Further information on future meetings
October 2018. JAMES JENKINS 2018 BIENNIAL LECTURE
Date: Wednesday, 24 October 2018, 7.30pm
Place: Nelson Masonic Hall, 109 Nile Street (next to Prince Albert Hotel)
Speaker: Professor Geoffrey Rice, Emeritus Professor of
History at the University of Canterbury
Topic: Professor Rice is best known for his detailed studies of the 1918
Influenza Pandemic (resulting in the books, Black November,
published 1988 and 2005, and Black Flu 1918: the story of New
Zealand’s worst public health disaster, published 2017). His lecture
topic will discuss the impact on Nelson of the pandemic. Prof Rice has offered to make copies of BLACK FLU available on the night of the lecture for just $20.(normal RRP is $30)
November 2018.
Date: Monday, 12 November 2018, 7.30pm
Place: Nelson Masonic Hall, 109 Nile Street (next to Prince Albert Hotel)
Speaker: Paul Bensemann
Topic: ‘Nelson’s “filthy Hun” – 75 years of German settlement up to Armistice Day’. ‘New Zealand’s first German immigrants arrived at Port Nelson in 1843, 175 years ago. Mapua historian Paul Bensemann has collected much colourful oral history about the highs and lows of German settlement, as well as information just released about local “enemy aliens” that was hidden for 100 years under the old Official Secrets Act.’
December 2018. MEMBERS ONLY FUNCTION
Date: December date TBC 2018, 7.30pm
Place: Nelson's Christ Church Cathedral
Speaker:
Topic: Come along and learn about the Cathedral history and development plans.
Brief summary of Past Meetings with associated Resources
10 September 2018.
Speaker: Jane McDonald
Topic: Researching family diaries for her book 'How is the River', a Takaka Valley history centred on the Sparrow family
13 August 2018.
Speaker: Meredith Rimmer
Topic: Hidden treasures with Nelson Provincial Museum. Come enjoy an
evening exploring the hidden treasures cared for by museum staff.
Join Collection Lead, Meredith Rimmer, as she brings her favourite objects
out of storage and shares the stories that accompany them.
9 July 2018.
Speaker: NHS Members
Topic: Show and Tell. This session last year was so successful we’re
doing it again. We’ll have 10 minute presentations by members on very
eclectic topics. You’ll hear about ‘New Zealand Tokens’, ‘Settlement, Holes
and Borer’, ‘An egg’s worth of tea’, ‘Best Laid Plans’, “Bullseye Founders’ and
possibly more. Join us for a real potpourri of stories!
11 June 2018. Annual General Meeting
Speaker: Celia McKechnie, recently retired HOD History, Nelson College for
Girls
Topic:‘Teaching history to today’s students’. Celia has recently retired from
a career teaching History at Nelson College for Girls talked about her
perspective on ways of engaging new generations to study history.
14 May 2018.
Speaker: Gail Collingwood
Topic: “Too hot to handle – a history of ironing”. Gail introduced us to her
collection of vintage laundry and ironing implements and questioned why we
do it?
9 April 2018.
Speakers: Hillary and John Mitchell
Topic: The New Zealand Company and Nelson’s Tenths Reserves. The New
Zealand Company’s native policy was, for its time, a progressive one. But
in practice, the company did not adhere to its own principles. This talk was a
follow-up to a field trip about the Motueka Tenths Reserves with the
Mitchells in 2017.
25 April 2018 - Heritage Festival event - Anzac Day
Venue: Wall of Remembrance - Founders Heritage Park
Topic:
Honouring our WW1 Nurses
60 women with ties to the Province of Nelson served as nurses in WW1. Many of them would return after the war and take prominent roles in the region as they sought to put their normal lives back together. Ten Nurses died when the "Marquette" was sunk by a German torpedo [several Nelson nurses survived] but only one NZ nurse was killed on the Western Front in WW1, and her mother was Charlotte Greenwood of Motueka.
In this Suffrage 125 year it seems a fitting opportunity to acknowledge their service and their suffering. Their names are marked on the Wall of Remembrance at Founders Heritage Park with a special sticker. A well researched book [All Guts No Glory] telling their stories and those of the Chaplains of the Province will be available for sale on the day and author and researcher Cheryl Carnahan will be on hand to help bring their stories to life. The day is being supported by the Nelson Historical Society, the Nelson Branch of the NZ Genealogical Society and Nelson National Council of Women.
