More Options

40 results. Displaying results 1 - 40.

Name Summary/Abstract Subject category
Harold Piper — What’s in an Aviator’s Logs? Harold Piper — What’s in an Aviator’s Logs?
The Walsh Memorial Library hold eight logbooks of Banks Peninsula-born pilot Harold Lord Piper (1899–1965). Log books are an invaluable record for any pilot — tracing the different aircraft types flown, distances and conditions they flew in.
Aviators
Log books
1982.770_p15 Short Sunderland NZ4115
MOTAT's Short Sunderland NZ4115 was officially presented to MOTAT in September 1966 and arrived the summer of 1967. Read on for more about its history and delivery to MOTAT.
New Zealand
Airplanes, Military
New Zealand
New Zealand. Royal New Zealand Air Force
Seaplanes
Short S.25 Sunderland Mk.III
Short Sunderland
Leo White: The Man Behind The Whites Aviation Collection Leo White: The Man Behind The Whites Aviation Collection
The Whites Aviation Collection spans some 70 years of history with categories covering the early aero clubs, trans-Tasman flights, the formation of the early airlines in New Zealand and other aviation events up to the 1970's.
Whites Aviation Limited
Photographers
Photography
Aerial photography
2020.38_p2 In Stitches: A Selection of Sewing Machines
In use since the late 1700s, sewing machines have been a key component in both domestic and industrial technology. Contributing to the industrial revolution, providing uniforms for war, and altering domestic duties; sewing machines have evolved with social change throughout history. Often associated with the popular Singer name, sewing machines have become a symbol of women’s work, clothing production and factory jobs. It is interesting to note sewing machines were not manufactured in New Zealand but imported and sold under license by New Zealand retailers. The Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT) Collection has a variety of sewing machines, which represent New Zealanders links with these, once essential, domestic appliance and reveal a unique side business for vehicle manufacturers.
Sewing
Sewing-machines
Manufacturers
Open access: Glass plate & lantern slide collection Open access: Glass plate & lantern slide collection
As we are all adjusting to increasingly ‘virtual’ means of learning, exploring and engaging with the world’s heritage, we’d like to highlight a collection recently digitised by the Walsh Memorial Library’s Assistant Librarian for Digitisation, Andrew Pettengell. This recent project is part of MOTAT’s continuous process to improve the access information available on Collections Online. We’ve recently uploaded copyright terms for over 7,000 photographic records now in the public domain. Over 3,000 of these have images attached, including ones from the rich glass plate and lantern slide collections cared for by the Walsh Memorial Library. Read on to uncover the process to catalogue, digitise & preserve this rich collection and showcase some of the various subject highlights.
Photography
Photographic processes
Topographical surveying
Nature photography
New Zealand
Photographers
2014.411_p1 ‘A Long Day in a Tin Can’
New Zealand Railways hostesses recall working the main trunk line in the 1970’s and 80's.
New Zealand Railways
North Island Main Trunk Railway
2010.423_p2 The Human Story of an Adana Press
<p>Researching the MOTAT collection often uncovers the story behind the object. A small printing press currently on display in MOTAT&rsquo;s Print Shop, has an interesting gem of a narrative connected to it via its donor. The press was used during the donor&rsquo;s notable career, which happened in the context of events in national and world history.</p>
Printing presses
Printing industry
Printing
Tangiwai
2017.23.2_p1 A Polarising Sauce: The Essence of Anchovies
In 2017, MOTAT received the donation of an unopened bottle of sauce carrying the title “Essence of Anchovies”. At first it may seem an unusual object for MOTAT's Collection, so let’s take a closer look at the unique history of this object.
‘We were novelties’: TEAL Solent Flying Boat Stewardesses ‘We were novelties’: TEAL Solent Flying Boat Stewardesses
MOTAT has the last remaining Mark IV Short Solent flying boat in the world in its collection. In the Walsh Memorial Library’s recorded sound archive, there are a number of interviews recorded by members of the Solent Preservation Society in the 1990s. In the late 2000s we recorded some interviews with stewardesses who flew on the Solents between Auckland and Wellington and Sydney, and from Auckland up to the Pacific to Tonga and Fiji, and on the Coral Route which went via Fiji, Samoa and the Cook Islands to Tahiti. The Auckland-Sydney route started in 1949, the Wellington-Sydney one in 1950. In 1951 the Coral Route began — at first monthly and then fortnightly.
