A series of lively activities designed to showcase the Dunedin Gasworks Museum and the city's industrial heritage ended not with a bang but with several great balls of fire in a Gaslight Gala on Saturday.
More than 50 people, including about 10 from the North Island, two from Australia and English-based museum patron Sir Neil Cossons had earlier converged on the museum's recently-restored Fitting Shop for Heritage Impact150, an international industrial heritage symposium, which ended on Friday.
Sir Neil said the completion of the Fitting Shop's restoration in 2011, with strong backing from the Dunedin City Council, and the later national symposium had marked important turning points for the museum, which was one of the world's most impressive city gasworks museums.
Convener Ann Barsby said the symposium had highlighted the big progress which had been achieved at the museum, and she had received much positive feedback from participants.
One of the Gaslight Gala organisers, Craig Bush, said about 65 people had attended. During the gala, held mainly in the museum Engine House, extra lighting for the museum's exterior, including its distinctive brick chimney, and the interior use of spotlights and a display simulating flickering gaslights had demonstrated the museum's appeal as a venue for evening entertainment, he said.
Seven members of Dunedin fire performance group the Firebugs also made an impression with a series of displays, including the use of a ''fire-whip''.
Through a dramatic presentation, Dunedin actor Danny Still brought to life the slightly quirky recorded reminiscences of four men who had once worked at the gasworks. Other performers included the Bluestone Showband.
