LETS GET BECS TO BELGIUM TRIP 2025
October 2025
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About the Event
Representing the Museum & Mercury Bay on the global stage
In 2020 the HMS Buffalo Re-examination Project was created to complete the first ever detailed archaeological survey of the HMS Buffalo. The project was the recipient of the Australasian Institute of Maritime Archaeology (AIMA) Scholarship for 2021, and the funds were used to complete the survey in March 2021.
The team has won the New Zealand Archaeological Association’s Public Archaeology Award in 2022, the Australasian Society for Historical Archaeology’s Public Archaeology Award in 2023 and most recently were awarded the Best Paper at AIMA Conference 2024 – titled HMS Buffalo: Connections, collections and community.
As a results of these successes, the team have been invited to present a paper at the International Kongress of Underwater Archaeology (IKUWA8) to be held at Oostend, Belgium in October 2025. The team will be presenting in the session where the focus is on underwater cultural heritage focused avocational archaeology and citizen science groups and the need for more of these groups! The HMS Buffalo Re-examination project and Museum team are a perfect fit for this category and are out there doing this mahi regularly in our community.
This is very exciting for the HMS Buffalo Re-examination Project Team and the Mercury Bay Museum – not only to be recognised, but is an opportunity to showcase the amazing mahi we do in promoting maritime archaeology and history within our community.
The HMS Buffalo Re-examination Project Team and the Mercury Bay Museum would love to send Becs to attend this conference along with Kurt to represent us and the Mercury Bay Community. “It’s a great honor to be asked to present at this global conference and to represent Mercury Bay on the world stage. The work we do here in the Museum around the HMS Buffalo and our history is so rewarding and it is amazing to think we can share that with colleagues in the same archeological/museum fields.
While in Belgium, Becs will also be spending time visiting world war memorial sites to learn more about the involvement of Aotearoa New Zealand and specifically Mercury Bay in the World Wars. Becs will visit the Commonwealth War Grave Cemeteries and monuments in Belgium and France to pay respect on behalf of our community to our fallen soldiers who lie at rest there far from home.
At this stage the total cost of the trip looks to be $12,000 – airfares, accommodation, conference registration etc.
Fundraising
Let’s get “Becs to Belgium” has begun!
Launched on 30th December 2024, we kicked off with an incredible raffle, selling 150 tickets, generously supported by local businesses. Thanks to additional donations from community organizations, we are already 1/3 of the way there!
Our next exciting event is the “Under the Sea” Themed Quiz Night on Friday, 23rd May at the Main Hangar, Whitianga Airfield. Tickets will be available from Thursday, 1st May for just $25 each. The night will feature amazing silent auctions, along with best-dressed and top team prizes. We can’t wait to see you there!
We are deeply grateful for the outpouring of support from our community for this fantastic opportunity. There will be one more event in June 2025—more details coming soon!
For more information or to support the campaign in another way, please contact Becs at the Museum via email at manager@mercurybaymuseum.co.nz.
