Millions of reasons to visit caves museum

UNKNOWN species have been found in a cave at Waitomo where the excavation layer is calculated to be 1.3 million years old, landowner Ben Stubbs has told Waitomo District Council.

“It’s quite extraordinary really. The landscape we have has trapped things over millions of years that we have found now.”

Ben was assisting museum director Dr Bridget Mosley with her half-yearly report on the partnership agreement between Waitomo Caves Discovery Centre (WCDC) and the council.

He said the discovery was made in the “eggshell cave”.

“It was a nesting site and there were depressions in the surface. Underneath that layer was another layer where an eruption had happened,” Ben said.

“The geologists found that it had happened 1.3 million years ago, so, this is a cave that existed prior to that.

“Within that deposit, there were moa bones and other reptiles – really interesting.

“Because there was a line in the sand – literally – they could determine it was really old. Underneath that there are undescribed species. We have them in Waitomo and that’s unique.

Bridget said they were working on bringing back the unknown species from the Canterbury museum where they went for analysis.

“At Waitomo Museum, we are in a position where we can hold the taonga safely and respectfully. That’s an important thing in this day and age.”

The paleo fauna collection of the bones of animals that have fallen into and died in the caves over millennia makes the Waitomo Museum the largest outside the main centres.

“It is challenging, Ben said.

“We are still trying to provide a good service to the community by having people front of house, which has been a bigger challenge than we expected over Covid.

“We are at a point now where we can start to grow again, and get better opening hours, that’s something we have been struggling with recently.

“Bridget at the moment is trying to cover a lot of bases at the museum. We are in the process of appointing an education officer. That will take a little bit of the workload off Bridget, who has been doing the education role as well as being the director, as well as being front of house.

We have got some challenges, but we are certainly approaching them with our eyes open.

Summer opening hours are expected to return to where they were before Covid.

During the lockdowns, the museum income dropped to below 10%, Bridget said.

“We had to make six people redundant as part of actually staying as a functioning organisation,” she said.

The museum’s continued existence is attributed to the efforts of the remaining staff.  

“We will probably be about five years recovering … but we are still open, so, that has to be an achievement.”

In the past year, the museum welcomed 22,905 visitors, mainly from New Zealand – 1318 from Auckland, 947 from Waikato regions and 2709 from other North Island centres.

There were 3382 Australian visitors, 2367 from Germany, 1526 from Britain and 1662 from the US.