Every month I write a local heritage-themed column, on behalf of The Treasury, for the
Grahamstown Gazette. Here's my piece for the October edition.
What’s new in G’Town this month? We’re all wildly
famous!! Or at least, Thames’ heritage sector is, after Thames Historical
Museum’s episode of Heritage Rescue screened on Choice TV in September (if you
would like my autograph, you can send $5 and a stamped self-addressed envelope
to The Treasury).
The episode was filmed late last year; the first
project the Heritage Rescue team took on. The team took the museum’s old
storeroom and turned it into ‘Building Thames,’ a celebration of the lost landmarks
of Thames’ past, immortalised as models by Ted Egan. The episode delved into
the history of these buildings, digging up half-forgotten tales of shootouts,
hauntings, tightrope-walkers and brewery fires from Thames’ heyday.
What’s new in Grahamstown this month is the
reinvigorated interest in our local heritage sites. Plenty of people have told
me they’ve never been to the museum before, or The Treasury, or to the School
of Mines, or the Bella Street Pumphouse... or maybe they did go, once, years
ago, and they’d never really considered it as the sort of attraction you periodically
pay a repeat visit to. Several of the places on the show have turned out to be
well-kept secrets, even to the locals – I’ve heard a few comments from people
who’d never heard of the William Hall Arboretum, or the Shortland Museum (the
upstairs swimming pool made quite a splash!).
A good historical museum is a place where people can
consider the past from different perspectives; where stories are preserved and
retold, where people can get a sense of where we came from and where we can go
to next. Interactive, bold, inclusive, and community-minded. It shouldn’t be static
or dead space; a place you visit once and forget about, because you’re now
‘done’ with it.
While I often lament the lack of professional support
for Thames’ many heritage sites, the beauty of volunteer-run organisations is
that anyone with the spare-time and passion can muck in. If you notice a gap at
your local historic place, you can offer to fill it. Not enough kid stuff? Help
create a treasure hunt. Too many objects hidden in storage? Offer to update the
catalogues. You could man the front desk, weed the garden, design the best
exhibition Thames has ever seen. The possibilities are endless.
I hope the Thames Heritage Rescue episode inspires
people to look after, and appreciate, the heritage in their back yards.
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