Museum of Transport and Technology
Encyclopedia
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
located in Western Springs
Western Springs
Western Springs is a residential suburb and park in the west of the city of Auckland in the north of New Zealand. It is located four kilometres to the west of the city centre, situated to the north of State Highway 16....
, Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. It is located close to the Western Springs Stadium
Western Springs Stadium
Western Springs Stadium is an entertainment venue in Auckland, New Zealand, that consists of a natural amphitheatre. During the winter it is used for club rugby union matches and over summer it is used for speedway. It is also occasionally used for large music concerts and festivals.Western Springs...
, Auckland Zoo
Auckland Zoo
Auckland Zoo is a zoological garden in Auckland, New Zealand, situated next to Western Springs park not far from Auckland's central business district. It is run by the Auckland City Council with the Auckland Zoological Society as a supporting organisation....
and the Western Springs Park. The museum has large collections of civilian and military aircraft and other land transport vehicles. An ongoing programme is in place to restore and conserve items in the collections. This work is largely managed by volunteers many of whom have been associated with MOTAT for upwards of four decades. Since the passing of the Museum of Transport and Technology Act in 2000, new management and the support of full-time professional museum staff and a large number of dedicated long term volunteers have ensured the Museum's future. New public programmes and facilities now promote the collections.
MOTAT was established in 1960 by a combination of groups including the Old Time Transport Preservation League, which was formed in 1957 and preserved trams and railway locomotives. MOTAT was formally opened in 1964.
MOTAT 1 - Great North Road
MOTAT 1 was built around the site of a beam engineBeam engine
A beam engine is a type of steam engine where a pivoted overhead beam is used to apply the force from a vertical piston to a vertical connecting rod. This configuration, with the engine directly driving a pump, was first used by Thomas Newcomen around 1705 to remove water from mines in Cornwall...
pump house, which originally provided Auckland's water supply (system similar to the Crofton Pumping Station
Crofton Pumping Station
Crofton Pumping Station is a pumping station near the village of Great Bedwyn in the English county of Wiltshire: it supplies the summit pound of the Kennet and Avon Canal with water....
and Markfield Beam Engine
Markfield Beam Engine
The Markfield Beam Engine is a 100 horsepower beam pumping engine, built in 1886 to transfer sewage from the Middlesex district of Tottenham into the London system for treatment at the Beckton works....
). The Council engaged the services of famed engineer, William Errington
William Errington
William Errington, was High Sheriff of Northumberland .Errington was the only son of Francis Errington a papist of the landed gentry branch of Walwick Grange, Northumberland . He married Mrs Isabel Bacon at Haydon Bridge on 17 Oct 1731 and was appointed High Sheriff of Northumberland in 1739 not...
, to design and construct the Pumphouse and Boiler house to provide the first pressurised water supply to Auckland. Adjacent swampland was excavated creating a 6 feet (1.8 m) dammed lake, which is filled by three natural springs. This area is now the Western Springs Lake and parkland. The engine is a Double Woolf Compound built by John Key and Sons, Kirkcaldy in Scotland, who also built the long scrapped Lancashire boilers that originally provided the steam. The Western Springs Water Works officially opened in a small ceremony on 10 July 1877. The pumphouse was superseded by Auckland’s extensive dam system and reticulation in 1928. Restoration and earthquake strengthening of the building was completed in 2002 and overhaul of the long dormant Beam Engine commenced at the start of 2005. On 11 October 2007 the engine moved under pneumatic pressure for the first time in 79 years and was finally tested under steam during the evening of 29 November the same year. The Beam engine was re-commissioned in a special public opening on 19 April 2008. A range of other early steam engines are kept in running order including a 1910 Tangye steam engine, an impressive 1911 triple expansion engine built by Campbell Calderwood, Paisley in Scotland which was formerly from the ill fated Sydney Ferry The Greycliffe
Greycliffe disaster
The Greycliffe disaster occurred in Sydney Harbour on 3 November 1927 when the harbour ferry Greycliffe and the Union Steamship Company mail steamer Tahiti collided...
