HISTORIC EXHIBITS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20077, 25 October 1939, Page 5

HISTORIC EXHIBITS

PIONEERING RELICS TYPICAL SITTING-ROOM EXHIBITION FEATURE Strange and various are the relics of early pioneering days in Otago and Canterbury which are incorporated in the loans section of the Women’s Court at the Centennial Exhibition. In the South Island room in the court there has been reproduced a typical sitting-room in the 1850-60 period in a prosperous settler's home. It is crammed full of furniture, odds and ends, pictures, ornaments—all arranged against a typically Victorian wall-paper apparently designed to absorb every ray of light.

At the back of the room arc a pair of trellis windows, originally used in tlie house built by Dr. Barker on the banks of the Avon River, Christchurch, and loaned for the exhibit by Mr. G. O. Greenwood. Christchurch. In this room, not only the atmosphere of the Victorian parlour is re-created, but the representative collection of' furniture and household treasures reminds the observer that these goods’ and chattels were the only tangible' link oiu; forefathers had with their, home land. 91-Year-Old Shirt Among the articles in the South Island room .is a linen shirt, handmade and worn by the late Robert Campbell, of Dunedin, on his wedding day in 1837. It was 1849 when this shirt and its owner came to New Zealand. Twelve years of wear in Scotland and 9.1 years of life in New Zealand has done ‘little to harm this sturdy garment

On one of the small tables in the room are a set of chessmen carved from the teeth of a whale caught in New Zealand waters. The teeth were taken to England to be made into chess pieces, and this unique exhibit has been preserved . and loaned by Mrs. Mark Hanan, Dunedin. Piano’s Experiences The man who wrote “Erewhon" played on the piano in the corner of tlie room, and as well as being fingered by the great Samuel Butler, it had other exciting experiences. It was the first piano to arrive in Canterbury and in 1858 when on its way by bullock wagon to Orari Gorge it toppled into the Rangitata River and spent six weeks submerged on the sandy bod.