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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 30, 2009 7:25:40 GMT 12
The Auckland War Memorial Museum marks 80 years today since it opened. There are apparently special celebrations going on so it might be worth a visit this weekend for Aucklanders
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Post by flyjoe180 on Oct 30, 2009 10:18:28 GMT 12
The museum was always a weekend favourite of mine when I was a kid, that and Auckland Airport. Back in the day when the observation lounge had open parts on the windows and you could smell the kerosene and go deaf from the turbojets and screaming Fokkers. My parents must've been driven up the wall going to those places all the time. The mummy always intrigued me at the museum, I could never believe that was a person inside all that cloth.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 30, 2009 10:58:38 GMT 12
The mummy freaked me out as a kid, too many Scooby Doo cartoons I guess. But I loved the Zero and the Spitfire and the V-1 bomb. Its a great museum and a good place to take overseas vistiors to.
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Post by Peter Lewis on Oct 30, 2009 14:18:53 GMT 12
I hope its good - weather looks great for this evenings gala event.
We have tickets through the AUT social club, and have arranged to take the kids through rent-a-child.
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Post by Bruce on Oct 30, 2009 21:45:59 GMT 12
I went through the museum a few months ago and was very impressed at the latest upgrades to displays. The top floor military displays now have a logical sequence, and the WW1 Paschendaele trench exhibit is incredible. other good bits are the seashore and forest exhibits, The education centre which is an ingenious use of the old collections of stuffed and preserved animals, (although the container of live cockroaches isnt for the squeamish!) and the section on growing up in NZ which has an awesome tree house, and, of all things, the old stuffed elephant Raja! I can see a whole new generation being inspired by the museum.... 80 years and still going strong!
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 30, 2009 22:02:48 GMT 12
I remember the poor old elephant used to be coming apart and the stuffing was coming out of his legs when I was a kid. That seemed wierd enough to me, but when Mum and Dad told me he was only in the museum because he went on the rampage at the zoo and was shot by the keepers really disturbed me too. And on the wall beside him in those days was the head and tail of racehorse Carbine, with a notice saying his heart was in a jar in Australia. It seemed so grotesque to me, aged about 7 or 8, that people carved up a horse and preserved him because he won a few races. Museums are great but can be odd and scary to kids sometimes. It's much better these days, and I agree Bruce that the war memorial diplay area is superb. I love looking at Sir Keith Park's uniform and medals there.
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