History – Rediscovering a forgotten story

Every museum holds its share of hidden treasures, artefacts and documents quietly resting in boxes, their stories fading as generations of volunteers and curators come and go. But every so often, something is lifted from storage for cleaning or cataloguing, and a spark of curiosity brings the past vividly to life once more.

That’s exactly what happened when we uncovered a handwritten book about the Albertland Dairy Company. From the moment we opened its pages, we were intrigued. Who was the young Merrilyn Ward who wrote it, and what inspired her to tell this story?

Titled ‘A Local Industry – The Albertland Co-operative Dairy Company Ltd,’ the book offers a remarkably detailed account of the factory that opened at Te Hana on November 26 1934. Merrilyn’s writing reveals both a sharp curiosity about her community’s past and a deeply personal connection to it. She recounts a sunny afternoon spent trying to photograph the factory site – climbing a nearby hill only to be defeated by gorse bushes – before turning to see the house her great-grandfather had built as one of the original Albertland settlers.

Her effort did not go unnoticed. The book includes an endorsement from K. R. Burnett, the company’s manager, who wrote in 1966 that it was “the best treatise on our Company and its development that I have ever come across – surpassing our Jubilee booklet published in 1955”. Beautifully typed and illustrated, filled with facts and figures, it stands as an impressive achievement for someone who was, at the time, still so young.

Elsewhere in the museum, a cabinet of scrapbooks donated by the late Ted Halfpenny offers a similar glimpse into local life. Each volume is filled with carefully preserved newspaper clippings, indexed by a marvellous handwritten card system. While modern technology could easily store this information, there’s something uniquely satisfying about pulling a card, following its trail, and opening a scrapbook to discover stories of days gone by.

It was during one such search that we found Merrilyn again, this time in a newspaper clipping describing her receipt of the Queen’s Badge before 400 guests from the Girls’ Brigade North Shore region, including 40 of her own Wellsford Girls’ Brigade members in Takapuna. Too unwell to travel to Wellington to receive the award from the Governor-General, the ceremony was held locally instead.

The Queen’s Badge, the highest international award in the Girls’ Brigade, required candidates aged 16 to 19 to complete a demanding programme, earning badges in Bible knowledge, citizenship, missionary, international friendship, temperance, life saving and household management, as well as proficiency. They also undertook six months of practical service and weekly voluntary work. Merrilyn’s was at the local kindergarten. Finally, the candidate had to produce an illustrated book on one of six topics. Her chosen subject, a local industry, became the very book now held in our museum.

Though Merrilyn passed away 12 years ago in Australia, her voice and curiosity live on through this remarkable piece of local history. Her work reminds us how fragile our stories can be, and how rewarding it is when they are rediscovered.

If you’d like to explore Merrilyn’s book, or delve into the stories of other local industries, you’re welcome to view these records by appointment at the museum.