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never a dull moment! hamilton stories
On Now
Scene from the Hamilton's Hectic Husband's film, 1928. Waikato Museum Collection
Never a dull moment! Hamilton stories is a local history exhibition that aims to entertain, engage and educate museum visitors. It takes a fresh look at the tales of Hamilton, and moves history exhibitions beyond simply old stuff in cases. Visitors will find it a quirky, thought-provoking and entertaining exhibition.
The show is being developed in response to consistent visitor demand for stories, objects and images that focus on Hamilton’s settler history. The show will focus on four themes that cover the period 1864-1945, and key events and personalities from those years.
But this is no time line. Imagine portraits that come to life, listening in on town gossip, or settling into a cinema to find out all about Hamilton’s theatre going past? Perhaps you’d like to spin the settler ‘wheel of fortune’, or take home a recipe from a war time cook book. (Economy cake, anyone?).
Never a dull moment! Hamilton stories will be a memorable, out of the box exhibition that people don’t just visit, but experience.
EXHIBITION HIGHLIGHTS
Section one:
• View a stunning Korowai displayed next to an officer’s tunic
• Spin the ‘wheel of fortune’ to see what kind of land you might have been given if you were an ‘armed settler’
• See Captain Hamilton’s sword – and decide whether you think the city should have been named after him
• What was the militia settlement like through the eyes of a child – listen in to Sarah Ann Byrant’s story
• Get up close to the survey map of Hamilton East drawn in 1864
Section two:
• East vs West – find out the real reason the two Hamilton townships merged.
• Open up cases to find out the stories of local businesses and facilities
• Then and now – check out the differences between historic photos, and new ones taken from the same vantage point
• Would you have taken a trip across the River on the punt?
• Have a laugh at the cartoon depicting the night soil service!
Section three:
• Take a seat in our theatre to find out about cinema going in the twenties
• Our custom designed mannequins have been dressed to the nines – step behind them to see what you look like in the mirror
• Care for a dance? – pick up the magnifying glasses and discover what events had Hamiltonian’s putting on their glad rags
• Which girls sports team had people outraged over their ‘short’ skirts?
• Put your ear to the key hold and listen in on the town gossips
• We had a mayor named Bond, James Bond, and his chair is on display
• Pin a poppy to the wreath to remember Hamiltons WW1 soldiers – but also find out why Waikato tribes would not fight.
Section four:
• See the proposed plan for a tunnel through Anglesea Street, before Garden Place Hill was removed.
• Fabulous pics of land girls, and women at the munitions factory
• How do you spot an enemy plane? The Home guard knew, and you can too
• Turn through the pages of the war time cookery book with our virtual book
• Sit back and watch the celebrations of VE day
