Around Anzac Day, Auckland is always given reason to appreciate its War Memorial Museum. Never more so than in recent years when the museum has used outdoor lighting to create moving scenes of soldiers on its magnificent building in the Domain. Inside, the displays have not been as memorable. During the centenary years of World War 1, there has been nothing to compare with the displays of Gallipoli at Wellington's national museums.
The business of collecting and exhibiting the heritage of any place is demanding and competitive these days, which may be why the museum has just acquired its fourth director within the past decade. David Gaimster, profiled in the paper today, comes from the University of Glasgow's museum, the oldest in Scotland. He picks up a 20-year development strategy begun by a fellow Englishman, Roy Clare, which is credited with increasing visitor numbers so far.
Anybody who has visited the museum since its major renovation at the rear will know the transformation it has made, and anyone who has attended the events it frequently stages in its new facilities will know museums have widened their role far beyond static displays. And even those displays cannot be static for too long. Museums need to keep renewing themselves to entice people to visit them more often.
Four years into the museum's 20-year plan, it is about to undergo a seven-year project renewing a third of the galleries and enlarging its gallery space by 20 per cent. The new director's job is to engage Aucklanders of all ages with the heritage in his keeping. We wish him well.
