History of the Museum

The history of the Hawke's Bay Museum & Art Gallery can be divided into three development phases. The first period began in 1859 with the opening of the Athenaeum, the precursor to the Museum. The second began after a huge community effort with the establishment of the Hawke's Bay Art Gallery and Museum in 1936. The third phase was in 1989 with the formation of the Hawke's Bay Cultural Trust, an umbrella organisation established to amalgamate the delivery of cultural services to Hastings and Napier on a regional basis. The Trust was responsible for the management of Hawke's Bay Museum, and the Faraday Centre of Science and Technology, in Napier, and the Hawke's Bay Exhibition Centre in Hastings. The fourth phase in the Museum's history began in 2006 when Napier City Council took over management of the Museum and the Faraday Centre, while Hastings District Council, in association with Creative Hastings, started running the Exhibition Centre.

The Athenaeum

The Mechanics Institute (founded in 1859) and the Philosophical Institute (founded in 1874) were organisations set up by groups with common social circumstances and interests who wanted to educate, inform and culturally enlighten themselves through lectures, classes, libraries and collections. Housed in the Athenaeum, built in 1865, these groups had, as their core members, individuals at the forefront of the colonial scientific movement such as William Colenso and Augustus Hamilton, and other private collectors. The Philosophical Institute started its Museum of Natural History and Ethnology in 1883 and reached the peak of its cultural activity with the appointment of Augustus Hamilton as Curator. The early establishment of the Athenaeum has ensured the development of a rich collection for the Hawke's Bay region.

Augustus Hamilton, employed as Honorary Curator of the Philosophical Institute in 1883, played a crucial role in the development and acquisition of its collections. Hamilton's opinions about cultural objects and artwork made by Maori reflected views common to many people of European origin in New Zealand. In 1888 he said:

"Members will lose no opportunity of securing any specimens which illustrate the History or Art of the Native races as every year adds to the difficulty of procuring authentic and valuable specimens. Even articles which at first sight appear trivial and unimportant are often found to possess considerable ethnographical interest."

Hamilton donated a significant private collection to the Institute that included New Zealand fauna; fossils; moa bones; Maori carvings from canoes and buildings; adzes; tattooing implements; needles and fish hooks.

The Hawke's Bay Art Gallery and Museum

The Hawke's Bay Art Gallery and Museum was officially established in 1936 with the opening of a new building on the site of the original Athenaeum. The catalyst for this development was the offer of the extensive Maclean collection to Leo Bestall, the director of the time, on the provision that a 'safe building be provided'. Funds were raised locally to finance the new building, designed by Napier architect Louis Hay.

The Maclean collections were added to the existing Athenaeum collections and the Art Society's collections of drawings and prints. Acquired over a period of ten years, eventually over 850 valuable items were progressively added.

This building still stands today. However it has been altered and added by several extensions to increase collection storage and exhibition space. In the 1970s a theatre was added to incorporate the performing arts and cinema screenings.

The Hawke's Bay Museums Trust

In 1989 the Hawke's Bay Cultural Trust was formed to provide a single entity to run the Hawke's Bay Art Gallery and Museum and the Hastings Cultural Centre. The governance structure had representation from Napier City Council and Hastings District Council, the Friends of the Cultural Trust, the Museum's Maori advisory committee Te Roopu Kaiawhi Taonga, and the Faraday Centre.

After ten years, the funding local authorities, Napier City and Hastings District Councils, commissioned a review of the Trust to investigate future directions for the organisations. A consultation process followed resulting in a new governance structure and constitution. The Trust Board membership was increased with the addition of three independent trustees and two iwi representatives.

In 2006 the Hawke's Bay Cultural Trust was re-formed to become the organisation that owns the collections for the benefit of the community. In 2010 the Hawke's Bay Cultural Trust changed its name to Hawke's Bay Museums Trust.

The Hawke's Bay Museum & Art Gallery

In 2006 Napier City Council took over management of Hawke's Bay Museum and the Faraday Centre in Napier. The name of the museum changed to Hawke's Bay Museum & Art Gallery to reflect its integrated exhibition programme. Education programmes for children continue to run at the Faraday Centre, organised by the education staff at the Museum & Art Gallery.

Planning for a redeveloped museum and art gallery on the Museum's site in Napier is underway. While the Louis Hay-designed building is to be retained and conserved, space within it is limited. Creating another new landmark building on the site will provide accessibility and improved facilities, and enhance awareness of the collections. Priorities include increasing storage space for the collections and upgraded gallery spaces for touring exhibitions.

For more information about the Hawke's Bay Museum & Art Gallery redevelopment project visit our website.

www.forus.org.nz