Historic photos disappear'

Police are investigating the possible theft of hundreds of historic photographs from the Whangaroa County Museum and Archives Society at Kaeo. A complaint was laid with police in Kerikeri late last month, and the issue was discussed at a museum quarterly meeting on Saturday. The society made it clear that media would not be welcome.

The Northland Age understands some photos, depicting people and scenes from Whangaroa's history, have simply vanished from the collection, while others have been replaced with photocopies.

Senior Sergeant Peter Robinson (Kerikeri) confirmed last week that a complaint had been laid, and had been passed on to the Kerikeri-based Tactical Crime Unit (formerly the CIB).

It was likely to be a protracted investigation, requiring a good deal of analysis, he added, because the alleged thefts went back a decade and a large number of people had had access to the collection in that time.

The investigation was also complicated by the fact that the alleged thefts had only just come to light.

Senior Sergeant Robinson agreed that, "on the face of it," an "insider" might be responsible, but that was not necessarily the case, and police did not yet have enough information to draw any conclusions.

It is understood the society has had concerns for some time, and commissioned a museum expert to prepare a report into the disappearance of the photos and the options. That report is believed to cite lodging a complaint with police as one of the options, while legal advice to the society was that it had no choice but to lay a complaint.

The agenda for Saturday's meeting included a 'photo collection investigation update' item. Members were also expected to discuss a way forward for accessing the photo collection.

The society did not wish to comment ahead of the meeting, saying the matter was being dealt with in the proper way.

The museum has a substantial collection of photos, documents and artefacts in the former Far North District Council service centre on Kaeo's main road. It was previously housed across the road in the old post office building.

Museum highlights include displays on the 1809 sinking of the Boyd and items from the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior, which was sunk by French agents in Auckland in 1985 and was subsequently scuttled at Matauri Bay. It also has displays on timber milling and missionary work dating back to 1814.