A Small Confession
In an article (Sunday Star Times 14 July 2013) columnist Lynda Hallinan writes about re-visiting her great-grandmother’s derelict rural home. She describes the old things she found inside that had been left behind after the “good stuff” was “divvied up” by relatives.
The article reminded me of a decision I had to make about thirty years ago. At the time, I held the position of Assistant Director of National Parks & Reserves in the then Department of Lands & Survey in Wellington, New Zealand.
I received a radio call from the leader of the meteorological team on Campbell Island in the Sub-Antarctic. A landslide had badly damaged the historic World War II coast-watcher’s hut on the island. Should he do anything, like salvage the contents?
I decided, confident at the time, that the hut should be left as an untouched ruin. (I had no immediate resources at my disposal to do anything else.)
I visited Campbell Island about a year later. The hut had been split open at one corner and the contents (everything left behind by the coast-watchers in 1945) were exposed to the extreme weather, though even books and magazines were still there on shelves, along with other detritus.
I had an urge to salvage the hut's contents, seeing it in that sorry state, but I stuck to my decision. Goodness knows what interesting relics, if any, were lost because of it.
The article reminded me of a decision I had to make about thirty years ago. At the time, I held the position of Assistant Director of National Parks & Reserves in the then Department of Lands & Survey in Wellington, New Zealand.
I received a radio call from the leader of the meteorological team on Campbell Island in the Sub-Antarctic. A landslide had badly damaged the historic World War II coast-watcher’s hut on the island. Should he do anything, like salvage the contents?
I decided, confident at the time, that the hut should be left as an untouched ruin. (I had no immediate resources at my disposal to do anything else.)
I visited Campbell Island about a year later. The hut had been split open at one corner and the contents (everything left behind by the coast-watchers in 1945) were exposed to the extreme weather, though even books and magazines were still there on shelves, along with other detritus.
I had an urge to salvage the hut's contents, seeing it in that sorry state, but I stuck to my decision. Goodness knows what interesting relics, if any, were lost because of it.
No comments have been added yet.
