MAHITAHI – COLLABORATION
E hara taku toa i te toa takitahi, he toa takitini
My strength is not as an individual, but as a collective
The relationship between The Treasury and our funders and partners is fundamental to our existence, and to our ongoing function and evolution. When The Treasury’s Archive was but an inspired dream in the minds of a group of heritage-passionate community members, key public funders, local bodies and businesses, and private philanthropists answered the call for assistance from this team of volunteers, enabling the build of the Archive, with The Treasury opening its doors in 2014.
Ngā mihi nui to our founding public funders who, between 2008 and 2014, enabled the $1.1m build of the bespoke designed, humidity- and temperature-controlled Archive which houses The Treasury’s collections:
Lottery Environment & Heritage
Sir John Logan Campbell Trust
Lion Foundation
Waikato District Community Trust
Trust Waikato
The Chisholm Whitney Family Charitable Trust
Pub Charity Ltd
New Zealand Community Trust
Today several of those founding funders remain financial contributors to The Coromandel Heritage Trust, allowing both day-to-day operations and major long-term projects of The Treasury such as the Collection Management Project – Towards the Future: Preserving the Past and the Sustainability & Resilience Project. We salute our current partners and funders.
Ngā mihi nui to our founding partners Thames-Coromandel District Council who charge a peppercorn rental for the Carnegie Library which is home to The Treasury; and who also agreed for the Archive to be sited on TCDC-owned land beside the Carnegie Library at 705 Queen Street, Thames. Our deep appreciation too to Thames-Coromandel District Council, Thames Community Board and Hauraki District Council for their funded Community Service Agreements from 2018 to 2024.
From the moments The Treasury was dreamed of by heritage-passionate locals in the early 2000s, Thames-Coromandel District Council (TCDC) has been our unfaltering supporter and partner. Across more than two decades, elected officers and staff of TCDC have again and again agreed to back our mahi, encouraging, enabling and enquiring of the incumbent Board of the time. Quotes from three different mayors over 17 years:
'... It is easy in today's busyness to neglect or forget the footsteps of our past. The Coromandel's history has not been well served. Indeed if it were not for the efforts of a few committed individuals, there would be a huge gap in our knowledge of the past. ...... The Treasury is an investment in our cultural identity. It is truly a visionary concept. ... It's significance is immense for our Region, but it is also for our Nation, as the Coromandel Peninsula is one of the earliest settled communities in New Zealand. This Council commends the work of The Coromandel Heritage Trust. ... '
Mayor Philippa Barriball (10 Nov 2005)
' ... The Treasury is an investment in our cultural identity. It is truly a visionary concept. It is a place of mana. A place of whakapapa. A place where our identity can be preserved, protected and nourished. A place where the footsteps of the past, the present and the future will ensure the connections that make us what we are, will never be lost.'
Mayor Chris Lux (15 Oct 2004)
‘As a historical repository, The Treasury is a goldmine for generations of families who have a connection to the Coromandel. You can lose yourself in the true stories and tales from pre-European, pioneering and industrial times uncovered in the journals, books, maps and photos that have been carefully and thoughtfully restored by people of the Coromandel – people who often themselves have links back to those bygone times. The Treasury connects the past with our present – and gives us an insight into how the Coromandel has been shaped into the district it is now.
Mayor Sandra Goudie (December 2021)
The financial contribution of TCDC through two consecutive three-year Community Service Agreements (2018 to 2024) enables The Coromandel Heritage Trust to engage a heritage-qualified manager of The Treasury. Our Board takes seriously the requisite responsibility to the ratepayers of Thames-Coromandel and acknowledges with deep appreciation the relationship that exists between our two organisations.
Since 2018, the Hauraki District Council has also contributed generously to The Treasury, supporting the employment of The Treasury’s sector-qualified manager through a Community Service Agreement. During 2022, a consciously strengthened relationship between our two organisations is intended by the Board of The Coromandel Heritage Trust, ensuring that The Treasury serves the people of this rohe well.
Mayor Toby Adams says:
When you think Treasury, you usually think Government, but when you think THE TREASURY, think a treasure chest of the living history of the people and places of Hauraki and Thames-Coromandel districts.
And with The Treasury’s new website, local history and research now has a global reach. That’s been made possible by the energy and commitment of The Treasury’s Volunteers and Board. Their determination to make The Treasury a respectful, living testimony of our history, available to everyone, is enviable.
We’re proud and excited to be part of their journey to tell the unique stories of our district, for what is life if we don’t know where we’ve come from or where we’re going.
Ka mua, ka muri
Looking to our past to guide our future
(February 2022)
Diversification of income streams is high on the agenda for The Coromandel Heritage Trust Board in the governance of The Treasury. Grants from public funders and Trusts allow the significant development which The Treasury is currently undertaking. Without their support, The Treasury would be, at best, treading water. With deep gratitude, we salute our funders.
The Lottery Grants Board distributes the profits made from New Zealand state lotteries, such as Lotto and Instant Kiwi, for the benefit of New Zealand communities. The Department of Internal Affairs administers the funds on behalf of the Lottery Grants Board, and The Coromandel Heritage Trust is fortunate to be the recipient of very significant funding from Lottery Environment & Heritage, Lottery Community and Community Organisation Grant Scheme (COGS), enabling the extensive The Treasury Collection Management Project Towards the Future : Preserving the Past.
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National Services Te Paerangi provides practical and strategic help to museums, galleries and iwi. They work collaboratively with people all around New Zealand to strengthen the museum sector and The Coromandel Heritage Trust is deeply honoured to have received two grants through the Ministry for Culture & Heritage Museum Hardship Fund, which is administered by National Services Te Paerangi, moving The Treasury towards greater sustainability and resilience.
National Services Te Paerangi also provides an annual Helping Hands grant to The Treasury which allows reliably for the purchase of record conservation products and materials, production of resources etc.
For the last ten years, health has remained at the core of the Freemasons Foundation’s interests however this focus has broadened across many areas of need including youth in higher education, arts and culture and many other community activities. The Treasury is greatly appreciative of a recent grant from Freemasons Foundation for the purchase of a full suite of equipment for the digitisation (photography or scanning) of chosen items of The Treasury’s collections allowing broad accessibility to significant records held in the Archive and our Reading Room. It is the intention of The Coromandel Heritage Trust Board to make this suite available to other sector organisations in our rohe/area.
John Brosnan is a human resources specialist who provides quality human resources/employment support services and advice to a wide range of businesses across the Waikato, including The Treasury. John’s down to earth manner means he is highly relatable and wonderful to work with.
John is the first of our sponsors who offer in-kind support for The Treasury.
The Treasury’s doors are open to both physical and remote visitors. You can explore our abundant collections in person; or you can engage our skilled research team to assist you or even to do all the research yourself; and as more and more of our collection is catalogued and digitised, in the future our whole Archive and Reading Room resources will be accessible and you will be able to research virtually.
This quote was the opening statement of The Coromandel Heritage Trust’s successful 2013 application to Lottery Environment & Heritage which was the final enabler of the Archive build. Daring to dream is what has created the Archive we see today at The Treasury.