Council has confirmed the preferred option is to invest $39.4 million of a $52.5m total budget – including $12.9m of third party funding - for the museum between 2021–2026. Its preferred location remains Queens Park at this stage and the plan is that the redeveloped museum will be opened no later than 2026-27. The purpose of the governance group is to create “a unique and compelling vision for the museum that will define the nature of the service for the community of Invercargill and solidify its role in the Southland region”. Council leisure and recreation group manager Steve Gibling said Williams had the ideal business and public sector acumen, and museum sector knowledge, to chair the governance group.
At home in Southland, where our story begins. She wants to show the public how diverse the region has become. “Everywhere I go, everywhere I photograph, there are people living in Southland from all over the world. It’s important to educate people on who is here. We see their national costumes, we eat their food, we hear their songs. They are part of us now.” Frewen-Wilks said migrants had played a massive part in developing Southland, from the Belgians who helped build the Bluff Wharf, to Pacific Islanders who worked at meat plants in the region, to the Dutch who brought their trades skills, to the Filipinos who worked in the health and farming sectors.
Only eight percent believed council should do nothing with the museum. In a report prepared by council s strategy and policy manager Rhiannon Suter she says the message is clear to get the museum sorted. “Many raised the impact on children of the museum being closed. Others are concerned that there is nowhere to take visitors. “A smaller number are concerned the solution is not fully scoped, and it is better to wait and get it right,” the report says. There was consensus in the submissions that people want the museum to remain at Queens Park, according to Suter’s report.
While there are few other astronomical festivals throughout New Zealand, this is the only one she knows of that will be in winter, she said. “In the middle of winter you get to see the core of the Milky Way . it’s better in winter because you get longer darkness hours.” What makes the Southland area special for astronomy is that there is always a chance to view the Aurora Australis without having to travel far. The event will run between June 11 to 13, kicking off at the former Oreti Sands golf course, the society’s headquarters. The first 45 people to register for the event will have the chance to attend a trip to Awarua Satellite Tracking Facility and Radio Communications Museum.