Te Whare Pātaka The Treasury Heritage Research Centre and Archive

09/09/2026

Did you know we've brought back one of our old traditions?
High Tea at The Treasury ... yesterday's group, The Friends of Te Papa, popped in for a tour of the facilities and our archive, and were beyond surprised to find out their tour guide had also booked them a high tea.
Our wonderful waitresses, Pauline and Miriam, are well used to the role of hosting the high tea as it was a regular fundraiser in the early days of The Treasury.
The Friends of Te Papa group rolled out the door, full of homemade savouries, sweets, and tea or coffee, off to continue their heritage adventures around The Coromandel, many with promises to come back and do some actual research on the next visit!

09/09/2026

It was lovely to host these gorgeous librarians from the Thames Library (Thames Coromandel District Libraries) at The Treasury early this morning before they opened their doors.
We are grateful for their knowledge of our facility, and their guidance in sending curious family history researchers in our direction when they turn up at the library.
They also reminded us that they have the full collection of our True Tales and local publications available at the library and we sent them away with 'Archaeology of The Thames Goldfields Vol 3' (our latest publication) by David Wilton.
Thanks for your fantastic community support!

07/09/2026

It's a truly terrifying thought that people may not realise the value of what they have lying around at home, or in boxes at the back of businesses. These precious records are mainly business documents from Henry Lowe's butcher shop dating between 1896 and 1910.
Yes, they look dusty, bug eaten and mouldy but they are a treasure trove of names and information about the business and Thames.
These things have been through the fumigation room and freezer - thanks Pauline for making sure these things are well looked after.
Don't throw these things out - bring them to us and we'll look after them for you!

03/09/2026

Does anyone have a working speaker (active/powered) that they want to donate to a great cause.
We're looking for something we can use to boost the sound of our guest speakers at our Treasury Talks.
We've got the challenge of very high ceilings (and some funky acoustics) in the Carnegie Library, and up to 45 people in the room, noisy cars outside on Queen Street .... and despite best efforts of the speaker, it can be challenging for our audience to hear the speaker.
It's only going to be used for projecting voices, not music.
We've had a generous donation of microphone, mic stand and leads... we just need a suitable speaker to complete the set.
Note: it needs to be simple to operate!
Send an email to [email protected] if you can help.

02/09/2026

A different sort of photo in the archive ….. We want to extend a huge thanks to the James Searle Say Trust, proudly managed by Perpetual Guardian, for the funding given towards the reprint of these three books… “True Tales of Waihi”, “True Tales of Waikino and Waitekauri” and “More True Tales of Waikino and Waitekauri”.
James lived in Waihi and had a big win in Lotto. He left money to be managed by Perpetual Guardian for projects that centred around the area. We think he’d be pleased to see how these local stories have raised an awareness of the area, the people, the buildings and businesses, and these 3 print runs have a special edition page informing the buyer of the JSS legacy.

25/08/2026

Our next Treasury Talk on Saturday 29th August at 2pm

13/08/2026

With sadness we note the passing of Chris Lux.
Chris was instrumental in getting The Treasury started.
He worked closely with the founding team of The Coromandel Heritage Trust and was initially approached to see if there was an empty room somewhere in Thames we could use to make records available to the public. Chris asked founder and patron, Geraldine was to list all the reasons why she thought this was an important project. After seeing the list he said he would like to see some similar sorts of organisations and took a small group of us to National Archives in Auckland, a genealogy room at Pukekohe, the New Zealand Society of Genealogy’s centre at Panmure where one of their committee filled us all with great enthusiasm and gave us heaps of ideas. We then went on to see the Anglican Church’s boutique archive built under the Cathedral in Parnell, which really got the ball rolling. Following this Chris took a year investigating whether the local community felt there was a need for a heritage facility like this in Thames, checking with people as he did his rounds of the Peninsula. He discovered people DID think there was a need and went on to form a steering committee and hold a public launch at the Council Chambers in 2004. It’s entirely possible The Treasury mightn’t have existed without his support.
The Coromandel Heritage Trust would like to acknowledge that this is just one of many things Chris did in his time as TCDC Mayor, and we appreciated his support for the heritage sector. Our thoughts are with his family at this time.

