Katikati Portrait Exhibition Celebrates 150 Years of Town History

A free two-month exhibition tracing the visual history of Katikati opens at the town's library on Monday 4 August and runs through to 30 September. Titled 'Katikati: Portrait of a Town', the exhibition has been put together by Western Bay of Plenty District Council community heritage services co-ordinator Sandra Haigh, who has been drawing on the Western Bay Community Archives to bring the display to life.

The exhibition coincides with Family History Month in August and the 150th anniversary of the arrival of Ulster Irish settlers in Katikati in September 1875. Haigh said the display would be largely visual — featuring photographs, maps, paintings and objects — progressing roughly chronologically from the town's earliest pākehā settlement through to around the 1960s and 70s. Two static displays outside the library's downstairs staffroom will rotate monthly, with QR codes linking visitors to the Western Bay Community Archives online at westernbay.recollect.co.nz for further reading.

Haigh said she particularly hoped to engage newcomers and long-term residents who hadn't previously thought much about the town's history. "There will be lots and lots of photographs," she said, adding that the series of smaller exhibits around the library would change fortnightly to encourage repeat visits.

A free Create Your Own Home Archive workshop will also be held at the Pātuki Manawa Digital Hub next door on 16 August from 10am to noon. The session, limited to 20 registered participants, will cover how to preserve and digitise precious family taonga such as old certificates and hand-written letters. Aidan Heaven of Katipō Creative Studio will speak about digital photo enhancement. To register, contact sandra.haigh@westernbay.govt.nz.

Originally published in Katikati News (Sun Media).