Flight attendants
New Zealand
Anecdotes
Tasman Empire Airways Limited
Employees
Anecdotes
Oral history
1978.710_p3 Some Assembly Required: A Brief History of Early Ford Assembly in New Zealand
In the 1930s, New Zealand had a thriving car assembly industry. While this is no longer the case today, New Zealand still has one of the highest car ownership rates in the world. In 1939, New Zealand was second only to the USA for car ownership.
Automobile factories
Ford automobile
Amateur Radio Operations Aid the 1933 Tasman Crossing by the Southern Cross Amateur Radio Operations Aid the 1933 Tasman Crossing by the Southern Cross
Aviation tours captured the imagination of the New Zealand public, with Tasman crossings increasingly carried out in the 1930s after the first successful crossing in 1928 by Sir Charles Kingsford Smith. In January 1933 Kingsford Smith made another crossing, flying between Sydney and New Plymouth in Fokker F.VII ‘Southern Cross’ with co-pilot Patrick Gordon Taylor and radio operator John Stannage.
Shortwave radio
Radio stations
Radio operators
Radio
Flight radio operators
Radio equipment
Southern Cross (Airplane)
Fokker Tri-Motor F.VIIB-3M (Southern Cross)
Tales from the Air: Batten’s Journey to Brazil Tales from the Air: Batten’s Journey to Brazil
Jean Batten is well remembered for her record flights between England, Australia and New Zealand. In 1935 she set off on another record breaking flight from England to Brazil in her Percival Gull aircraft.
Flight
Batten, Jean Gardner, 1909-1982
Aviators
New Zealand
2018.30_p1 Preserving Time
During the unprecedented times of the COVID-19 pandemic, a trend that re-emerged was the appreciation of a more slow-paced life. This resulted from having more time at home due to people’s movements being restricted to their neighbourhoods. People had more time to spend in the garden and exercise through, walks, running, biking and/or scooter rides within their bubbles. With the lack of takeaway options, home cooked meals and baking became more common;, this also included the act of preserving food.
Canning and preserving
Glass
Glass manufacture
2006.349_p3 A New Topdressing Aircraft
The Walsh Memorial Library hold eight logbooks of Banks Peninsula-born pilot Harold Lord Piper (1899–1965). Log books are an invaluable record for any pilot — tracing the different aircraft types flown, distances and conditions they flew in.
Aerial fertilization
New Zealand
05-2556_001 The Arrival of a MOTAT Icon
As part of the Registry team's Collection Review we delve into researching the MOTAT Collection. Here is some research I have been undertaking.
K (Locomotive)
New Zealand Railways
Locomotives
T2936_p1 Time Flies When Having Fun
During an exploration of timepieces within MOTAT’s Collection, we rediscovered several unique and kooky clocks. Here’s what author Emily Hames found…
Clocks and watches
TOP-2020-12_p1 First Contact: Eugene Hirst and New Zealand’s Innovative History of Contact Lens Production
Located at number 9 High Street in Auckland is the flagship store of Mortimer Hirst, an eyewear company associated with a rich history of contact lens innovation in New Zealand. The company is result of a partnership set up between optometrist Douglas Mortimer (1918–2005) and dental technician Eugene Hirst (1911–1989) in 1949, joint directors of both Mortimer Hirst and Hirst Contact Lens Limited.
Contact lenses
1964.146_p40 Short Solent Mk 4, ZK-AMO "Aranui"
The Short S45A Solent Mk 4 Flying Boat ZK-AMO "Aranui" has been a feature in MOTAT's collection since 1964. Read more to learn about how "Aranui" came to be at MOTAT.
Coral Route
Tasman Empire Airways Limited
Short Solent
1964.163_p40 Going Viral: Polio and the Iron Lung
New Zealand has a long history of epidemics and pandemics - from the influenza epidemic that was reported by Māori in Foveaux Strait in 1817-20, to today’s COVID-19 pandemic. Protocols such as social distancing and the closure of schools and public venues has previously been seen in New Zealand’s history, affecting Kiwis throughout the early 20th Century due to a reoccurring epidemic - the Polio (poliomyelitis) virus.
Public health
Health
1967.437_p1 Morris’s Marquetry Masterpiece — The Story of MOTAT’s Half-Tester Bed
One of the Registry team’s major projects for the year has been Collection Review. This is an ongoing process which assesses MOTAT’s Collection for its significance and relevance to the Mission and Strategy. My research focus was on the Furniture and Fittings Department. A stand out object from my research was James Morris’ Half Tester Bed (1967.437). The bed was donated to MOTAT in 1967 by a descendant of Morris.
Carpentry
Wood
Woodwork
Art, colonial
<C> Art, New Zealand
Cabinetwork
Kauri
Loading...