Hi Olwyn. When Te Papa was established it absorbed the Wellington National Gallery and "art" became a much unloved stepchild. We made a special trip to Wellington about a year later and were dismayed to find a total of 10 or 11 artworks on display, none of which had a label, merely a number that was fully dsecribed on a sign at one end of a longish room. At the time there was considerable angst in the media, often featuring the past curator, Luit Bierenga, an idol of mine at Hamilton Boys High back in the day. Little had changed some years later on a second visit. Murray Reid Mangatangi ----- Original Message ----- From: "Olwyn Whitehouse" <olwynbw@gmail.com> To: "new-zealand" <NEW-ZEALAND@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, May 03, 2014 12:38 PM Subject: [nz] Rain on your old tin hat. > I am back. Just had 18 days in NZ. Started off at Queenstown and the > lovely gardens. Got a great view of Arrowtown from the War Memorial near > the Arrowtown Cemetery, only found one from Macetown buried there. Autumn > leaves were at their peak, bright yellow. Missed all the bad weather. Had > sunny days at the traction engine rally at the Winchester Showgrounds, > Fairlie Show and Anzac Day -went to the dawn service in Timaru, even found > myself on the front page of the Timaru Herald. Went to the Fairlie Anzac > Day Service and listen to Rev. Kerr speaker. He is a strong speaker. The > rain had just stopped and it reminded him of a poem. Rain on your old tin > hat. > http://beck.library.emory.edu/greatwar/poetry/eaton/Eaton151/ > Followed the pipe band up and down the street. Managed to photograph all > the remaining headstones in the abandoned Kakahu cemetery just around the > corner from the old lime kiln and realised there is a cemetery at > Arowhenua. > Visited the Temuka Museum at the old courthouse near the Saleyards. They > only have one piece of Molle Goodsell pottery and it was on display, a > green leaf dish. > http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nzlscant/molle.htm > > Walked around the city center in CHCH, disappointed at all the graffiti > and > missed the cardboard cathedral. Did go the new CHCH central library on > Manchester St. close to Moorhouse Ave. Saw the card index that Bev. has > been transcribing and now realize the task. There are about one million > cards, indexed by surname, even found my grandparent who were married at > the COE St. Pauls, Papanui/ 1 Harewood but I couldn’t find the church so > didn’t get a photo of it. Meet Mr. Greenaway and he said the church is > still standing. He is so full of knowledge. What a great resource. > Christchurch City Center is still a mess. Even the little chimney on the > Dean’s cottage at Riccarton bush has not been repaired and is still braced > at Dean’s hose is still closed. > > Enjoyed the fretwork and finials and verandah brackets throughout Nelson, > walked South Street and Elliot Street, but the little cottages are located > throughout the city. Saw The Quake exhibit that is going on now at the > museum. Not impressed the museum database WWI soldiers, the names just > linked back to the Auckland War Museum cenotaph site . > Had a good look through the Old St. Paul’s Cathedral Mulgrave St., > Wellington, they have one Whitefrairs stained glass window, an organ made > in Timaru and the WW2 Marines flag and US flag. 500 Wellington women > married marines, and overall 1400 NZ women married marines. I also > realsied The volunteer said a few marines came to a Sunday service and > all > were taken home for Sunday dinner, the next Sunday fifty came to the > service and again all were taken home for a meal and by the third Sunday > there were a lot of marines at the Sunday service. Old St. Paul's > remembers. Every year a US Memorial Day service is held. That will be > 26th > May this year. Found out that New Zealand Historic Places Trust has just > had a name change and is now known as Heritage New Zealand. Anyone can > get > married there. The church is owned by the public. > At St. Andrews , on the Terrace and found the church registers are at the > ATL, ordered it and found that divorce records are attached to the > marriage > records. Visited Somes Island and Zealandia in one day. If I had to > choose > which one to visit, Somes wins hands down, as it has history, nature, > views > and a ferry ride. The ferry leaves at 10am and gives you a couple of hours > on the island. Also spent an afternoon at Te Papa and the Museum of > Wellington City & Sea and watched the Wahine video. I couldn’t find a > decent art gallery in Wellington. The NZ Portrait gallery was > disappointing. Only half a dozen portraits on display in a Shed including > the new one of the Queen in a blue flock and one of E.J. Wakefield and one > of Hillary. Timaru has a better art gallery at The Aigantighe. They even > have a Duncan Darroch painting of the ship “Pamir.” I had a nice surprise > and saw one of his Mt. Cook paintings in the home of my cousin. It will > never be sold. > http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nzlscant/Darroch.htm > Cheers, > Olwyn > Kiwi in TX > > > The List Guidelines > > http://new-zealand-l.blogspot.com/ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > NEW-ZEALAND-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message