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The proposed $1.1 million archive building to be built at The Treasury
$360k boost for archiveQuote from an article that appeared in the HAURAKI HERALD on Tuesday March 20, 2012. |
CHAIRMAN'S CHATI was honoured to be asked to write the introduction to the latest excellent book compiled by the Coromandel Town History Research Group - ‘Even More True Tales of Northern Coromandel’. The Treasury has come a long way when its chairman can be asked to do this. Recently we were visited by the Te Papa representative for the North Island. Te Papa try to visit each museum once a year to see if they can help in any way. Their interest is in small museums rather than those with large trained staff and financial help, and their aim is to try to raise the standards of care of the collection, of the visitors and of the volunteers in New Zealand’s museums. Gary and Geraldine met with Ian, and were delighted to hear that our project is considered “a shining example of how a project should proceed, from start to finish”. This is high praise, and is due to a hard-working and forward-thinking committee, the volunteers who now keep the doors open, and to the support over the past seven years from our members. So you can all take credit for being part of such a well-regarded project. Many community clubs and groups are interested to know just exactly what it is we do. Committee members Judy and Pam have taken over organising these very successful tour groups. The visits provide an income and often new resources or new members. Marise is convening an Indexing Group and working with Mark to provide a comprehensive Index of all the names in our records. Linda has an amazing record of all the Pioneer Family Forms, and Kae’s highly-regarded webpage has led to some very good spin-offs too. Althea Barker continues to think outside the square and provide all sorts of records and items for sale. We are so lucky to have so many enthusiastic people spending so many hours helping publicise our project, the town, and the extended region. Morrie Dunwoodie, Chairman. A Tribute to Our FoundersMorrie and Geraldine Dunwoodie
Kae Lewis, Editor and Webmaster. THE TREASURYStage I (Library):MANY thanks to those helpers rostered for duties for organising their own changes it has made the roster much easier to do. Thanks also to Marise M., Roger S., Alison R. and Dave P. for the last minute call to be on duty on Easter Saturday. We have more volunteers in the reading room so the roster is becoming easier - thank you Jo Whitehead, Catherine Peters, Penny Cave, Jan Tercel and Robyn Revell for offering to help. Mervyn Tilsley is helping on reception desk and has made himself available to fill in in emergencies he had a busy month in April! He has also offered to take on several of the tasks Geraldine had been doing (or in fact not doing because of more important things needing attending to) she is very grateful to have this help in the back room. We could do with another couple of volunteers, especially as the Piesses have had to stop their weekly volunteering. J Vedder-Price & P French have offered to organise ‘tours’ for visiting community groups who come to see what is in the collection and how to use it, and in some cases they stay for refreshments. This is proving very successful, and brings in some income and a lot of goodwill, as well as items for the collection. The Treasury project is buzzing at the moment with some of the members spending hours and hours setting up various things. Many thanks to Mark Lahore for all his time on the computers amongst other things, we now have a very welcoming screen on the computers. Althea Barker provided the second Oral History booklet in time for Heritage Week, and has since then completed the very interesting Lost Landmarks which will be for sale shortly. Althea’s output of work for The Treasury is huge and has proved of immense interest to our visitors. At Marise’s suggestion and with Althea’s enthusiastic support, we are about to compile basic information on all the mines in the area. This will be a huge task but is something which our visitors ask for and which is hard to find quickly. Items for the collection continue to be sent in. Our shelves are getting very full in some areas. The Max Hawkes collection of books about local history are on the shelves now and amongst them were several we did not have. This is extremely pleasing, as our first priority is to build up local information.Stage II (Archive):The final plans for the building are being prepared and it is hoped that an application for the building permit will be lodged in July.Maori, Pakeha, remarkable Treasury. A very informative article about The Treasury was published in the Peninsula Press on September 1, 2011. ON THE SHELVESWe 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.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: Antonnelli, Bennett, Bennet/Coombes, Bovaird/Tattersall, FitzPatrick/Bowden, FitzPatrick/Lynch, Little/Fowler, Louden/Lepper, Lynch, Lynch/Coghlan, McNeil/Little, O’Connor/Lynch, Rhodes/Little, Ryan. 