Allan Palmer is a volunteer working at the Pigeon Valley Steam Museum, Higgins Park, Wakefield — yes, this is a museum mecca for traction engine, truck, and tractor enthusiasts.

Higgins Park started 30 years ago when a possum hunter spotted a traction engine down in the Inangahua Gorge and a couple of men from up Nelson way thought it might be worth checking out this rumour. This is real rugged country and it took two years and a lot of trial and error to get this traction engine, Big Betsy, out of the muck. The intention was to restore Big Betsy so she could drive an ammonia machine in order to create a ice skating rink and put Wakefield on the map! Wakefield is on the map, but mainly for boutique wineries and potters studios; the ice rink didn’t happen.

The folk at Pigeon Valley Steam Museum love their open days: all the machines are cranked up. Kids get to ride on a railway jigger for only 50 cents, and you can have a good old chin wag with museum volunteers about half-track Fordsons, saw milling, and stories about local industry and agriculture, as told through the machines on display at Higgins Park.

Michelle Osborne looks after the James Wallace Arts Trust Collection at the Auckland University of Technology. Looking after this collection presents a number of challenges such as ensuring that the art objects are hung in appropriate places — you know, making sure that they’re not accidentally leaned on by students, have pot-plants leaning up against them, or exposed to too much sunlight. This is a part time job and part of Michelle’s duties are to encourage students from the School of Art & Design to utilise this wonderful resource as well as cataloguing and researching the collection. Michelle tells us that there are some differences between being a curator in a more traditional art gallery and that of a university-based collection and that she gets a lot of support from a recently formed network of tertiary-based curators.

There is time for the conversation to get a bit playful. We explore the curator’s professional mantel; Michelle speaks of her fascination of the curator’s coat and her journey working in the world of museums, anthropology and art. And what of Michelle’s ultimate goal? Well, it’s to provide a positive difference to people’s lives through the museum experience.

Gary Ross, curator, South Otago Museum, Balclutha, took on the challenge to prove that small town museums have big stories to tell. Within this wonderland are two stories of national significance. Behind a couple of postcards and a man’s jacket is the story of Amy Bock - a thief and a con artist. In 1909 Amy passed herself off as Percy Redwood and became New Zealand’s first female bridegroom - in the process she also embezzled lots of money and gifts, and obviously enjoyed being the centre of attention. Even after her imprisonment, Amy continued to enjoy living dangerously right up into her 70s. The second story is about Benhar pottery (1860s - 1990) and the Good Luck Elephant - it’s a story about corporate take-over, kilns, and how to repackage goods that aren’t moving off the shelves.

But this episode is also a story about how museum professionals need to learn to work alongside museum volunteers. A number of challenges have been presented in ensuring that the care, provenance and interpretation of the museum’s collection is within national standards of museum practice. Luckily in this case, Gary comes from the Clutha District and has quite intimate knowledge of the collection and the district’s history.

Well, we won! It was a good day for museums and a good day for podcasters – this is the first time that a podcaster has won at the NZ Radio Awards. Rt Hon Judith Tizard, Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage handed out the award and whispered in my ear “I love museums”.

Some people have asked how I felt about winning, and all I can say is “very satisfied”. I would like to say a big thank you to all those folk who have offered stories to The Museum Detective over the past two years, and also acknowledge the work that people who have put into the behind-the-scenes stuff, especially website development (thanks, Mike!)

What surprised me most after winning the award is that I simply wanted to settle down in my new house and figure out what sort of stories I’d like to cover next – food history certainly; museum security; war medals and repatriation; yes, I’ve missed covering those science stories; and lately I’ve been visiting a lot of machinery museums – so aeroplanes, traction engines and trains will all get the Museum Detective treatment.

Peter Wilkins, curator, Godley Head Heritage Trust, talks about coastal defence in New Zealand from the Victorian period right through to WWII. While our idea of who New Zealand’s enemies were changed over time, we find out that the idea of ‘foreign invasion’ was a very real thing. During the Second World War U-boats found their way into New Zealand’s waters, the minesweeper  Niagara was sunk, and there is the mystery of 10 mines that were planted along Lyttelton Harbour – never to be found. We hear about the women who served as radio operators up there on Godley Head, freeing up the men who were urgently required in North Africa. Finally we stomp over the windswept cliff top, and tiptoe through pine cones and sheep poo to talk about guns and, sadly, some of the accidental deaths that happened up on the Head.

Bronwyn Labrum, Senior Lecturer in the College of Creative Arts at Massey University takes us through the steps of how to read material culture.

First, what is material culture? Well, it’s that everyday stuff we have in our kitchens, the rinky dinky technology things that make our life interesting, and the clothes that we wear. But the key issue here is what happens to all this stuff once it gets into the hands of an historian. Bronwyn Labrum, Fiona McKergow and Stephanie Gibson have co-edited a book called Looking Flash (Auckland University Press). Bronwyn and the Museum Detective romp through a number of topics including kilts, feather cloaks, bathing costumes, survival wear and the iconic black woollen singlet. Somehow we venture off on topics as diverse as buzzy bees, cheap cardigans, Kiwiana, Joan of Arc and Paris Hilton…It’s a ripping good yarn.

David Fleming, Director of National Museums Liverpool, was the keynote speaker at the 2008 Museums Aotearoa Conference held in Dunedin from 9-11 April.

David has led a number of big museum projects from the International Slavery Museum to, more recently, the new Museum of Liverpool. While David might be considered a bit a of statesman—the OBE certainly helps—his ideas are refreshingly provocative. You see, I’d intended David to debate whether museums were about stories or objects, and discuss the importance of really good mission statements, but then he started talking about how museums had a confidence problem which could seriously impair their ability to be popular. So if you’re interested in debates about elitism, democratisation, museum management, and government funding, keep listening!

This interview was recorded in one of the exhibition spaces at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery, and we were faced with both the ambient gallery soundtrack and the chime of the town clocks.

Peter Peryer has been taking photos for over 30 years. What he can do with the camera is phenomenal, and the way that he talks and writes about photography is even better. Peter is the second artist to be invited to live in a Plischke-designed home in Alexandra; the previous recipient of the Henderson residency was writer Vincent O’Sullivan. This house is totally, totally fabulous (in a Frank Lloyd Wright sort of way). The view is to die for: you look over the Clutha River and onto the far-away hills of the Maniototo that Grahame Sydney likes to paint. Peter is at the beginning of his residency, and we talked about the challenges he was facing photographing those quirky things that Alexandra is known for: autumn leaves, rocks, and rabbits. You can see some of his photos on his blog. Let’s hope he produces a 2009 Calendar.

Victoria Leachman, Rights Manager, Te Papa, guides us through patents, copyright, and intellectual property. We find out what kind of things you can copyright, why the criteria are so strict, what’s so special about being dead for 50 years (or 70 years if you’re from the UK), and what the deal is with Creative Commons licences.

Lucy Hoffman, Web Manager, Te Papa, is our guest interviewer. Here’s a pdf about copyright, supplied by National Services Te Paerangi of Te Papa.

For the second year running the Museum Detective has made it through to the finals of the New Zealand Radio Awards.

Please cross your fingers and toes for me on 3 May; this is the night when the winners are announced. Time to find a frock…