Natural history in the spotlight

Elsa Nelson, 11, and Cassie Nelson, 7, check out the moa footprint at the South Canterbury Museum...
Elsa Nelson, 11, and Cassie Nelson, 7, check out the moa footprint at the South Canterbury Museum. PHOTOS: CONNOR HALEY
A new exhibition at the South Canterbury Museum is serving up a smorgasbord of nature for visitors.

The new exhibition, "Nature Collected", brings together several different collections ranging from bird eggs to butterflies and moa bones to sea shells.

South Canterbury Museum director Philip Howe said the exhibition aimed to highlight some of the museum’s collections.

"The museum has in its natural history collections thousands of specimens, and obviously many of those are never going to be on display all at the same time but that’s not the only purpose they serve.

"The collections are also an important scientific record of biodiversity in our region.

"The exhibition highlights the different things that we have in the museum collection and builds on the fact that museum collections are made up of the work of many people."

One of the big collections on show belonged to South Canterbury’s pre-eminent 19th century naturalist Edward Percy Sealy.

In his younger years, Mr Sealy was renowned as one of the first alpine photographers but he also had a strong interest in ornithology and butterflies.

The ‘‘Nature Collected’’ exhibition will run until the end of March.
The ‘‘Nature Collected’’ exhibition will run until the end of March.
As part of the exhibition, a selection of his historic birds’ egg collection is on display. including some from several extinct New Zealand species like the whēkau (laughing owl) which was largely extinct by 1914.

Also on display is his collection of butterflies which has captivated generations of South Cantabrians over the years.

Mr Howe said it was very much an example of how people saw nature in the 19th century.

"You couldn’t go on the internet, you couldn’t read or buy books of coloured photographs, you had to see the real thing.

"People would collect specimens from nature, they would collect them from around the world and, way before the internet ever existed, there was the ability to buy things through the mail.

"A lot of his butterflies were purchased from overseas and sent to him here in Timaru, all wrapped up in newspaper triangles, and then he’d mount them and we’d end up with these beautiful South American butterflies."

He said the collection had made quite the impression on him as a child.

"It’s one example of a local collector whose collections are now in the museum; they’re scientifically important, but they’re also incredibly valuable as display pieces, and they have inspired generations of kids.

"As a kid growing up in Timaru, this collection inspired me to have a lifelong love of entomology because I came into this museum and saw these beautiful butterflies and became quite obsessed with nature as a little kid.

"I never thought I would find myself being the director of the museum that had the collection that inspired me in the first place."

Another important feature of the exhibition is the moa footprint discovery made by Chris Sargent at Pareora Beach in 2022.

Notably on display are bones belonging to the bird and a 3-D printed model of the footprint that was created by Jack Rushton so people can compare the size of it to their own hand.

Also part of the exhibition is the fossil collection belonging to "The Wizard of Timaru", the late Lionel Belcher, and a seashell collection donated to the museum by Ray Bennett in 2001, largely comprised of seashells collected by the late Sylvan Trigance who was an ardent shell collector in the 1950s.

The final collection on display is comprised of three special birds from the museum’s collection.

Mr Howe said collections on display were fascinating both aesthetically as beautiful things, but also for the scientific information and what they communicated about nature.

"They are a resource that will keep on fueling museum programmes, whether it’s research, whether it’s education, whether it’s exhibition or whether it’s publications.

"We wanted this exhibition to highlight the value of these collections and the importance of encouraging people who gather things from nature to make sure that they ultimately end up going to a museum.

"So much stuff gets lost and every specimen is actually a source of information. Whether it’s Edward Sealy in the 19th century or Sylvan Trigance in the 1950s or Chris Sargent in 2022, all those collections are important.

"The museum is a place where they can be preserved, the information can be made available, and they can be used in so many different ways."

The exhibition will be on display until the end of March.

connor.haley@timarucourier.co.nz