which sank on 3 November 1927 after being hit by the much larger Union Steam Ship Company’s Royal Mail Steamship Tahiti with the loss of 40 lives. The engine ended its commercial life in the Tirau dairy factory. Steam for the Beam Engine and other artefacts provided by a 1957 Daniel Adamson
Daniel Adamson
Daniel Adamson was a notable English engineer who became a successful manufacturer of boilers and was the driving force behind the inception of the Manchester Ship Canal project during the 1880s.-Early life:...
steam boiler, which was formerly used at Frankham’s Mill, Te Puna. The steam artefacts can be seen running on many week days and live weekends.
Exhibits include trains, trams, vintage traction engines, carriages, cars, buses, trolleybuses and trucks, particularly fire engines, electrical equipment, space flight exhibits including a Corporal rocket and general science exhibits. There is also a 'colonial village' of early shops and houses, including a fencible
Sea Fencibles
The original Sea Fencibles were a naval militia established to provide a close-in line of defense to protect the United Kingdom from invasion by France during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars...
cottage and a blacksmith
Blacksmith
A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal; that is, by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut...
shop.
In the 1970s visitors to MOTAT were entertained by the MOTAT Chorus, a group of barbershop singers who later became the Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
City Of Sails Chorus
City Of Sails Chorus
The Auckland City of Sails Chorus is one of New Zealand's top male choruses singing mainly barbershop music. It is based in Auckland and has been active since the inception of NZABS in 1979...
.
The 'Pioneers of Aviation' Pavilion holds memorabilia of early aviators. The displays include miscellaneous parts from Richard Pearse
Richard Pearse
Richard William Pearse , son of Cornish immigrants from St Columb near Newquay, a New Zealand farmer and inventor who performed pioneering experiments in aviation....
's experimental aircraft, (together with research supporting the claim that he made uncontrolled hops/flights prior to the Wright brothers
Wright brothers
The Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur , were two Americans credited with inventing and building the world's first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight, on December 17, 1903...
), a replica of the craft which was flown and his third aircraft (an attempt at a VTOL
VTOL
A vertical take-off and landing aircraft is one that can hover, take off and land vertically. This classification includes fixed-wing aircraft as well as helicopters and other aircraft with powered rotors, such as cyclogyros/cyclocopters and tiltrotors...
tilt rotor craft). The pavilion also holds relics from the Walsh Brothers' flights and school, and a library and archive of transport resources named in memory of the Walsh Brothers available to all MOTAT visitors and via the MOTAT website for virtual visitors. Also celebrated is Charles Kingsford-Smith's trans-Tasman flight in the Southern Cross
Southern Cross (aircraft)
Southern Cross is the name of the Fokker F.VIIb/3m trimotor monoplane which in 1928 was flown by Australian aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and his crew in the first ever trans-Pacific flight, from the mainland United States to Australia, about ....
, Jean Batten
Jean Batten
Jean Gardner Batten CBE OSC was a New Zealand aviatrix. Born in Rotorua, she became the best-known New Zealander of the 1930s, internationally, by taking a number of record-breaking solo flights across the world....
's England — New Zealand flight and later record breaking efforts (her Percival Gull
Percival Gull
The Percival Gull was a British single-engined monoplane, first flown in 1932. It was successful as a fast company transport, racing aircraft and long-range record breaker. It was developed into the Vega Gull and the Proctor.-Design and development:...
is exhibited at Auckland Airport). The larger civil aviation exhibits continue over at MOTAT 2 with displays relating to the Pan American Airways and Imperial Airways
Imperial Airways
Imperial Airways was the early British commercial long range air transport company, operating from 1924 to 1939 and serving parts of Europe but especially the Empire routes to South Africa, India and the Far East...
flying boats of the late 1930s and TEAL
TEAL
Tasman Empire Airways Limited was the forerunner of Air New Zealand. It was first registered in Wellington as a limited liability company on 26 April 1940....
flying boats of the 40s and 50s. The engine from Jean Batten's Percival Gull is displayed at MOTAT 2.