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: Hawkes, Hunt Nicholls, Pearce, Whitehead. Family Trees: Recent additions: Spicer family, Thames. Miscellaneous: PHOTOGRAPHS: photocopies only of all the David Arbury photographs (as well as some of ours) are now on the shelves. SONGS: ‘Karangahake’ and ‘Netherton’ written to old tunes, by Alistair Buchanan and Keith Austen, handed in by Alistair Buchanan, Paeroa. MISCELLANEOUS: from The Hauraki Thames Indexing Group - many items including copies of directories and rolls, the histories of various Plains localities eg Omahu, Alistair Isdale manuscripts, local books, filing cabinets, stationery. SCHOOL AND CEMETERY RECORDS: from the Hauraki Thames Indexing Group. A very valuable addition to the collection as visitors always ask to see these records. EARLY STREET DIRECTORIES: Another valuable addition as these are also something visitors find useful. MISCELLANEOUS: from Billy Fisher. Various items including service sheets, newspaper articles, official invitations, drawings of houses. ST JAMES CHURCH THAMES: various papers and photographs, from the Barrie Brokenshire family. BUCKLAND, TRETHAWAY, ARO & PARSONS: information: from Don Goodall. DODD: information from Barbara King. PHOTOCOPIES: Street Directories 1936 & 1948, from Althea Barker; Sam Martin’s Memories from Anne Fielder; William Donovan from Ailsa Lamb and Sandy Lautenbach. MAPS: various, from Jo Whitehead. MAPS: mining, from Merv Cunningham. PHOTO: Netherton Rugby Team 1949 from Gaylene Morrison. THAMES BUSINESS REGISTER TO 1930: compiled by Althea Barker hours and hours of work and a wonderful resource! Six ring-binders listing early Thames businesses. Althea has tried to include a photo and an advertisement for each business wherever possible and has also noted any publications which refer to the business. This is an ongoing resource and will be added to as more information comes to hand. This will be greatly valued by our visitors. THAMES SATURDAY MARKET: A beautifully compiled scrapbook covering the history of the Thames Saturday Market in the time it was being run by Dianne and Peter McKinnon. ProjectsThe Coromandel Heritage Trust Oral History Recorders:Convenor - Margaret Nankivell; CD printer - Lee Bisset; transcribers - any volunteers?? This is an extremely valuable way of documenting the history of the region. The group records on equipment of the highest standard, donated by Toyota in 2006. Please contact Margaret if you would like to help.The Oral History Recorders booklet No. II was finished in time for Heritage Day and is a great read. Many thanks to Althea for writing this. Thanks also to Lee Bisset for the hours spent on the Hammond CDs and transcriptions these have proved a popular sales item. Digital Stories: Sadly, Vanessa James has decided to give up making digital stories and return to full-time work. The Trust has purchased one of her machines to set up to continue making these stories. Congratulations to Alison Rowe her ‘Snow on Tokatea’ has been used on the Te Ara website (the online government Encyclopedia of NZ). The Coromandel Heritage Trust Indexing Group:Convenor - Marise Morrison. This group meets on Tuesday mornings from 10.00 until about 1.00. They index items in The Treasury Collection. The work of this group will be invaluable to researchers. It will speed up the time spent hunting for information. Visitors will be able to use the computers to check if there are any items recorded about their particular area of interest and go straight to the relevant book. Anyone who is interested would be very welcome to join this group - please contact Marise if you are interested. Thank you to those who have already volunteered to help. Meetings have started with a great deal of chat and laughter, and lots of work being done!! And a special thanks to Mark for his work on the indexing programme, and to Dr Evan Lewis in America for working on the best way to make this data base searchable online on the website. Thanks also to Pauline, Althea and Marise for working with Mark and Evan to fine tune this indexing programme before it goes into use.Commemoration Pages:These pages have met with great interest. A $100 donation gives you a page - these will later be made into ‘books’ and prominently displayed in the foyer of The Treasury. Not only do they become an interesting information resource about you or your early family, but we can acknowledge our donors by putting their names at the bottom of their page.Pioneer Register:This is a very worthwhile project started under the umbrella of the Hauraki Thames Indexing Group. Forms for this project are available at The Treasury, can be downloaded from the website (www. thetreasury.org.nz), or write directly to The Coromandel Heritage Trust, PO Box 75, Thames 3540. If you had early family in the TCDC or HDC areas, please fill out one of these for us.NEW FORMS: The Andrew/Tregoweth family of Thames; the Arnold/Schofield family of Thames; the Browne/Barrett family of Thames; the Butt/Bell family of Thames; the Clarke/Collumbine family; the Comer/ Rumsden family of Thames; the Dodd/Hanley family of Thames; the Dodd/Lawlor family of Thames & Tapu; the Durbin/Trott family of Wharepoa; the Endean/Phillips family of Thames; the Green/Peagum family of Thames; the Hamon/Middleton family of Thames; the Hetherington/Brown family of Thames; the Hetherington/ Hirst family of Thames; the