PERTH ST
PIONEER HALL, RICHARD PEARSE’s REPLICA PLANE
Did you know: The Pioneer Hall building was designed by South Canterbury architect Ron Doig, opened on December 10, 1966. The land was a bequest from The Burnett family. This houses the current Museum display and collection.
WuHoo Challenge: Hug the Burnett Oak planted to mark the area that they camped on their journey to the MacKenzie Country in 1861. Post a selfie with #WuHooTimaru.
Can you find? Walk through the Kate Shepard Garden and find the plaque. The Garden flowers are purple and white, the colours of the Suffragists.
While you are here: Visit the Benvenue Wreck memorial. Check out Stafford Street - Street art, Sculpture, Statues and Heritage Buildings.
South Canterbury Museum in Timaru and owned by the Timaru District Council. Its collections include natural history specimens, Maori artefacts, European settlement and recent social history and documentary history.
In 1861 a pioneering couple set off from Scotland for the other side of the world. Catherine MacKay 1837-1914 and Andrew Burnett 1838-1927 travelled by bullock wagon and camped at Perth Street, Timaru. They later planted an oak tree there. The Burnetts' first home at Mt Cook station was a "one-room hut of black birch logs plastered with clay and thatched with snowgrass." Thier youngest son Thomas David (TD) represented Temuka in Parliament until he died in 1941. He left in his will the Perth Street property to The South Canterbury Historical Society. It was TD's wish that any new building on the site be named Pioneer Hall, so the Historical Society gave that name to their new museum on the site. In 1966 the museum building was replaced with a new building in the iconic octagonal design by Ron Dohig. Next time you are at the museum, seek out a boulder with a plaque. You will find it under the oak tree planted by the pioneers all those years ago. The 2600-hectare farm was owned by the Burnett family for 151 years after its establishment in 1864. Caitriana Baker lived at Mt Cook Station with her brother, who managed the farm for 71 years until his death in 2010.
Learn more here: Home History: Pioneer Hall