The Road transport collection rotationally displays in excess of 100 cars, trucks, motorbikes and emergency vehicles. Some of the iconic vehicles in the collection include one of the first Trekka
Trekka
The Škoda powered Trekka was a light utility vehicle manufactured in New Zealand between 1966 and 1973. It is the only vehicle designed and manufactured in New Zealand to have entered commercial production for an extended period...
utility vehicles, New Zealand's only homegrown production vehicle built between 1966 and 1973, based on Czechoslovakian Skoda engines and chassis. Other vehicles include a 1960s Cooper Climax race car, an early American Brush Motor Car Company
Brush Motor Car Company
This article is about a USA auto-maker. For the British rail-locomotive company, see Brush TractionBrush Motor Company, or the "Brush Runabout Company," based in Detroit, Michigan, was founded by Alanson Partridge Brush , who designed a light car with a wooden chassis This article is about a USA...
runabout, an International horseless carriage, an Austin Motor Company
Austin Motor Company
The Austin Motor Company was a British manufacturer of automobiles. The company was founded in 1905 and merged in 1952 into the British Motor Corporation Ltd. The marque Austin was used until 1987...
beer tanker (the first in New Zealand) and a wide number of other vehicles. Also in the collection is one of the Massey Ferguson
Massey Ferguson
Massey Ferguson Limited was a major agricultural equipment manufacturer which was based in Canada before its purchase by AGCO. The company was formed by a merger between Massey Harris and the Ferguson tractor company in 1953, creating the company Massey Harris Ferguson. However in 1958 the name was...
tractors which Edmund Hillary
Edmund Hillary
Sir Edmund Percival Hillary, KG, ONZ, KBE , was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953 at the age of 33, he and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers known to have reached the summit of Mount Everest – see Timeline of climbing Mount Everest...
used to lay supply depots for the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition
Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition
The 1955–58 Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition was a Commonwealth-sponsored expedition that successfully completed the first overland crossing of Antarctica, via the South Pole...
, and with which he beat British explorer Dr Vivian Fuchs
Vivian Fuchs
Sir Vivian Ernest Fuchs FRS was an English explorer whose expeditionary team completed the first overland crossing of Antarctica in 1958.- Biography :...
Sno-Cat
Sno-Cat
The Tucker Sno-Cat is a tracked vehicle or a family of tracked vehicles for snow conditions.Different models have been used for expeditions in the Arctic and the Antarctic during the second half of the 20th century...
s to the South Pole
South Pole
The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is one of the two points where the Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on the surface of the Earth and lies on the opposite side of the Earth from the North Pole...
on 3 January 1958.
MOTAT also houses a small collection of Police vehicles, including former New Zealand Transport Department, later New Zealand Ministry of Transport or M.O.T. patrol cars and patrol motorbikes, the road policing duties of which were combined into the New Zealand Police force in the early 1990s. The NZ Police Collection of 40 plus vehicles were housed at MOTAT for a number of years until 2011.
Trams are displayed at MOTAT 1 and operate daily between MOTAT 1's Great North Road Site, via Western Springs Park and Auckland Zoo
Auckland Zoo
Auckland Zoo is a zoological garden in Auckland, New Zealand, situated next to Western Springs park not far from Auckland's central business district. It is run by the Auckland City Council with the Auckland Zoological Society as a supporting organisation....
to MOTAT 2. The extended line was opened by Helen Clark on Friday 27 April 2007.
MOTAT 2 - Motions Rd / Meola Road
Civic Theatre
Civic Theatre may refer to one of the following theatres:*Auckland Civic Theatre, Queen St, Auckland, New Zealand*Bedford Civic Theatre, Bedford, England*Newcastle Civic Theatre, Wheeler Place, Newcastle, Australia*Civic Theatre, Doncaster, England...
in Downtown Auckland to the MOTAT 2 bus stop in Meola Road.