Hetherington/Miller family of Thames; the Hirst/Gribble family of Thames & Te Aroha; the Jackson/Harper family of Tapu & Te Puru; the Lindsay/Delaney family of Thames; the Ludwig/ Gillard family of Tapu & Thames; the MacDonald/ Stewart family of Coromandel Town; the Mason/Nelson family of Mackaytown; the Matthews/Fredericks family of Thames; the McKeown/Noble family of Thames; the McMahon/Martin family of Tapu; the Middleton/ Lynch family of Thames; the Mitchell/Carline family of Coromandel; the Moore/Blomfield family of Thames; the Murdoch/Shaw family of Thames; the Nelson/Durbin family of Thames; the Nelson/Foot family of Thames; the Price/Gilmour family of Thames; the Samuels/ Osborne family of Thames; the Samways/Green family of Ohinemuri; the Schofield/Edmunds family of Thames; the Small/Clout family of Thames; the Smith/McQuarrie family of Thames; the Smith/Rolton family of Thames; the Spry/Carlaw family of Paeroa; the Stephenson/Bell family of Thames; the Sykes/Morrison family of Waihi & Hikutaia; the Sykes/Bayne family of Hikutaia; the Tilsley/Forrest family of Whangapoua; the Twentyman/ Hicks family of Thames; the Varcoe-Vercoe/Chapman family of Thames; the Waile/King family of Thames; the Walter/Delaney family of Thames & Tairua; the Weston/ Hanlen family of Thames; the Wilson/O’Brien family of Kereta; the Wood/Pulsford family of Thames. Digitising:Linda Hansen (Switzerland) is digitising these forms so that they will be easily searchable. As well as entering all the information on the forms, Linda searches the internet for more information about the individual, sometimes getting in touch with family members where she can. She also links into any other sites providing details, such as war records. Linda now has nearly 21,000 names entered on her computer from the Pioneer Family forms and this very impressive and important record of early families is an amazing asset. These names will eventually be entered on The Treasury’s searchable index making it easy for visitors to track down their family members. We are very fortunate to have Linda’s help in providing yet another huge resource for The Treasury.Treasury Tales:G. Dunwoodie searches out interesting snippets about people, places and events about life in the early days from all over this region. These Tales are taken only from resources in our collection, to give people an idea of the information they will find at The Treasury. Coromandel FM broadcasts these regularly. Booklets containing some of these tales can be bought at The Treasury. Errol Kingsbury has requested more Tales. He says he is constantly having comments made to him about how enjoyable people find them.Goldfields Mall Display:We have been asked to provide an ongoing heritage display at the Mall. We wanted this display to include the whole of the TCDC/HDC area and to provide interesting and thought-providing items to make people aware of, and understand more about, the heritage of the region they live in.WebsiteWebmaster and Journal Editor: Kae Lewis We have had a lot of praise for the contents of this site. Kae is also editor of the Journal - if anyone wants to contribute an article, it should be written in a Word document and must be complete, including proof-reading. To keep the files manageable, please write ‘PHOTO and the NAME of photo’ into the document wherever you would like it inserted, and send the photos as .jpg attachments to an email. Email address for Kae Lewis:Note from the Editor: We are always looking for good articles to put into the online Treasury Journal. This Journal can only be as good as you make it. Any-one, member or not, can contribute an article on any subject so long as it pertains to the history of Thames or the Cormandel District. Visit The Treasury Journal to discover the wide range of articles already published, and start your stories coming. Every story is important to us! Recent addditions to the website: More on the WWI War Memorial Page and now The Boer War, by Kae Lewis; Charlie Palmer’s Confectionary Shop and Thames Hospital Matrons, by Althea Barker; Rob Roy Hotel, by John Whitehead; Thomas Hammond, The Treasury; Kennedy of Kennedy Bay, by Kae Lewis; Pioneers of Kapanga, by Althea Barker; Alfred Shepherd, by Christine Clements; Battery Sites on the Lucky Hit Creek, by Dave Wilton; From Cornwall to the Coromandel, The story of Charles and William Verran by Beryl and David Verran. Finally we have an email address and this has been added to the website (Click on CONTACT US). This immediately brought in enquiries. Forms are being downloaded and sent in for the Pioneer Family Register and membership of the Trust. Resources are also being sent in as a result of people seeing on the website what we are doing. THE COROMANDEL HERITAGE TRUSTPO Box 75, ThamesPatron: Ian Hopper BOARD AND EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE TRUSTEES: Morrie Dunwoodie (Chairman) Rodney Poulgrain (Hon. Solicitor) Gary Meek (Treasurer) Pat Mravicich Kem Tukukino Sue Wright Judy Vedder-Price COMMITTEE Marilyn Dodds (Secretary) Jim Dahm Pam French Geraldine Dunwoodie Mark Lahore David Legge Mervyn Tilsley David Wilton NEWSLETTER EDITOR: David Legge WEBMASTER AND JOURNAL EDITOR: Kae Lewis 705 Queen Street Thames, New Zealand. Email The Treasury  |
