14 Wairarapa Midweek Extra Wednesday, June 29, 2022 ARATOI VOICES
Extra
Aratoi says goodbye to its director After six years as Aratoi’s director Susanna Shadbolt is leaving to take up the position of CEO of Te Manawa Museums Trust in Palmerston North. David Moriarty, chairman of the Aratoi Trust Board, echoed the thoughts of the Aratoi community when he said, “We are very sad to be losing Susanna as director. Through her tireless efforts and dedication Susanna has been a driving force for Aratoi.” Susanna is passionate about the role of Aratoi. “A regional museum should engage with the people,” she said. “We must appreciate our community and represent the region, taking pride in it and developing a sense of identity. No one else will tell our story which is represented in the objects in our collection.” Highlights of her time at Aratoi show how inclusive and community-centred her style has been. “The Ngāti Kahungunu exhibition was my first big one. I could see that we needed educators
Susanna Shadbolt leaves Aratoi next month.
to accompany it and so I began the education programme that we have now. I am proud that we have recently been given Ministry of Education funding for it.” “The 50th anniversary exhibition was about us, Wairarapa; it put Aratoi on a pedestal, personalised it, and the community embraced it.”
Broadening horizons is also a function of the museum, Susanna said. “You need to take risks and open up possibilities. The Elizabeth Thomson exhibition was utterly ambitious for us. She is an artist of international standing so it seemed an unlikely step for a small museum and gallery. However, this changed
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my thinking about what we can do. We can make and create whatever we want as a community. The Elizabeth Thomson exhibition is still touring and has just opened in Hastings.” When Susanna arrived she felt welcomed and ‘that has never changed,” She said. “I thank the staff, board, the Friends
of Aratoi and our major funding partners for their support.” Friends’ chairwoman Sandra Debney gives reasons why Susanna has continued to be welcomed. “Susanna has been supportive of the Friends in everything we do. She has attended our meetings and kept us fully informed of everything. We appreciate what she has brought to Aratoi and wish her well in her new appointment.” Asked about her achievements, Susanna puts community first. “I am proud of the changing perceptions the community has of Aratoi. I have invited the community in and grown positive relationships with all stakeholders. As well, growing the collection and putting the infrastructure in place for the collection online come to mind.” Susanna’s last exhibition opens as she leaves. It is of items from the Masterton Museum collection, reflecting her belief in Aratoi celebrating our place.
Southern tree planting links forests Tom Taylor South Wairarapa school children and community members braved atrocious conditions to plant 2000 trees as part of a bid to create a permanent native corridor between the Aorangi and Remutaka forests. Waimeha Camping Village owner John Priest contributed 1.8 hectares of land for the corridor, which would form part of the Tonganui Corridors programme led by Aorangi Restoration Trust. He said the students helped with everything from digging to planting, learning the names of the plants as they went: kanuka, ngaio, cabbage tree, broadleaf, hebe, flax. Priest hoped the “side-
Pirinoa School pupils and family of Waimeha Camping Village owner John Priest have planted 2000 trees. PHOTO/SUPPLIED
corridor” he had created would expand in years to come. “There’s no other native reserve from the beach at Cape Palliser - this is the first.” Priest had already planted a section of his campground in native
trees. He said Monday’s planting day would double the area. When enough trees matured, Priest anticipated that tui would return to roost. “It’s not a big enough habitat yet, but this will help with that.”
The Tonganui Corridors programme aimed to reconnect the public conservation land of the Aorangi and Remutaka forests in the hope that wildlife, including penguins, would thrive once again. Although little blue penguins were described as “locals” due to their nesting and roosting habits under Palliser Bay baches, they had not been seen in abundance on the coast for a long time. The Aorangi Restoration Trust, established in 2011, wanted to encourage them to return. By 2045, the Trust wanted to see the Aorangi Forest and its surrounds restored to their former health, with ecosystems that benefited the rural
and urban economies of South Wairarapa and offered places for recreation in the Greater Wellington region. “The value of reconnecting the small fragmented native habitats across Tonganui is to provide people with a deep connection to this place and ensure our grandchildren and future generations will see and enjoy what once flourished here,” Aorangi Restoration Trust chair Clive Paton said. Priest agreed with the sentiment. “It’s good to see the kids coming out to help,” he said. “They’ll drive out in years to come and say, ‘Hey, we planted that’.”