Also known in the past as the 'Sir Keith Park Memorial Airfield', named after Keith Park
Keith Park
Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Rodney Park GCB, KBE, MC & Bar, DFC, RAF was a New Zealand soldier, First World War flying ace and Second World War Royal Air Force commander...
, the Battle of Britain
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain is the name given to the World War II air campaign waged by the German Air Force against the United Kingdom during the summer and autumn of 1940...
and Battle of Malta
Battle of Malta
The Battle of Malta took place on 8 July 1283 in the entrance to the Grand Harbour, the principal harbor of Malta, when a galley fleet commanded by Roger of Lauria defeated a fleet of Angevin galleys commanded by William Cornut and Bartholomew Bonvin...
hero, MOTAT's aviation collection is on a separate site, neighbouring the Waitemata
Waitemata
Waitemata can be:*Waitemata Harbour, a large bay in New Zealand*Waitemata City, a local government body on the shores of Waitemata Harbour, now part of Waitakere....
harbour and Auckland Zoo
Auckland Zoo
Auckland Zoo is a zoological garden in Auckland, New Zealand, situated next to Western Springs park not far from Auckland's central business district. It is run by the Auckland City Council with the Auckland Zoological Society as a supporting organisation....
. It contains memorials to Fleet Air Arm
Fleet Air Arm
The Fleet Air Arm is the branch of the British Royal Navy responsible for the operation of naval aircraft. The Fleet Air Arm currently operates the AgustaWestland Merlin, Westland Sea King and Westland Lynx helicopters...
and RAF Bomber Command
RAF Bomber Command
RAF Bomber Command controlled the RAF's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. During World War II the command destroyed a significant proportion of Nazi Germany's industries and many German cities, and in the 1960s stood at the peak of its postwar military power with the V bombers and a supplemental...
pilots, radar and other aviation related material, as well as workshops for work on other vehicles, but the main feature is the collection of New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
's civil and some Royal New Zealand Air Force
Royal New Zealand Air Force
The Royal New Zealand Air Force is the air arm of the New Zealand Defence Force...
aircraft. In November 2011 a Douglas A4K Skyhawk jetfighter was permanently loaned to MOTAT. During 2012 a BAC Strikemaster and Aermacchi MB-339
Aermacchi MB-339
The Aermacchi MB-339 is an Italian military trainer and light attack aircraft. It was developed as a replacement for the earlier MB-326.-Design and development:...
jet trainers are expected to join the collection from the RNZAF. Also Bell UH-1 Iroquois and Bell B47G-3B-2 Sioux
Bell 47
The Bell 47 is a two-bladed, single engine, light helicopter manufactured by Bell Helicopter. Based on the third Model 30 prototype, Bell's first helicopter designed by Arthur M. Young, the Bell 47 became the first helicopter certified for civilian use on 8 March 1946...
helicopters are to be earmarked as they retire from service.
There is also a military section which restores and demonstrates a selection of Second World War military trucks, light tracked vehicles and tanks of Allied forces. The military section has regular open days when the Military Reenactment Society
Military Reenactment Society
The Military Reenactment Society is a New Zealand based living history and historical reenactment group that reenacts World War II units. It is New Zealand's largest living history group with members based throughout New Zealand with some overseas, some members are also part of Second Battle Group...
displays and demonstrates the vehicles and uniforms.
MOTAT 2 also has an operational railway with 1 km of track, stations and a selection of former New Zealand Government Railways, light industrial locomotives, wagons and carriages.
