LAKES DISTRICT MUSEUM RESTORATION PROJECT

The Lakes District Museum in Arrowtown has been operating for 72 years and is one of the cultural gems of the Queenstown Lakes community. It was established as a ‘Centennial of Otago’ project in 1948 and operates as the regional museum for the Lakes District. The museum occupies buildings in Buckingham Street in Arrowtown and includes the Historic Places category two building which was the former BNZ building. This was constructed in 1875 and was designed by the noted Dunedin architect R.A. Lawson.

The museum is a central point in Arrowtown, an information centre and one of the town’s biggest attractions. It also acts as a community hub, offering its boardroom as meeting space for local charities and groups such as Arrowtown Scouts and the Autumn Festival committee.

Artists use the display area to showcase their works and it has been used for social gatherings. In addition to this, the museum operates the historic Arrowtown Post Office for locals and visitors.

Well before the COVID-19 lockdown the museum’s former Bank of New Zealand building, built in 1865, was marked as earthquake-prone and required strengthening by 2025. A failure to meet the deadline would likely have resulted in the museum’s closure.

Along with the strengthening work, focused on the former Bank of New Zealand building and stables which houses the museum, the building is being restored, and museum displays upgraded.

The $3.5 million project, funded through Queenstown Lakes District Council’s annual plan ($1.04 million), $2 million from the government’s provincial growth fund, and a $426,000 grant from Central Lakes Trust to upgrade the internal displays, commenced in October 2020, and is progressing well, it is scheduled to be completed by March 2022.

WAI WĀNAKA SAFEGUARDING UPPER CLUTHA WATERWAYS

WAI Wānaka is the new name for the Upper Clutha Lakes Trust. WAI stands for Water Action Initiative. WAI Wānaka is an organisation where people who want to safeguard the health of our alpine waterways build communities that do.

WAI Wānaka coordinates the activities and needs of a diverse group representing the various segments of the community in the Upper Clutha water catchment area and beyond.

The group believes the iconic waterways of the Upper Clutha region are the community’s essential infrastructure, and that our community has a responsibility to safeguard the water and ensure water leaving the catchment is of high quality to avoid problems downstream.

WAI Wānaka believes that science lies at the heart of understanding how we balance the needs of
our community alongside maintaining the health of our environment, and advocates for the active management of waterways supported by evidence- based decision making.

Changing land use, population and tourism growth, invasive pests, climate change and loss of biodiversity are all bringing significant risk to freshwater. The group released Our Freshwater 2020, which paints a dismal picture of the current state of rivers and lakes in New Zealand. WAI Wānaka’s work in the community has
led to the development of a Community Catchment Plan which identified 60 actions addressing current and future risks to freshwater resources, to prevent decline in water quality and ecosystem function.

CLT provide operational support for this activator / navigator role to represent the wellbeing of the Upper Clutha lakes and waterways. The role coordinates the efforts and plans of well over 30 significant groups of local, regional and national stakeholders.