13/08/2026

The Coromandel Heritage Trust

Notice of Annual General Meeting 2026
Sunday 23rd August 2026 at 2pm
At The Carnegie Meeting Room, 705 Queen Street, Thames
(doors will open at 1.45pm)
All members*, volunteers, and the public interested in learning more about The Coromandel Heritage Trust and The Treasury are welcome to attend. Note: we have a meeting room capacity of 50 and members will be given preference.

Agenda
• Welcome
• Attendance and Apologies
• Review and Confirmation of 2025 AGM Minutes
• Trust Board Chair’s Annual Report
• Annual Financial Performance and Report for 2025/2026
• Publishing and Volunteers/Operations reports
• Membership fees for the current year
• General Business
• Close of Meeting
•
The Meeting will be followed by afternoon tea and light refreshments

*Only current financial members of the Trust may vote at this meeting.

The Coromandel Heritage Trust – current Board of Trustees
• John Sandford – Chair
• John Rabarts – Deputy Chair
• Nigel Strongman – Treasurer
• Anna Dunwoodie – Publications Committee & Team Liaison
• Wati Ngamane
• Laine Carter
• Andrea Ryan – Administration
•
Trustee elections are not required at this AGM. The current Board remains in office until the 2027 AGM in accordance with Clause 6 of the Trust Deed. Members interested in future governance opportunities are encouraged to contact the Chair ([email protected]) for information regarding trustee vacancies and nomination procedures.

Financial Performance Report
Copies of the Annual Financial Statements will be available at the AGM, and a digital copy will be available on request from; [email protected] prior to the meeting.
Items for General Business
If members wish to raise any items for General Business, please submit them in writing, with return contact details, no later than 21August 2026 via the following methods:
• The Coromandel Heritage Trust via Email to; The Trustees, The Coromandel Heritage Trust, [email protected] Subject: TCHT AGM.
• By Post to; The Trustees, The Coromandel Heritage Trust, C/- The Treasury, 705 Queen Street, Thames
• Delivered to The Treasury addressed to; The Trustees, The Coromandel Heritage Trust, C/- The Treasury, 705 Queen Street, Thames and left with reception where it will be recorded as received (11-3pm Wed-Sat).
Only items* received no later than 5pm on Friday 21st August will be addressed at the AGM. Other matters may be raised from the floor at the Chair's discretion but may be deferred for consideration by the Board. *Apologies will be accepted up until the meeting

If you would like to attend the meeting online, please contact [email protected] to receive a Zoom link to the meeting with passcode to join. Members attending via Zoom will be regarded as present for the purposes of discussion and participation.
We look forward to warmly welcoming you to our annual general meeting.
The Trustees,
The Coromandel Heritage Trust

11/08/2026

A huge thanks to Graeme McGowan for providing the research behind this new segment Coromandel's CFM have asked us to help them out with. Graeme is one of our reading room researcher and goes above and beyond to find interesting stories for this new segment, and also a monthly story for our subscribers newsletters.
Thanks also to Rob - very easy to talk to on air! Cheers, Anna
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0tGMzozJXZXS2DMOGh1Sr5?si=pDX9Hw4RTVqAqyxmhZ5nGw&utm_source=copy-link&sci=spotify%3Acard-config%3A1nx5ruYE0AYUUl80Kcstt7&nd=1&dlsi=13f420c8ad4f4e86

CFM's Interviews · Episode

08/08/2026

Join us for our next Treasury Talk - presented by Russell S***t - so much interesting history to be found in our local cemeteries!
Hats off to team leader, Althea Loveday and her team, and to Russell for all the behind the scenes work that goes in to putting on an event like this.