FLAXBOURNE HERITAGE CENTRE PRELIMINARY FEASIBILITY STUDY HERITAGE WORKS Report No. 120 December 2017 FLAXBOURNE HERITAGE CENTRE PRELIMINARY FEASIBILITY STUDY John Coster Heritage Management Consultant HERITAGE WORKS 29 Thorn Road R D 1 Tauranga 3171 Report No. 120 December 2017 Back Cover Image - Wyvill, Edward Christopher, d.1889: Flaxbourne River and Station, May 1869. Reference number: B-035-004/records/23226249, Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, NZ. Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library must be obtained before any re-use of this image. The right of John Coster to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright Act 1994. Text copyright © 2017 Flaxbourne Settlers’ Association. Photographs copyright © J Coster 2011, 2017. Flaxbourne Heritage Centre, HERITAGE WORKS, December 2017 1 CONTENTS Page 1. Summary 4 2. Introduction 5 3. Proposal 6 4. Background 4.1. Policies: Arts, Culture & Heritage in Marlborough 8 4.2. Flaxbourne & Ward 8 4.2.1. Context 8 4.2.2. History 9 4.2.3. Archaeology 10 4.2.4. Built Heritage 10 4.2.5. Natural History 12 4.2.6. Summary 12 5. Flaxbourne Museum 5.1. Governance 13 5.2. The building 13 5.3. Collections 13 6. Tourism 6.1. Statistics 16 6.2. Attractions 17 6.3. Cycle trail 17 6.4. Facilities 18 6.5. Museums & Galleries 19 6.6. Visitor Information 20 6.7. Discussion 20 7. Assessment of Need 7.1. Potential 21 7.2. Competition 21 7.3. Workshop Conclusions 21 7.4. Comment 24 8. Assessment of Feasibility 8.1. Constraints 25 8.2. Alternative options 25 8.3. Supplementary Projects 27 8.4. Funding 28 8.5. Conclusion 29 9. Recommendations 30 10. References 31 Figures, Tables, Appendices: (overleaf) Flaxbourne Heritage Centre, HERITAGE WORKS, December 2017 2 FIGURES, TABLES, APPENDICES - No. Page Figures: 1 Signpost, corner of Seddon and Ward Streets, Ward Front cover 2 Northern approach 5 3 Former museum building 6 4 Map - Southern Marlborough & North Canterbury 7 5 Built heritage 11 6 Town centre 12 7 Interpretive panels, Flaxbourne Museum 15 8 Salt works & lighthouse 18 9 Sites considered 22 10 Preferred sites 23 11 Information centre, McLaren Falls 26 12 Interpretive sign, Seddon Street 20 13 EC Wyvill, Flaxbourne 1869 Back cover Tables: 1 Registered collections. 14 2 Archival material 15 3 Accommodation figures - Marlborough & Kaikoura 17 4 Ward & Seddon – facilities 19 5 Indicative space allocations 24 6 Indicative building costs 24 Appendices: 1 Arts & Culture and Heritage Strategies 34 2 Themes & Stories 36 3 Legal Opinion 37 4 Title Deed Flaxbourne Heritage Centre, HERITAGE WORKS, December 2017 3 1. Summary A proposal to establish a Heritage Centre at Ward, on State Highway 1 in southern Marlborough, is consistent with the Marlborough District Council’s Arts & Culture and Heritage strategies. The Centre would provide a focus of community pride and a useful resource for tourists travelling on the road between Picton and Kaikoura, particularly if supported by high-quality public toilets, visitor information, a 70 km per hour speed limit in the settlement and a proposed cycle trail. The proposal, intended to replace a recently earthquake-damaged museum, would involve a small building of about 250 square metres, situated on the main road through the settlement and providing professional-standard exhibitions interpreting the district’s social and natural history, storage for the collections, research facilities, visitor information and services, toilets, parking, and a picnic area. While a new building is the project’s main focus, establishment of the Heritage Centre would also require the development of facilities, policies and procedures to ensure that the museum collection and archives are maintained in the best possible condition. The history of Ward, situated on the original Flaxbourne Station, the first pastoral run in the country, typifies many of the themes of Māori and Pākeha settlement in the South Island. Its stories present the visitor with a substantial sample of the country’s history as a whole. The town is well-situated to introduce tourists to both inland and coastal recreational resources, as well as being on the route to Kaikoura’s well-known marine mammal encounters. The project is initiated by the long-established, volunteer-run Flaxbourne Settlers’ Association, which is responsible for the management of a number of other community facilities in Ward. Although the estimated cost of around a million dollars for land and building is substantial, it is not beyond the means of a small community to raise, provided that local and central government support is forthcoming. Smaller scale heritage-related projects are also a possibility. Flaxbourne Heritage Centre, HERITAGE WORKS, December 2017 4 2. Introduction This report was