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Nocturnal Friends
Friday 19th July 2024 5:30pm – 7:00pm
KEEP THE LIGHTS ON
MERCURY BAY MUSEUM JOINS CAMPAIGN TO SAVE MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES. Today Mercury Bay Museum joined a nationwide campaign to emphasise the value of galleries and museums in Aotearoa New Zealand, and highlight the existential risks they’re facing. The campaign is a result...
HMS Buffalo, digitally preserved and displayed for the first time
In July 1840, the British naval ship, HMS Buffalo, took shelter in Mercury Bay, Whitianga, New Zealand to weather out an incoming storm. When the storm hit, it was described as ‘hurricane strength’ and resulted in the vessel becoming a total loss on what is now known...
After the Storm
It has been a busy time at the Museum recently with arrival of not one or two, but now six pieces of timber that we believe are from the shipwreck HMS Buffalo. Over the weekend of 28th May we received a total of five timbers that were collected from the beach with the...
HMS Buffalo’s cannon or carronade?
Located in the Soldiers Memorial Park, Whitianga, sits a cast-iron ordnance that is semi-encased in a contemporary concrete support. Two plaques on the front of the concrete base read that it is the cannon from HMS Buffalo, yet it almost looks too short and stumpy to...
HMS Buffalo Re-examination Project Update
The HMS Buffalo Re-examination Project is crossing its fingers for fine weather and smooth seas this coming weekend. A team of 10 volunteer divers led by maritime archaeologists Matthew Gainsford and Kurt Bennett will be surveying the wreck over the two days. ...
What’s the point of museums?
I recently read an article in the New Zealand Geographic titled, “What’s the Point of Museums?” Written by Mike Dickason article really gave me some perspective on my job as manager of a museum. We get lot of queries about why certain artifacts are not being displayed...
The Museum is Turning 40!
Article first published in The Informer With Christmas only a few weeks away, thoughts tend to turn towards the upcoming festivities and our social calendars move into higher gear. Here at the Mercury Bay Museum we are ready to celebrate as well as the Museum is...
Twelve Days – 1769
It has begun!! We have started the work on our new exhibit ‘Twelve Days – 1769’ and in fact as you read this the main ‘bones’ of the exhibit is complete and now it’s the pretty design stuff to do.
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