Water is both "the challenge and the solution" for David Hutchinson.
The Tūhura Otago Museum board chairman and University of Otago physics professor will attempt to swim across the cold and unpredictable waters of Cook Strait on Monday, in a bid to raise money for a much-needed new fire sprinkler system at Tūhura Otago Museum.
The 56-year-old said, weather permitting, he would swim from Wellington to the Marlborough Sounds, and hoped to finish the marathon 22km-26km journey in 8-9 hours.
The swim aimed to highlight the critical importance of museums, history and protecting New Zealand"s past and the financial pressure that many museums are under in the current economic climate.
He said Otago had an "exceptionally rich history", particularly during the gold-rush era, and it had allowed the museum to acquire a vast and internationally significant collection of more than 1.5million items.
However, the museum was a charitable trust and only received modest support from ratepayers, and little to no direct central government funding, which left major gaps when it came to essential infrastructure, capital investment and collection care, he said.
One of the most urgent needs at present is the installation of further fire sprinklers to protect the museum"s "irreplaceable collections".
Prof Hutchinson said the idea for the fundraising swim bubbled to the surface during one of his outings in Otago Harbour with the Sunday Swim Squad at Broad Bay.
"Swimming the Cook Strait felt like something I could do to highlight the circumstances in which the Museum Trust finds itself.
"Water is both the challenge and the solution."
Swimming Cook Strait is considered one of the world"s most demanding open-water swims, and given Prof Hutchinson is one of the "older people" to attempt it, he had some concerns about the rough and unpredictable seas, strong tidal currents, cold temperatures, high winds and marine life such as sharks and jellyfish that he may encounter.
"The oldest was 62 and there are incredible people who"ve done it in under five [hours] — that"s not going to be me."
Despite the potential danger, he was throwing caution to the wind.
"These collections belong not just to Otago, but to all of Aotearoa, and our duty of care for these taoka is paramount."
He noted the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment administered a $22million per annum fund to support nationally significant collections and databases, but "not a cent of that goes to museum collections".
"Whilst it is appropriate for the visitor experience associated with the museum to be supported locally, it is time we started supporting care of the nationally and internationally significant collection more appropriately."