commissioned by the Flaxbourne Settlers’ Association and follows a workshop with Association members, local residents and District Councillors to examine the scope, objectives and possible siting for a new Heritage Centre in Ward. Thanks for information and assistance are due to Sally Peter and Jack Taylor (Flaxbourne Museum); Stuart Oulton (Flaxbourne Settlers’ Association); John Hickman, Kevin Loe, Herb Thompson, Tony West & Jim West (Flaxbourne residents); Cynthia Brookes, Gerald Hope, Dean Heiford & Kaye McIlveney (Marlborough District Council); Steve Austin & Megan Ross (Marlborough Heritage Trust) and Jacqui Lloyd (Destination Marlborough). The writer, John Coster, is an independent museum and heritage consultant based in Tauranga. His former positions include Museums Liaison Officer at the Auckland War Memorial Museum, Curator/Registrar at the Museum of Transport & Technology, Acting-Director Wairarapa Arts & History Centre and Manager Museum Services for Tauranga City. He has been a member of the boards of the Te Awamutu, Whakatane and Auckland museums, the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa National Services Te Paerangi Advisory Group and of the Tauranga Moana Museum Trust Board. Cost estimates in this report are indicative only. None constitute a formal estimate or quotation and no undertaking is given that final costs for any development outlined will remain within the amounts stated. All sums cited are exclusive of Goods & Services Tax. Figure 2: Ward – the approach from the north. Domain arrowed. Flaxbourne Heritage Centre, HERITAGE WORKS, December 2017 5 3. Proposal The Flaxbourne Settlers’ Association proposes to establish a Flaxbourne Heritage Centre at Ward, between Blenheim and Kaikoura. The Centre would replace the existing 35-year-old Flaxbourne Museum which was badly damaged in the 2016 ‘Kaikoura’ earthquake. The Centre would display and interpret objects, documents and photographs illustrating the history of the Cape Campbell area of southern Marlborough, focussing on relevant, in some cases unique, stories of the area, including: • The earliest Māori settlement of New Zealand • Flaxbourne Station, the first great pastoral station in the South Island • The environmental impact of the introduction of rabbits and ferrets to New Zealand • The social changes brought about by the 1894 Lands for Settlement Act and the establishment of Ward township • The history of Ward and its families • The historic 1905 Cape Campbell lighthouse • The local development of radar as part of New Zealand’s contribution to WWII • The development of Marlborough’s salt, wine, pine nut and olive oil industries. This feasibility study will test the viability of the proposal, examine possible venues, suggest likely sources of capital and operational funding and advise on collection care and interpretation. Figure 3: Flaxbourne Museum in 2011. Flaxbourne Heritage Centre, HERITAGE WORKS, December 2017 6 Blenheim Seddon Cape Campbell Ward Marlborough Canterbury Kekerengu Kaikoura Figure 4: The area of interest – southern Marlborough and north Canterbury Flaxbourne Heritage Centre, HERITAGE WORKS, December 2017 7 4. Background 4.1 Policies – Arts, Culture & Heritage in Marlborough Marlborough, at the northeastern extremity of New Zealand’s South Island, includes the townships of Blenheim, Picton, Havelock, Renwick, Seddon and Ward. The region is administered by a unitary authority, the Marlborough District Council, based in Blenheim. The Council’s policy documents include an Arts & Culture Strategy and a Heritage Strategy (see Appendix 1). In regard to museums and heritage, the Arts & Culture Strategy has goals generally to support the arts and culture, with specific strategies to provide appropriate venues and, in particular, to preserve and enhance cultural heritage collections. The Heritage Strategy aims, among other things, to preserve heritage places and document their history, as well as to support the identification, documentation and preservation of heritage objects and artefacts. 1 These policies provide a potential foundation of support for the proposal - a heritage centre incorporating a small museum, based in Ward, with the aim of preserving, documenting and interpreting, through its collections, the history of the local area. 4.2 Flaxbourne & Ward 4.2.1 Context Ward lies 45 km south of Blenheim, on State Highway 1, south of Cape Campbell. Its facilities include a tearooms, petrol station, community hall, domain and school. The settlement of Ward was once part of the former Flaxbourne Station, which, in the nineteenth century, stretched along the now sparsely-populated coast between the Awatere and Clarence river mouths. This coastal area is now split between the Marlborough and Canterbury Regions