MOTAT 2 has undergone a major expansion project to increase its covered display space. This involved moving and restoring the existing Blister hangar
Blister hangar
A blister hangar is an arched, portable aircraft hangar patented by Miskins and Sons in 1939. It is made of wooden or steel ribs that are generally covered in steel sheets. It does not require a foundation and can be anchored with iron stakes.-References:*...
and constructing a new and larger building to extend the main display hangar. Reopened 9 September 2011 at an estimated cost of NZ$16.6M. Highlights include the De Havalland Mosquito and Hudson finally being restored, assembled and on display. The Teal Solent, RNZAF Sunderland, Top Dressing Ventura and NAC DC3 Dakota will be moved inside as their overhauls and external painting is completed towards the end of summer 2012.
Collections
MOTAT features several major collections of transport vehicles:- Aircraft collection — houses New Zealand's largest collection of civil and military aircraft, all with genuine New Zealand aviation pedigrees. These range from relics from Richard Pearse's first 1903 aircraft and an interpretive replica, as well as a large part of his original third vertical takeoff aircraft. 1930's Fox and Tiger Moths, 1930's Rapide, Short SolentShort Solent- External links :* * *...
1940s double decked flying boat, from New Zealand's first International Airline TEALTEALTasman Empire Airways Limited was the forerunner of Air New Zealand. It was first registered in Wellington as a limited liability company on 26 April 1940....
, a Short SunderlandShort SunderlandThe Short S.25 Sunderland was a British flying boat patrol bomber developed for the Royal Air Force by Short Brothers. It took its service name from the town and port of Sunderland in northeast England....
marine patrol flying boat, De Havilland MosquitoDe Havilland MosquitoThe de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito was a British multi-role combat aircraft that served during the Second World War and the postwar era. It was known affectionately as the "Mossie" to its crews and was also nicknamed "The Wooden Wonder"...
wooden fighter bomber, a restored 1940s Avro LancasterAvro LancasterThe Avro Lancaster is a British four-engined Second World War heavy bomber made initially by Avro for the Royal Air Force . It first saw active service in 1942, and together with the Handley Page Halifax it was one of the main heavy bombers of the RAF, the RCAF, and squadrons from other...
bomber, Douglas DC-3 Dakota through to a De Havilland VampireDe Havilland VampireThe de Havilland DH.100 Vampire was a British jet-engine fighter commissioned by the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. Following the Gloster Meteor, it was the second jet fighter to enter service with the RAF. Although it arrived too late to see combat during the war, the Vampire served...
1950s jet fighter and an RNZN Westland WaspWestland WaspThe Westland Wasp was a British small first-generation, gas-turbine powered, shipboard anti-submarine helicopter. Produced by Westland Helicopters, it came from the same P.531 programme as the British Army Westland Scout, and was based on the earlier piston-engined Saunders-Roe Skeeter...
maritime helicopter and most recently a former RNZAF Douglas A-4 Skyhawk. The aviation site of MOTAT located in Meola Road is also known as the Keith Park Memorial Airfield. A replica Hawker HurricaneHawker HurricaneThe Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd for the Royal Air Force...
is on a plinth in the markings of New Zealander and RAF Air Chief MarshalAir Chief MarshalAir chief marshal is a senior 4-star air-officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force...
Keith ParkKeith ParkAir Chief Marshal Sir Keith Rodney Park GCB, KBE, MC & Bar, DFC, RAF was a New Zealand soldier, First World War flying ace and Second World War Royal Air Force commander...
memorial at the entrance.
- Railway locomotives and collection — includes seven steam locomotives from a pioneering 1874 NZR F classNZR F classThe NZR F class was the first important class of steam locomotive built to operate on New Zealand's railway network after the national gauge of 1067 millimetres was adopted. The first locomotives built for the new 1067 mm railways were two E class double Fairlies for the Dunedin and Port Chalmers...
to the iconic NZR K classNZR K class (1932)The NZR K class of 1932 was a class of mixed traffic 4-8-4 steam locomotives that operated on New Zealand's railway network. The locomotives were developed following the failure of the G class Garratts...
steam locomotive, smaller branch line, industrial and logging tank locomotives. Also six diesel, petrol and petrol electric locomotives, including the NZR DA classNZR DA classThe NZR Da diesel-electric mainline locomotive class ran on the New Zealand railway system between 1955 and 1989. With 146 locomotives, it was the most numerous class to operate in New Zealand, just five more than the AB class steam locomotive....
which was built to replace the mighty K class from the 1950s through the 1970s and became the most prolific mainline locomotive in New Zealand. - Railway carriages — the collection also includes stations, carriages, wagons and other rolling stock.
