Mercury Bay Regional Museum
Project Office
PRESS RELEASE
January 28, 2005
WORKSHED FOUND FOR PLANETARIUM
The Mercury Bay Regional Museum has been given the use of a storage and work shed for the reassembling of the old Spitz
planetarium which is being donated by the Auckland War Memorial Museum to the Mercury Bay Regional Museum. Anthony and
Airdrie Hamilton have been so generous to donate shelter and workspace required for the tedious job of putting the
various parts of the classic machine together into a working astronomy projector.
Frans Van Hoppe, Chair of the project committee said "The Hamiltons of Whenuakite have of course been active supporters
of the local museum right from the beginning. Jim Hamilton was a member of the Historical Society for many years.
Wilfred Hamilton was the patron of the Historical Society for a long time and Bernard Hamilton provided together with
Jim and Wilfred most of the farming equipment which is on display now in the museum. It is good to see that the younger
generation of Hamiltons continues the tradition of keeping local history and heritage alive."
We are also grateful to all our local media for the assistance in this search, it is a great example of the community
involvement in this project.
The space will also be used to renovate the existing, and build new exhibits for the ongoing development.
ENDS