Bruce Robinson giving a speech at the CFCA.
Sometimes things serendipitously come together to create something special. For the City of Hamilton, New Zealand Aotearoa 1984 was such a time.
The Hamilton City Council (hereafter HCC) had long planned to build a new Waikato Museum. The City centre Waikato River bank site for a new museum was owned by the HCC, the money to build it was in the bank and the architectural plans had been finalised and approved.
Encouraged by the Māori queen Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu ONZ DBE OStJ in 1984 the HCC Mayor Sir Ross Jansen surprised a HCC meeting when he moved to proceed to build New Zealand’s first, purpose-built, interdisciplinary museum on the banks of the Waikato River; next door to the Centre for Contemporary Art (CFCA hereafter) housing the Chartwell Collection of contemporary New Zealand and Australian Art.
The same 1984 HCC meeting voted to appoint Bruce Robinson as the first sole Director of the Waikato Museum and appointed him to also be Project Manager and Clerk of Works of the museum building programme.
Arriving in Hamilton in 1984 as the recently appointed Director of the Waikato Museum of Art and History Te Whare Taonga o Waikato was my first encounter with the Chartwell Collection in full public swing since 1982 in the impressive CFCA in the city's CBD.
1984 was a watershed year of social, economic and cultural crisis throughout NZ. A constitutional crisis, a new government, and sweeping legislative reform. The 1984 Te Māori exhibition touring the USA then New Zealand, and Waitangi Treaty protests challenged NZ cultural institutions. A national thirst for change was the perfect catalyst for Chartwell and Waikato Museum to collaborate.
The intention here is to share through 4 texts a snapshot of how Chartwell, the CFCA and Waikato Museum worked together between 1984 - 1995; capitalising on the vibrant national political and cultural landscape of the day, and building a unique cultural partnership fit for a new century.
July 2024
Bruce M. Robinson was Director of the Waikato Museum of Art and History Te Whare Taonga o Waikato from 1984 -1995
