Clues to ancestors uncovered

Kyle Dalton at the Whanganui Regional Museum. Photo/File

I've discovered Wanganui's own living treasure ... he was an army officer and a policeman, has a photographic memory, has studied Wanganui's history, and relates it in a very entertaining way.

This region has a fascinating history with lots of clues to it securely tucked away in or under the Whanganui Regional Museum - and there's no one better to tell you about it than Kyle Dalton, who is the museum's external relations officer.

I had coffee with Kyle last week. I was late for the meeting and forgot my wallet, but Kyle ungrudgingly paid for our coffee and gave me an interesting hour of his time. Valuable time, because his calendar is full most days of the week giving talks to organisations and individuals about early Wanganui and its people.

I had an ulterior motive for wanting to meet Kyle - to find out how to discover more about two of my great, great grandfathers, and the imperial regiments with whom they came to Wanganui all those years ago. The museum has photos galore, but not fully archived yet ... it all takes time.

When I was a kid, I would come over from Marton and make a beeline for the museum. I loved the displays of the old artefacts and firearms from the garrisoned history of early Wanganui.

I had a theory that the old weapons I used to pore over were no longer displayed due to political correctness.

But no - the truth is that the old firearms that I found so interesting are marching out to the displays again, while having to compete for space with the many other items in the collection. Perhaps hemmed in, for instance, by the 400 sewing machines?

Every so often the museum holds a collection tour where lucky people can go into the cellars and be shown the rest of the collection. My advice would be to go to the next one - I'm taking my sleeping bag and a thermos.

Did you know that the lion monument which currently sits on the "Veterans Steps" between the museum and the Memorial Hall was once up the hill where the Sargeant Gallery is now?

From Cameron's graveyard, they disinterred the remains of 17 men killed at the battle of Nukumaru up near Waitotara in 1865, and reburied them under the monument. Later, they exhumed their bodies and reburied them again under where the lion monument now sits. Questions were asked at the time why it took the contractor so little time to shift the bodies - isn't local government delightful? - and the contractor countered that it really didn't take all that long to shift three sacks of bones.

Kyle's main objective is to increase public awareness of the museum. They hope to get 80,000 people through its doors this year. Tourists appreciate the free admission, and are inclined to give much more generous donations as a result. Apparently the town is enjoying a German invasion at the moment. Don't mention the ...

And the museum lends itself to all sorts of uses. I remember a great night of music with Benny Koroheke and his band last year - my darling and I were upstairs with the other degenerates and rocked and rolled. They have even had sleep-overs for the young and the flexible.

And my great, great grandfathers? Papers Past tells me that Major Samuel Neill was fined a shilling for allowing his horses to wander Wanganui at night, and Joseph Northover of Nixon St was stabbed by John Punch when he caught Punch pinching his neighbour's spuds.

So where was Joseph when our freezer was emptied last year?