Museum Blog

On the 19th the Museum hosted a forum on the future of Whanganui’s built landscape, as part of our celebrations of International Museum Day 2012. It was an opportunity for interested people to get together and discuss their views. 

From a personal perspective, as that of a foreigner and newcomer to Whanganui, the town is blessed with respect to its connection to the heritage of its built landscape.

Whanganui should be very proud of its heritage. It’s a beautiful place, that is distinctive in New Zealand for the quality and quantity of its heritage landscape. Walking the across the intersection of Ridgway and Victoria Avenue is memorable because of the feeling you get – more important, perhaps, to non-locals for whom it is a novelty. Just the feel of the place is a tourist attraction, and both national and international tourists never fail to comment on it.

It’s interesting to look at photographs of Whanganui from the late 19th century and reflect how recognisable our town still is. Of course, you have to pick your vistas.

Despite the fact that it’s sometimes downplayed locally, our most important tourist attractions remain those that capitalise on our connection to that heritage. The fact that it’s sometimes appreciated less locally than it is by those outside Whanganui means that it’s incumbent on us to put ourselves in the place of the people of Christchurch who have lost so much built heritage over the last 18 months.  What would our town be like without these buildings? What would be our unique calling card to those people coming to visit?

Now on the eve of, perhaps, losing built heritage to earthquake strengthening, (not to mention, another major development on Victoria Avenue), it’s incumbent on us to reflect on what, exactly, our vision for the future is for Whanganui. If it’s is to embrace our heritage and increase our revenue by sharing it with others, then is losing it to various alterations okay? If it’s to move on and be a modern city, then what value proposition are we offering in competition with other modern cities that are geographically better located and have more building resources? I’m not, I have to add, offering answers – merely suggesting that the questions have to be asked. We should not go into the future with our eyes closed.