Dutch Museum gets home next to Kiwi windmill

New energy has been blown into the sails of a project to establish a Dutch museum and cultural centre in the heart of Foxton, right next to Dutch windmill De Molen.

Dutch Connection Museum Trust Chair Arjan van der Boon explains "Horowhenua District Council has made a momentous decision, by investing in a project that will transform the future of Foxton and also the future of the Dutch community in New Zealand.

"Now that we are getting a home for our museum for and about the Dutch in New Zealand, we can move full steam ahead with our plans to create Onze Plek Our Place."

Horowhenua District Council recently voted unanimously to move ahead with the purchase of an empty building in the centre of Foxton to house the community's new Culture and Community Centre. Within, the Dutch Connection will take pride of place in the almost 1500 metre2 building.

van der Boon explained "it was touch and go at times, as to whether the project would get the support it needed from Council, especially after the financial crisis hit a few years ago.

"But the intention and dedication from all participants in the project saw us through the rough patches. All six partners in the Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom (TANS) scaled down their ambitions.

"What's more, Council assisted us to revise our original ambitious plans and create an affordable solution that will still achieve everybody's aspirations."

TANS is an integrated cultural, community and service facility that will include a local library and community centre with a Maori art and crafts gallery, plus a national Dutch museum that tells the story of one of our country's earliest and major immigrant groups. By combining all that with the stories of a historic flax and river town Foxton as the birthplace of the Manawatu a major tourist attraction will be created that includes the current Flax Stripper Museum and De Molen, plus a raft of new river activities.

van der Boon adds "Foxton has a fascinating long history, both Maori and Pakeha, as well as a lot of existing attractions like the MAVTech audiovisual museum and the Clydesdale Horses drawn tram.

"De Molen already attracts over 30,000 visitors every year. All this adds to the tourism appeal that will be strongly driven by the TANS project. Once we are up and running, well over 100,000 visitors per annum will want to come and soak up the feeling of old heartland New Zealand, that you can still experience here.

"It will attract new businesses and will transform Foxton into a flourishing tourism town on State Highway 1, just like Tirau further north."

The Dutch Connection museum will to record and showcase the Dutch immigration experience from when Abel Tasman was the first westerner to record his encounter with the Maori in 1642 through to the presentday.

As a cultural centre it will be host to a range of activities, and a focal point for the Dutch community which is spread far and wide from Invercargill to the far north. It will provide a sense of home to the Dutch a place to feel proud and share experiences.

van der Boon concludes "we've always been the 'Invisible Immigrants' in this country.

"There are some 140,000 of us, or well over 3% of the population, and we've achieved great things in agriculture, business, sports and the arts.

"Still, we are missing from the pages of history. Michael King didn't even mention us in his bestselling 'History of New Zealand' unlike all the other immigrant groups.

"The Dutch have to tell Ons Verhaal ourselves, and share Our Story with the nation and overseas visitors.

"It's a story well worth telling, to celebrate all the things we've brought and achieved here."

For more information go to www.dutchconnection.org.nz/

Image: The concept for the Dutch Connection Museum.

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