Historical Motueka quiz time. What was sold in Spicer’s store? Who was the boilerman who had such exquisite time-keeping that the whole town followed the schedule of his whistle? And how many times has the Post Office Hotel been destroyed by fire?
If you knew that the answers were home appliances, Fred Sparrow, and twice, then you are either an eighth generation Motuekan, or you have sneaked a peek at the new plaques that are popping up on the buildings along the main street.
The plaques, made of adonised aluminium with powder-coated aluminium frames, are a joint project between Our Town Motueka and the Motueka Historical Association, and it has been about an 18-month process from concept to completion. They have now been entrusted to the Motueka Menz Shed for installation.
Our Town Motueka coordinator Claire Hutt says that the idea came from seeing a similar thing in Takaka, and they sought plenty of advice from Golden Bay’s historical society to recreate the concept on Motueka’s High St.
“We made a list… and we got 63 buildings that we could literally do stories on,” she laughs.
However, their $10,000 funding, care of the Motueka Community Board, was enough to do the first 16, with the hope that more will come in the near future.
She said that the Motueka Historical Association did all of the background work, and Our Town Motueka did the legwork to make sure the concept could work.
The historical association has the funds to pay for the next round of plaques, and Claire says she hoping that the town has 50 plaques in the next couple of years.
“The buildings are so old and they hold such a lot of history.”
