These days, when almost every Smartphone and digital camera is capable of taking panoramic images, this type of photo is not unusual. When this one was taken, between 1927 and 1931, processes were a little different. You can see where the two photos are joined – the line runs southwest across the beach, the nonexistent Strand, an empty section north of the present day Police House, through where the tennis courts and playcentre are now and on up the hill just south of the “ZigZag”. This photo was published in a booklet “Beautiful Views of North Auckland ” by Whangarei photographer J. Batchelor and printed by the Northern Advocate.

That summer, a team of archaeologists from the University of Otago excavated a pa site on Moturua Island. Almost 200 years previously, Marion du Fresne’s crew had attacked the village, in reprisal for the death of their captain, killing about 200 inhabitants. They also made a map, reportedly  “the only known plan of a Maori settlement or fortification from the entire 1769 to 1840 period.” This plan is of Paeroa Pa, redrawn from the original made by the French.

A 1965 newspaper report described some of the archaeologists’ finds: “In the corner of what must have been a hut site were a number of fish hooks of bone, as if they had all been in a basket which fell to the ground when the place was destroyed. A most beautiful bone pendant, a delicate little thing no more than an inch and a half long…of the uncommon type called a ‘kinked’ pendant, like two shallow crescents, one above the other…A great number of obsidian chips have been discovered…” Where these artefacts are now is unknown, at least as far as we have been able to discover. We are still investigating.

Source: Dansey, Harry. “Digging for the stories from long ago” pg 7, The Auckland Star, February 20, 1965. Photo from Fox, Aileen , 1976. “Prehistoric Maori Fortifications in the North Island of New Zealand.” pg 48.

This is a lump of ambergris on display in Russell Museum  presented by Mr W Pickering in 1970). Two other pieces were lent to us by Harold Potts who was a relief lighthouse keeper at Cape Brett. He and his wife found two pieces which came to the museum; one found at Long Beach was about the size and shape of a tennis ball but where the other came from is unknown.

Ambergris is still very valuable, despite synthetic alternatives now being available. It is primarily used in perfumes as a fixative but also for medicinal purposes, as an aphrodisiac, to enhance the flavours of food and wine and in incense. A tennis ball sized piece found at Parengarenga in 1990 was sold to a Paris perfumery for almost $700. Another, weighing 12.5 kg, washed up decades ago at Mangawhai. The finders of that piece split the proceeds – $125,000.

Where does it come from? From sperm whales – they are the only whales that eat squid. It is thought that ambergris is formed as a result of squid beaks irritating the lining of a whale’s stomach. As a reaction to this irritation the whale produces in its intestines a cholesterol derivative which becomes what is referred to by many as floating gold. Russell Museum’s piece is probably not worth much as ambergris deteriorates with age. We’ve had ours at least forty years.

It is estimated that the historic worldwide population of sperm whales numbered over a million before commercial sperm whaling began in the early eighteenth century. It finally ended in 1988. The population now is thought to number in the hundreds of thousands. Although the species is protected almost worldwide there are other threats to their survival – entanglement in fishing nets, collisions with ships, ingestion of marine debris, ocean noise and chemical pollution. The International Union for Conservation of Nature regards the sperm whale, Physeter macrocephalus, as being “Vulnerable A1d” and in the US it is listed as endangered. Perhaps if the population recovers we may find ambergris washing up on Long Beach again.

Sources: http://www.ambergris.net.nz/information.htm; http://marinebio.org/species.asp?id=190

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11188771; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sperm_whale

Is that what this is? Or is it a trove of treasures? I guess that depends on your point of view. Russell Museum’s collection policy suggests the latter. We are charged with safeguarding the history and heritage of our area and both of these assortments represent a segment of that. The “pile of junk” includes rubber stamps, keys, rulers, bull clips, rolls of cotton string, a broken ceramic ink well and an envelope addressed to The Town Clerk, P.O.Box 43, Russell, from the NZ Milk Board, 28 Sep 1967 that was later overwritten with the words “washers for pump” and recycled. Recycled was not a word commonly heard in the 1960s. Maybe it was because everyone did it anyway before the market economy and planned obsolescence took over. Nothing was wasted back then. We’ve kept it all too, just in case, and because that is what we do.

