Tucked away on the edge of the Waitakere Ranges, The Huia Settlers Museum is a local treasure and it has been collecting, preserving and displaying items that tell the story of the early pioneering settlers of Huia, the Waitakere Ranges and the Manukau shoreline for decades.
Step inside and you’ll find pieces of our national story that you simply can’t see anywhere else. The Huia Settlers Museum holds actual relics from the sinking of HMS Orpheus on 7 February 1863, still recorded as New Zealand’s worst maritime disaster. Part of the ship’s main sail mast is on display. There’s also a rare pair of Huia birds and a photographic collection dating back to the mid 1800s that documents life in the area as it was being shaped by its earliest settler communities.
Running a heritage site like this takes ongoing care, and ongoing funds. A $500 Supporters Club grant from our Workshop Kelston team has gone towards producing museum-themed coffee mugs. The mugs are now on sale to visitors, with every sale contributing directly to the operational costs that keep the museum open. It’s a small grant, but for a volunteer-led organisation it makes a real difference, turning a one-off contribution into a longer-term fundraising stream.
Local history is the kind of thing that disappears quietly if no one is looking after it. The stories of the families who settled Huia, who worked the timber, who lived alongside the Manukau, who witnessed the Orpheus tragedy from the shore, are stories that belong to The West. The Huia Settlers Museum keeps them within reach of every West Aucklander.
If you’ve never been, consider this your nudge.
Learn more about The Huia Settlers Museum at huiamuseum.org.nz or follow them on Facebook.
If you or your organisation could use support from The Trusts, find out how to apply at thetrusts.co.nz/our-funds.
