Museum Pieces

Press, 29 September 1988, Page 31

Museum Pieces

museum building, and to stop any further labour by the contractors as the site had not been fixed. Two days later, rather tongue in cheek, the “Lyttelton Times” reported the results of these letters — that sundry loads of stone had been deposited on the public roadway in the vicinity of the Museum entrance. The contractors had refused to return with their loads — and as they could not get in, dumped them. Finally the Provincial Council accepted the modified plan by including the porch over the entrance from Rolleston Avenue. The first stage of the extension, aligned east-west, was opened on June 7, 1877. The Governor of New Zealand declared the building open and a conversazione was held in the ' evening at the museum. It was a gala occasion. Professor Bickerton shone an electric light down the length of Worcester Street

and lit up the Clarendon Hotel. During the evening there were scientific demonstrations, exhibits and experiments, a magic lantern show, music (Julius Haast, director of the museum and noted for his voice, sang) and of course the new and exciting museum exhibits. At that stage the museum had about 62,000 specimens and part of the reason for the extension was to enable more of them to be shown. The rest of the wing fronting Rolleston Avenue was opened September 6, 1878. Unfortunately, we have no photographs of this part of the museum being constructed nor of the opening. Now, 110 years later, this wing is being strengthened to bring it up to modern standards of earthquake resistance. However its elegant facade and much photographed portico will still greet the museum visitor almost unaltered.

By

JO-ANNE SMITH