The brick from the wall of Danevirke. Photo / Leanne Warr
Museums can offer some rather unique collections and Dannevirke's Gallery of History is one of them. This summer, I decided to check out what it has to offer.
Opened in about 1988, according to gallery president Nancy Wadsworth, it was once the location for the Dannevirke Court House.
It sat empty for a few years before it was decided it would be a good place for a museum.
Most of the main structure of the courthouse still remains, from the panelling to what was once the judge's bench and is now the stage.
There are hints of the town's Scandinavian history within the gallery itself.
Dannevirke township was founded in 1872 and families came from Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
They were part of a public works scheme, coming inland from Napier Port before settling in a clearing in Seventy Mile Bush.
Many pieces from that era were given to the museum and are now kept in a room dedicated to that part of Dannevirke's history.
"I think it was good we keep it all," Wadsworth says.
Before the Scandinavian room was created, most of the pieces relating to the history of the settlement took pride of place over anything in the main gallery, she says.
However, the Scandinavian history wasn't really a long-lasting one.
"A lot of them disappeared."
The name of Dannevirke came from a fortification in Denmark, called Danevirke, or work of the Danes.
Located in Schleswig-Holstein, the wall was built around 650AD. It spanned about 30km and went up to about 6m high.
In about 1990, a woman from Germany visited the gallery and when she returned home, she sent them a brick from the wall.
Many of the pieces in the museum's collection have been donated or lent to them.
Some pieces would have quite the story to tell. For instance, items that survived a fire in Norsewood in 1888.
The blaze burned the whole village out and down towards Ormondville, Wadsworth says.
"It was a massive fire. A lot of them lost everything they had."
Some of the collection pieces range from everyday objects to things that to us in the modern day era would seem rather odd.
Like hair embroidery, for instance.
According to the curator of the National Museum in Denmark, hair jewels and embroidery were fairly commonplace in the 19th century.
Many of such examples included names and the hairs of family members.
The piece was actually a lucky find, according to Wadsworth who says a man who had been asked to throw items away at the dump had come across it.
"I think it's wonderful. When it was found it had been sitting on the mantelpiece of an old coal range. It was jet black.
"The family didn't even see it there."
The man who took it managed to clean it up and it was later identified as felted hair.
Another piece in the Scandinavian room was a Dalahäst or Dala horse.
The story goes that a child in Hawke's Bay was helping to pack apples and left a note around an apple.
A school child in Sweden found the note and the two schools began corresponding.
"And so they brought the children out to Hawke's Bay but they couldn't leave without coming to Dannevirke to see where the Swedish people lived," Wadsworth says.
The horse was given by the children, either to the Scandinavian Society or to the town, she says.
That's not all of the unusual objects housed in the gallery.
An Asian man who once visited the museum saw the set-up of the dental clinic in the main room of the museum.
"He was absolutely rapt with it," Wadsworth says, and even wanted to get a photo of himself with it.
It turned out he was a dentist.
Then there's something that kind of looks like something out of steampunk.
The model was the creation of a George Christiansen in 1906 for a Horticultural Show (also known as an A&P Show).
He won a prize of one guinea for the best design or model by boys under 18, according to a News from the Past item, in the Dannevirke News in 1988.
From the odd to an everyday item, there is a small collection of tills, with one of them from circa 1899.
How technology has changed.
A sign stating Mrs McCallum, Phrenologist was found in a house in Grant St where it was believed she practised the art of phrenology.
This was where the bumps on the skull were measured and it was believed to link to character traits.
Phrenology was considered a pseudo-science, which is ultimately a science that does not follow standard scientific principles, such as a hypothesis being proven or unproven and subject to peer review before being considered valid.
An old image projector known as a Magic Lantern was donated to the museum by the Dannevirke Publishing company, which once printed the Dannevirke News.
The photograph or image would be placed on a glass slide so it could be projected.
Another item of interest is an old photograph of the very first volunteer fire brigade, which the museum had blown up.
Wadsworth says one visitor was very interested in the photo, as her great-grandfather or another relative was the first leader of the fire brigade.
"She got that excited. It was neat."
Of course, museums aren't just about oddities and are sometimes reminders of days gone by.
Like the little collection of bottles from the Huia Aerated Water Company, which once had a factory in Dannevirke.
Some of the bottles have even remained unopened.
"There were 11 different owners of cordial factories in Dannevirke and the Huia factory was the last one," Wadsworth says.
It's not known when the factory closed down, but at least some of its history has been able to be preserved.
These are just the proverbial 'tip of the iceberg'. So if you happen to be passing through Dannevirke and are interested in anything to do with history, pop in to the museum and check out the collections.
'Good on them for showing up. But there's no place for their business in Pākōwhai.'