Bruce Laurence beside the cabinet showing the tableware (bottom shelf) which is stamped with the name of the general store. Bruce is one of the committee members researching many items at the Eketāhuna/Mellemskov Museum.
Bruce Laurence beside the cabinet showing the tableware (bottom shelf) which is stamped with the name of the general store. Bruce is one of the committee members researching many items at the Eketāhuna/Mellemskov Museum.
There’s a saying that there’s a story behind every curio and the volunteers working at Eketāhuna’s museum have been busy digging for those stories.
Committee member Bruce Laurence says the museum was recently given a few pieces of china tableware which has raised a few questions.
The tableware - plates, soup tureens and even a soup ladle, has a stamp: ‘J Jones & Co’ which was the general store in Eketāhuna.
When the store officially opened isn’t known, but newspapers found in Papers Past show a firm under the name of Shute & Jones around 1880.
In November 1885 the business was split with the store continuing under the name of J. Jones, Eketāhuna, and in 1890 it was advertising as J. Jones & Co.
Bruce says it was believed the collection might have been given as a wedding gift in 1908, but research suggests that the pattern wasn’t used until a few years later.
It’s also believed the china was a special order from the manufacturer in England, where it would have been stamped.
However, who the original maker was is unknown and Bruce thinks it’s unlikely the china was from a more well-known one as the transferware pattern is slightly blurred and not the same quality as, for instance, Wedgewood, or those who made Willow pattern tableware.
Bruce and fellow volunteer/committee member Chris Petersen as well as a few other volunteers, have been busy sorting through the collection at the museum, with the intention of cataloguing.
Part of their project is creating a digital record, especially of the collection of photographs.
Mobile shelving units have helped in providing storage for some of the items.
They have received a generous donation of a mobile shelving unit and were able to purchase more which has allowed them to place some of the older collections, although these have yet to be catalogued.
The committee also decided that “anything new that comes in gets catalogued straight away”.
A framed portrait of an early settler. It's intended to create a portrait wall to display the portraits.
They have been researching some framed portraits of early settlers of the Tararua District township, which Bruce believes are the same family who lived in the Newman area.
The intention is to create an early settlers portrait wall where the portraits can be displayed.
A rocking horse, dated around the early 20th century is just one of the items being researched.
Some of the more recent items they have acquired include a painting of a bush camp, which they have been cleaning up, and an old rocking horse which is believed to be early 20th century.
When they reopened the museum post-Covid, about two years ago, Bruce and Chris signed up to volunteer as they were interested in conserving what was there for future generations.
But with so much still needing to be done, and only so many hours per week they can devote to it, it’s a daunting task.
It doesn’t help that there isn’t the money to purchase such things as storage boxes, Bruce says.
The museum relies on grants and donations, but there is no one currently on the committee who has the know-how, or the time to commit, to research and submit applications for grants.
Bruce says Tararua District Council does arrange forums for community groups and voluntary organisations like the Eketāhuna/Mellemskov Museum where members can meet with potential donors but they still need to know how the process works.
In the meantime, they are making the best of what they have, keeping the museum open every Sunday, from 2pm-4pm, and by appointment, for those with an interest in the history of the region.