26 April 2018 - Heritage Festival event
Venue: Albion Square, Nelson (next to Queen's Gardens and Suter Art Gallery, between Bridge and Hardy Streets)
Topic:
Ghosts of Albion Square: Government, Gangsters and Gadgets
Discover secrets, uncover mysteries, share stories, and re-live dramas surrounding the people, buildings and sites associated with our central city heritage precinct, Albion Square.
You'll learn about about the fate of the grand Nelson Provincial Government Buildings, the fire engine house that was used as a morgue for the Maungatapu murder victims, the oldest pillar post box still in continuous use, the former Hardy Street Girls School, the survey chain test, the trout hatchery, and much more.
In association with the Nelson City Council's Heritage Festival 2018.
April 2018 - Feild Trip
Date: Saturday 28 April 2018, date changed after the cyclone
Place: Feild Trip to West Golden Bay, including a stop at Golden Bay Museum to visit the Whalery
Topic: Puponga Coal and other industries
12 March 2018.
Speaker: Darryl Gallagher, Curator Photographic Collection, Nelson Provincial Museum
Topic: National Treasure: The Nelson Provincial Museum Photographic Collection, conservation, digitisation, and application.
12 February 2018.
Speaker: Gordon and Penny Taylor, with other members of Histrionics
Topic: Histrionics Theatre Group – Bringing history to life through theatrical dramatisations. You may have seen Histrionics at various events around the region throughout the WWI centennial and other heritage events. We’ll hear how the group came together, be treated to a short dramatization, and view a video clip highlighting the group’s education programmes.
MEMBERS ONLY XMAS FUNCTION December 2017.
Topic: PALE HISTORY
Speaker: Sally Burton [artist] A floor talk by Sally about her newly opened historical art installation, Pale History, which explores the opposing sides of the Wairau Incident. On 17 June 1843, 22 Europeans and four Maori were killed when an armed party of New Zealand Company settlers from Nelson clashed with Ngāti Toa over the purchase of land in the Wairau Valley. The installation showcases life-size figures and paintings depicting the major players on both sides, alongside historical artefacts, documents and artworks related to the incident. This was the first significant armed conflict between Maori and British settlers after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.
November 2017.
Date: Monday, 13 November 2017
Speaker: Gwyn Rees discussed the discovery of the sadly neglected Motueka memorial to South African (Boer) War soldier Len Tarrant, his research into Tarrant's life and medal, and the restoration and rededication of the memorial.
Topic: Trooper Leonard Tarrant and the rededication of the Tarrant War Memorial
14 October 2017 - SPECIAL EVENT
Place:
Founders Heritage Park, Atawhai Drive, Nelson
Theme: Nelson’s Blackest Day: Passchendaele 12 October 1917
Presenters: The Nelson Historical Society and members Karen Price, Karen Stade, Peter and Myra Millward hosted a public information session and commemorative display at the Fernery (where the WWI commemorative wall is) about the Battle of Passchendaele on 12 October 1917, the day on which Nelson and New Zealand suffered the highest number of fatalities during World War I - 43 in all.
9 October 2017
Speaker: Steve Bagley
Topic: Albion Square, Nelson: the historical seat of provincial government for the Nelson region, now a historic reserve.
11 September 2017
Topic: Members Show and Tell
Speakers: Several members gave short presentations about a variety of intriquing sounding topics. We heard about: Nelson’s Money – The Hardy Street Connection; My Criminal Past – Escapades of an Irish Criminal and Whaler; Tiny Treasures – a Miniature Mobile Memorial; A Short History of the Mouse Trap; Bullseye Founders – The Centre of it All; and Old Nelson: a Postcard History.
MAY Meeting Resource
Topic: MARSDEN VALLEY CEMETERY
Speaker: Peter Millward described the process he used in researching WW1 veterans buried at Stoke's Marsden Valley Cemetery and what it can help to tell us about the phases of the war. What started out as a project to map the RSA area expanded to encompass an even larger number of veterans buried elsewhere in the cemetery.
Download the database here.
JULY Meeting Resource
Speakers: Peter Millward & Karen Stade
Topic: The speakers outlined the project that saw the transcription of the war diaries of Cyril Saunderson Spear made available for researchers. Cyril was a journalist for many years with the Nelson Evening Mail.
Download the diaries here.
