Waiheke Island Historical Society

P O Box 206, Ostend, Waiheke Island 1843, New Zealand

About us

Covid-19 Disruptions

Museum is open!

After three months of lockdown, the Museum of Waiheke reopened to the public on Saturday, 20 June 2020. Normal opening days and hours are now in effect.

New date for AGM

The Annual General Meeting of the Waiheke Island Historical Society, postponed from the original date of 5 April 2020, was held on Sunday, 5 July 2020, 2PM at the Museum. Speaker: Colleen Brown on the Bulford Kiwi.

The Museum held its annual Live Heritage Day on the Sunday of Labour Weekend (27 October), from 11AM to 3PM. Weather was perfect and a good crowd turned out — in spite of the theft of our water pump the previous night!

Goodwin Cottage refreshed

When you see an old building with peeling paint you think no one cares, but Foundation North do, and so with heartfelt thanks to them we now have a heritage cottage looking very smart and cared for, beautifully painted by Graeme O’Brien whose family has a long history with our island. Some of our volunteers have been working hard to refresh the interior, with new furniture and items on display. Come have a look!

New footpaths
No more swimming in the mud...

Thanks to some generous funding from the Waiheke Local Board, there is now a fully-concreted path from the carpark to the Museum buildings. Even in our soggy weather, you can now visit the Museum with dry feet.

We’re featured on the Sealink Roadtrip

Our Museum is featured on Sealink’s Art & Culture Roadtrip. Have a look!

The History Quiz

That’s right — a trivia quiz with no science, no rugby, no Hollywood! We plan on making it a regular event for the Historical Society. Members and non-members welcome.

Wharf2Wharf Fun Run

Saturday, 14 March 2020

Once again, our Museum provided water to passing runners. Come join us next year!

New publication

Dixie Day’s book Waiheke Pioneers, the standard reference for early European settlement on Waiheke, finally has an index — after 25 years! The index can be purchased at the Museum for $4 (note that the book itself is now out of print).

Members’ section

Annual General Meeting
was held on Sunday, 5 July 2020, at 2PM at the Museum. Speaker: Colleen Brown on “The Bulford Kiwi”.
(Read the minutes.)
New members always welcome!
 

Newsletters & Minutes

History of the Society

Constitution

Officers

How to join

For history buffs
and researchers

Waiheke Vintage & Historic Photos
Peter Young’s Facebook page on Waiheke history

Early History of Waiheke Island

A missionary on Waiheke Island in 1849

A visit to Waiheke Island in 1858

A Belgian city in Rocky Bay?

Surfdale memories from the 1940s

The Waiheke Fun-Map (1948)

The 1922 subdivision of the Matiatia-Oneroa Estate

Cemetery transcriptions

1881 electoral roll

1893 women’s electoral roll

Under construction...
The following are coming soon:

Waiheke genealogy

Waiheke land owners in 1914

Directory of Waiheke residents in 1948

Links
 

The Museum of Waiheke

and Historic Village

Experience a slice of Old Waiheke at the Waiheke Museum and Historic Village.

• A reconstructed woolshed housing the Museum’s main exhibits
• A 1930s-style island cottage (Day Cottage) that can be used as a meeting room
• Three small bach-style houses (Champion, Keane, and Goodwin cottages) with period rooms and photo exhibits
• A working, manually-operated telephone exchange
• The original Waiheke jail
• Being developed: The Taonga Heritage Gardens
• Maori artifacts, a wool press, a whale-oil cauldron, a player piano, and even a fine old long-drop toilet! (No, not in actual use; we have modern ones for visitors.)

The Museum is located at 165 Onetangi Straight, Waiheke Island, and is open from 11 AM to 3 PM on Wednesdays, Saturdays, Sundays, and public holiday Mondays, all year round (except Christmas Day and New Year’s Day). Entry is by donation; we suggest $3 per person.

How to find us

Take a tour of the Museum buildings

The aerial view below is courtesy of Google Maps. Click on any building for more information.