- Tram collection — the collection includes over 20 electric, steam and cable trams, many of which are operational, with support equipment and vehicles from former New Zealand tramway systems of Auckland, Wellington, Wanganui and the Mornington Cable tram system in Dunedin. Auckland's horse drawn tramway opened in 1884 and was replaced by the electric tram system in 1902, closing in 1956. The final closure of an original street tramway was in Wellington in 1964. An 1883 Dunedin Cable Car trailer is the sole South Island tramway exhibit and there are additional trams from Melbourne and Sydney, Australia. The museum is one of five operational Museum and Heritage Tramways in New Zealand.
- Petrol / diesel bus collection — contains a significant collection of historic buses from the Auckland region, including a 1924 White Motor CompanyWhite Motor CompanyWhite Motor Company was an American automobile and truck manufacturer from 1900 until 1980. The company also produced bicycles, roller skates, automatic lathes, and sewing machines. Before World War II, the company was based in Cleveland, Ohio.-History:...
4 cylinder side valve petrol engine, wooden bodied 23 seat omnibus, through a 1954 Bedford SBBedford SBThe Bedford SB was a front-engined bus chassis built by Bedford Vehicles in the United Kingdom. It was launched at the 1950 Commercial Motor Show as the replacement for the Bedford OB....
, petrol engine, 35 seat lightweight wooden body-bus specifically built for Grafton BridgeGrafton BridgeGrafton Bridge is a road bridge spanning Grafton Gully in Auckland City, New Zealand. Built of reinforced concrete in 1910, it connects the Auckland CBD with the Grafton suburb...
services, through to a 1978 Mercedes-Benz O305Mercedes-Benz O305Mercedes-Benz O305 is a rear-engined bus model built in West Germany between 1967 and 1987. The O305 was built as a successor of the O317 and was the Mercedes-Benz adaptation of the first so called "Standard-Linienbus" design, that was produced by many different German bus manufacturers. The...
which last operated in 2005.
- Trolleybus collection — this collection contains a representative cross-section of trolleybuses which operated in Auckland between 1938 and 1980. First used on a 1 km department store-operated route in central Auckland from 1938, the trolleybus system later duplicated and then replaced the aging tram system between 1949 and 1956. The trolleybuses were in turn replaced by diesel buses in 1980.
Tram service
Auckland Zoo
Auckland Zoo is a zoological garden in Auckland, New Zealand, situated next to Western Springs park not far from Auckland's central business district. It is run by the Auckland City Council with the Auckland Zoological Society as a supporting organisation....
commenced services on 5 December 1981 using rail set in mass concrete. In 2006-07 the tram line was further extended by a distance of 636 metres, to the aviation hangar at MOTAT 2, the service commencing on 27 April 2007. The tramway is dual gauge, employing 4 foot and 4 foot 8½ inches gauges, the rail welded and set in mass concrete.
Trams are operated daily between MOTAT, alongside the Western Springs Park and precinct, past Auckland Zoo
Auckland Zoo
Auckland Zoo is a zoological garden in Auckland, New Zealand, situated next to Western Springs park not far from Auckland's central business district. It is run by the Auckland City Council with the Auckland Zoological Society as a supporting organisation....
to MOTAT 2 and connect both Museum sites. The Museum admission includes the tram ride and casual tram passengers may purchase cash fares on board the trams. Tram service between the two parts of Motat operates 7 days a week during opening hours, with trams leaving every 30 minutes.
External links
- MOTAT — Museum of Transport and Technology (official website)