now often contain lovely photos and sometimes information. A big thank-you to those people who are handing in copies of their eulogies to us ­ these are a mine of information and contain not only the important biographical details but also very interesting family stories. They will be hugely valued by future generations and will keep the memory of your family member alive.
Recent additions:
Agnew, Allen, Allison, Armstrong, Devcich, Espiner, Graham, Harris, Lusk, Poulgrain, Smith, Strange.

Family Trees:
Adamson

Miscellaneous:

Archaeological Site Records: Searched by David Wilton. Committee member David is re-visiting and re-recording many sites to pinpoint them more accurately on his GPS, and show what, if anything, is left on the site. He is also looking at new sites. David visits the site, researches to provide the accompanying notes, attaches photos (both early and recent), and provides a map. These records are lodged with the New Zealand Archaeological Association, and a copy of the site record and any accompanying material given to us.
The latest site is: Kauaeranga Hotel; Burke Street Wharf.

Photographs:
Peter Lamb, large framed photo (from Ailsa Lamb)
Ian Vedder-Price, Central School
Ted Egan, early Thames
Jack Roessen, Thames photos

Sketch:
St James Church by G. E. Brasell ­ (from Doug Johnston) ­ large framed sketch No. 4 of a limited edition.

Booklets: Embassy Theatre Thames ­ Gala Opening 1956
How to Buy, Carve & Serve Meat ­ H. G. Murray Butchers, Thames

Bound volume:
‘Thames Advertiser & Miners’ News July-December 1883 (from Thames High School)

Newspapers:
9 copies NZ Herald 1863 Vol. 1 No.1
Herald 1953 (from Thames High School)

Various papers and magazines: (from Judy Vedder- Price)

Videos
x 40 ­ from Merv Grafton, a record of his tramps to various mines & batteries ­ a great record including information and some old photos. We have had these put onto CD for easier access by computer.

Genealogy magazines:
Many - from different countries including various parts of England, Scotland, Isles of Scilly, Canada. While these are older magazines they are great for family researchers wanting information about early life and times in these countries, and may also contain names and addresses to contact.

Newspapers: ­ Coromandel

CERTIFICATES:

Keep them coming! If you have any birth, marriage or death certificates, baptismal records etc. we are collecting these now. Copies are fine if you want to keep the original. They do not have to be people who lived in the region, but if they tie in to the family you are researching, or are a member of your extended family (no matter where or when they lived) then they WILL be useful.
Recent additions:
Hetherington (x8),
Aro/Partington,
Hetherington/ Wood,
Hetherington/Simes,
Partington/Hallworth,
Wilton/Aro,
Wilton/Jones.