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Museum sees change of management
Cooranbong, New South Wales
Melody Tan
The Adventist Heritage Centre of the Adventist Church in the South Pacific has recently attained management of the South Sea Islands Museum collection in Australia.
Ms Rose-Lee Power, the Centre’s curator, sees the change as a natural transition. “The Centre collects, preserves and exhibits the history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and its entities in the region. The South Sea Islands Museum is an extension of what we do,” she says.
The South Sea Islands Museum has been recognised by renowned curators as having the best private permanent collection in the world. The museum displays a wide range of artefacts acquired by Adventist missionaries and others, dating from as far back as the 1800s.
Ms Power hopes to introduce changes to some of the museum displays this year and is searching for tapa cloth pieces from around the South Pacific as part of that.
Tapa cloth, made from the inner back of certain trees, is one of the most distinctive products of the Pacific Islands. With some 300,000 Adventist church members living in the South Pacific, Ms Power is hopeful to receive donations of tapa from them.
“If possible, we would like to know who received the item, the date they received it, who the artist is, where it came from and what date it was originally created,” says Ms Power.
Ms Power also hopes to introduce displays about the activities and the impact of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the South Pacific. The hunt is also on for Maori and early New Zealand missionary artefacts, documents and photographs. The museum currently only has one authentic Maori item in the collection.
Find out more about the Adventist Heritage Centre.
Cooranbong, New South Wales
Melody Tan
The Adventist Heritage Centre of the Adventist Church in the South Pacific has recently attained management of the South Sea Islands Museum collection in Australia.
Ms Rose-Lee Power, the Centre’s curator, sees the change as a natural transition. “The Centre collects, preserves and exhibits the history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and its entities in the region. The South Sea Islands Museum is an extension of what we do,” she says.
The South Sea Islands Museum has been recognised by renowned curators as having the best private permanent collection in the world. The museum displays a wide range of artefacts acquired by Adventist missionaries and others, dating from as far back as the 1800s.
Ms Power hopes to introduce changes to some of the museum displays this year and is searching for tapa cloth pieces from around the South Pacific as part of that.
Ms Power studying a tapa piece that belonged to Mr Reuben Hare.
“We are looking for small pieces of tapa, about the length of a person’s arm, to form part of a bigger display.” says Ms Power. “We also accept bigger pieces so donors should not cut their tapa up.”Tapa cloth, made from the inner back of certain trees, is one of the most distinctive products of the Pacific Islands. With some 300,000 Adventist church members living in the South Pacific, Ms Power is hopeful to receive donations of tapa from them.
“If possible, we would like to know who received the item, the date they received it, who the artist is, where it came from and what date it was originally created,” says Ms Power.
Ms Power also hopes to introduce displays about the activities and the impact of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the South Pacific. The hunt is also on for Maori and early New Zealand missionary artefacts, documents and photographs. The museum currently only has one authentic Maori item in the collection.
Find out more about the Adventist Heritage Centre.
