Heritage Tairāwhiti Trust deputy chair Sheridan Gundry in front of photos from an exhibition about Gisborne's Taruheru River, open to the public at the trust's Centre for Heritage located next to the river.
Photo / John Pennington
Heritage Tairāwhiti Trust deputy chair Sheridan Gundry in front of photos from an exhibition about Gisborne's Taruheru River, open to the public at the trust's Centre for Heritage located next to the river.
Photo / John Pennington
Historic photographs of early European settlement and industry along the Taruheru River are the focus of an exhibition open to the public.
Heritage Tairāwhiti is opening its Centre for Heritage – next to the river in the former Plunket Building on Palmerston Road near the Peel Street Bridge – on Fridays and Saturdays for the months of December and January between 10am and 2pm.
It will also open on some extra cruise ship days.
The photographs and a video telling the Taruheru story are courtesy of Tairāwhiti Museum. Extra photographs on continuous display tell some of the history from early to modern times.
The exhibition itself features predominantly the work of Gisborne’s first mayor, brewer, and photographer William Crawford. The photos were selected from the museum’s vast offering by Mike Spedding - former director of Tairāwhiti and Wairoa museums - and Heritage Tairāwhiti deputy chair Sheridan Gundry.
Gundry said Heritage Tairāwhiti was gearing up for the centre to be a port-of-call for heritage, as “learning from the past helps us plan for the future”.
The Heritage Tairāwhiti Centre for Heritage site on Palmerston Rd in Gisborne. A Taruheru River exhibition is running at the centre which will be open on Fridays and Saturdays from 10am to 2pm in December and January.
“We aim to not only feature relevant heritage exhibitions and link them with current events, but also want to link locals and visitors alike with other heritage entities like the museum, East Coast Museum of Technology (ECMOT) and walks/cycles involving heritage. Our work complements that of Tairāwhiti Museum and ECMOT as we work together to tell our vast stories of people and place.
“We have also produced a self-guided walk brochure to help connect viewers of the Taruheru River exhibition with the physical subjects of the photographs and where they were taken from.
“Our committee has put in a lot of work to ready the 1934 building for opening,” Gundry said. “It’s looking fresh. We relish our situation beside the Taruheru and it seemed only right to focus on the Taruheru for our first proper opening of the building.”
Heritage Tairāwhiti is also working closely with Tapuwae Tairāwhiti Trails Trust, which is developing a walk and cycleway along the Taruheru from Derby St to Campion College.
The trails trust, in conjunction with Trust Tairāwhiti, has produced a comprehensive walk/cycle map brochure with individual cards on 15 walk/cycle trails – most of which have a heritage aspect. These link by QR codes to the trust’s website tairawhititrails.nz
“Our long-term aim is to have storyboards along the Taruheru, which emanates from within Waihirere Domain and flows 14km to its confluence with the Waimatā River in Gisborne city,” Gundry said.
“The Taruheru has a rich history and has been a significant waterway to generations of people who lived and continue to live on its banks.”
A large map showing route options of the Taruheru trail is also on display at the building.
