Matakowi - Pioneer Museum, New Zealand

Downtown Dargaville

Crossing the always brown, always high Dargaville River.

In previous travels we’ve been more inclined to go seek out the nature and wild areas versus museums or shopping.  A small-town market, a cultural event and even some city time are all good, but in short doses.  That is sort of how this trip has been planned: lots of country side and wild places for Tom to seek out that next bird for his “little big year” adventure, with some short city stops for me.  Dad has readily admitted that he was just along for the ride and experience.

Dad suggested that there was a really nice museum just after leaving Dargaville on our way down the North Island.  Now, when Dad suggested a ‘nice’ museum, there was lots of eye rolling from the front seat!  Since he’d put up with lots of birding stops and some other locations and activities that I’m sure were boring to him, it was time for him to get to choose.

Straight across from Tom's head is Kai Iwi Lakes and Baylys Beach, Tane Mahouta and Trounson Park, some of our other stops.

We stopped at the Pioneer Museum in Matakowi.  I had been here before, and I recalled that it was amazing then.  It still is.  It’s located in the middle of Kauri country.  The building that houses the museum is quite large and you move from room to room to room to room! 

The start is  a large room full of the most beautiful Kauri dressers, bureaus, sideboards and desks was surrounded by panels of different types of local woods and photos of loggers. 


This room led to a series of full size replica rooms, large dioramas with amazing antique items: dishes, arts, photos, clothing, toys, furniture, children’s books, women’s hatpins and traveling clothes, little jars, bottles and boxes of household items – I could continue, but it’s better if you just look at the photos.

This model is pushing hard on the hand planer, thus the strange stance.

While many of the items have been used, many items, especially the furniture, look new.  They are beautiful.

There’s a large room full of logging and gum digging equipment.  Another with a complete logging mill set up with the gear still functioning.  Another with farming equipment, laundry stuff, hunting and wool products.  

This piece is huge! Note the 3 person bench below it.

A full-size loggers cabin was in one corner – you could walk right in. A motion activated sensor set off a sound track from the logger that was hunched  over the fire asking “ would you like a cup of tea?”

The newest section was built to resemble a home with a large staircase and other rooms off the hallway. Each is set up to represent a different profession – a logging buyer, a dentist office, the woodshop, a couple of women in traveling gear.

In the very back of the museum is a room full of collections. An amazing room of shelves and cabinets that were most likely the left over bits and baubles from the styling that was done in each of the diorama rooms.  By the way, all of the ‘models’ in the rooms were modeled after someone from the area, a volunteer or a pioneer’s daughter or grandchild.

I'm not sure how the long skinny vacuum cleaner works.  There were some interesting ones!

We were in the museum for almost 3+ hours   All of the photos have great descriptions and information, but at some point, you just can’t absorb any more.

At that point we just wandered then and enjoyed the incredible collection of antiques and history. 

A Morepork, New Zealand's only owl.  We heard many and saw only one, before this one!

A seasonal display showed aprons, many provided by the ladies from the museum and community.    There was a large collection of glass bottles – one woman’s 50-year collection!

And just when you think you can't see any more antiques, there is a whole room of amber, the kauri gum that has been collected.  Even some of the display cases were made just for the amber.

If you're interested in the New Zealand Military history, or perhaps horse racing and the trophies and awards related to these - there's a room for your enjoyment also!

Outside there is a small rose garden with roses documented from the late 1700’s!!  I would have loved to have smelled some of them, but it was the wrong time of year.  So many of the current roses have had the smell bred out of them!

The pioneer cemetery is behind the rose garden.  The stormy skies seemed to be very appropriate for the day.