The “stack of papers” has recently been brought to us for safekeeping after hours of work  by Charlotte Ebbett, collating and filing minutes, reports, newsletters and correspondence to and from the Russell Ratepayers and Citizens Association. These date back to the inaugural meeting, Sep 4th 1975, held in the Parish Hall. The secretary, H. Lindauer duly recorded eight motions,  one resolution and a recommendation, including the unanimous approval of  a motion “that the Strand and Cass St be closed for the normal 3 week period from 24th Dec. and that permanent closure be looked into”.

Now when did that closure stop being “normal” I wonder? These papers are available to researchers on request.

Text & photos: Russell Museum.

It  is with a certain sense of  nostalgia that I put together this piece for the back page. It will be my last, as curator at Russell Museum – Te Whare Taonga o Kororāreka. Looking back over exhibitions from those four years, two stand out, both of them art exhibitions. The first, Made in Russell, showcased work from local artists, some of whom were until then, unknown as artists in our community. This is what one of our  well known artists, Helen Pick, wrote about it in August 2014: An inspirational glimpse into Kororāreka/Russell as expressed over the years by a few of our resident artworkers. Thank you our museum for this show. Let’s do it again! Nga mihi arohanui ki a koutou. Helen Pick, Kororāreka.

A year later we are again exhibiting art, this time contemporary Māori art prints, with the support of Toi Māori. Here’s another more recent entry from our visitors book :  This is a beautiful exhibition. Well done you wonderful artists. Elizabeth Ellis (Mountain) Te Rawhiti. This art comes from almost the full length of our country, from Te Wai Pounamu to Houhora and includes three Kororāreka artists. Several of the featured artists attended the opening day. Many of them are young, some not long out of art school. They are the present and future of Māori print art. After the opening event they sat around in the gallery with Clive Arlidge and Cliff Whiting, whose work spans decades. These senior practitioners and the junior ones talked of art history in Aotearoa, of their personal histories and the demands of being a Māori artist working outside of the mainstream art world. Many of them have been and are teachers.  Many of the stories were moving. For several of these young people, it was art that helped them survive in a world they felt out of step with.  They all agreed – art saves lives.

The photo shows  Helen Pick at the Made in Russell Exhibition 2014

Text: Shelley Arlidge, Russell Museum. Photo: Stephen Western

Walkers along the Strand may notice something is missing by the big pohutukawa tree in the museum grounds. Our historic crane is away for much needed TLC. Although kept painted , our salty environment had caused rust to break through and mushroom. The cogs were seized, the handle could no longer turn. What to do?

Consultation with National Services based at Te Papa in Wellington gave us lots of technical information and the name of a metal conservator in Auckland. Being practical Russell people we  also looked for the skill needed in our local community. Hylton Edmonds of Harbour Marine generously  offered to help in his “spare time”. As a former pupil of Russell School, whose father was  a game fisherman here with launch Albacora,  Hylton  has his roots deep in this community. Russell Museum is grateful for his help and looks forward to the return of our taonga tuku iho/ treasure without  price.

This is not the first time it has had a makeover. In an issue of the Bay Bugle on 8 March 1984 is the arresting headline “Historic crane goes missing”. Marie King then curator of the museum said she was very upset” when she heard it had been removed , without anyone being told, from its place on the wharf, but she had since found out that it was to be taken to Whangarei soon for sandblasting and a facelift”.

Marie spoke on the history and importance of the crane. It was set up on Stephenson’s jetty, just north of the police station in 1866 . It offloaded goods from boats into small trucks  which were pushed into the warehouse. In 1880 it was purchased by the Government     and put on their new  wharf (on the present wharf site) and used to unload coastal shipping. Later  a piece was welded in so that it could be used for hauling up game fish for weighing.

On its return from Whangarei in 1984   the crane found it was no longer required. The Bay of Islands Swordfish Club had got a new crane to weigh game fish.  The little crane had earned an honourable retirement in the grounds of the museum. Erected by Graham Townsend , and painted by Jim Yearbury it gazed serenely out to the Bay. Now 30 years later we await its return for the summer.