Danielle Campbell at The Treasury in Thames. Photo / Alison Smith
Danielle Campbell at The Treasury in Thames. Photo / Alison Smith
The triumphs, tales, battles and characters of Waihi and surrounds are being preserved forever thanks to the expertise of The Treasury in Thames.
The Waihi Leader newspaper - which has been replaced by the Hauraki Coromandel Post - has joined the ranks of community and regional newspapers professionally archived at the modern building in Queen St, Thames, ensuring stories of the region will be available in perpetuity.
Treasury manager Danielle Campbell, who brings a Masters Degree in Museum and Heritage Studies and experience at Te Papa to the role, says community and regional newspaper collections are priceless.
Danielle manages a team of between 50-55 volunteers and moved to Thames after a previous role as heritage advisor to Wellington City Council.
"They're incredibly valuable. When I think of [national archive] Papers Past, I don't think it would be a stretch to say that is the most valuable research in all of New Zealand for researchers. Having done a lot of historical research in my degree, it is great for people to be able to come in and access these newspapers in our archive."
Danielle's "dream goal" is to get the community and newspapers that are held at the archive at The Treasury digitised so they are available online.
She said the National Library of New Zealand's Papers Past archive offers digitised newspapers up until 1950 and nothing exists online after that year.
The Treasury offers a service to help people source historical information.
Visitors often seek copies of local and regional newspapers archived within its temperature-controlled safe storage facility, for family history research, writing and even court cases where published public notices have proved invaluable.
The information, she says, is rich.
"Here on the Coromandel, the gold mining history is what's most well known and definitely what makes Thames-Coromandel history so unique, but there are social and cultural histories that aren't being told or could be told.
"Donations from organisations such as Thames Music and Drama and Thames Croquet Club is what makes it so interesting here."
Danielle was offered a role with Heritage New Zealand but saw the Treasury as a huge opportunity.
"The fact that there was this whole variety of different items and collections is why I really wanted to work here."
Some 40 years of Waihi Leader newspapers were published up until the level 4 Covid-19 pandemic lockdown announcement by Government last year.
A State of National Emergency was declared at 12.21pm on March 25, 2020.
Initially, the Government deemed the publication of community newspapers ' non-essential' which meant publisher NZME's team of community editors were left filing stories online and readers lost their weekly source of community news.
Once this decision was revoked, the Waihi Leader merged with the 40-year-old community title, the Coastal News, leading to the relaunch as the Hauraki-Coromandel Post.
The archive building next to the Carnegie Library in Thames. Photo / Alison Smith
The Treasury houses an important archive relating to the early history of Thames and the entire Coromandel region.
The Carnegie Library Thames first opened in 1905. In 2015 a modern matching companion building designed by Architectus provided full archival facilities.
Scottish-born American businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie was responsible for funding 18 library buildings in New Zealand including in the mining town of Thames.
