Museum of Transport and Technology

MOTAT's collections and exhibitions focus on New Zealand technologies and innovations, including transportation, aviation, and work, and involves engaging youth with STEM. ==Location==

, future site of MOTAT, in 1924 MOTAT is located in the suburb of Western Springs, Auckland, New Zealand. The area of Western Springs near MOTAT was traditionally known by Tāmaki Māori as Te Wai Ōrea, a place known for clear spring water, and a harvesting spot for eels. During the 1830s and 1840s, members of Ngāti Tahinga, Waiohua and Te Taoū of Ngāti Whātua lived in the area. The land was then bought by the Auckland City Council, who established an artificial lake and built the Western Springs Pumping Station at the site, which sent water to reservoirs in Auckland from 1877. Pumping from the site was gradually phased out from 1907 during the establishment of water reservoirs in the Waitākere Ranges, and completely ceased in 1936. MOTAT has two locations, both in Western Springs. The first is MOTAT Great North Road, located on the corner of Great North Road and Stadium Road, which is adjacent to Western Springs Reserve. The second is the MOTAT Aviation Hall, located at 98 Motions Road, adjacent to Motions Creek, Western Springs College and Meola Reef. The two locations are connected by the Western Springs Tramway, a tramway operated by MOTAT using heritage trams. the original Waitākere railway station, which houses model railway exhibitions, and the MOTAT print shop. MOTAT's pioneer village, set between 1840 and 1890, features buildings transported from across the Auckland Region, including the original Wainui School house built in 1878, two Fencible cottages, the Chapel of the Good Shepherd (originally St. Saviour's Anglical Church in Blockhouse Bay), and a working blacksmith (the only newly constructed building in the village, stocked with 19th century tools). Adjacent to the pioneer village is a 1920s shopping street. MOTAT Aviation Hall bomber at MOTAT 2 The MOTAT Aviation Hall (also known as MOTAT 2 or MOTAT Motions Road) was opened in 1977, as the Sir Keith Park Memorial aviation pavilion. The site is also home to MOTAT's rail workshops, Tram service Trams are operated daily between MOTAT, alongside the Western Springs Park and precinct, past Auckland Zoo to the MOTAT Aviation Hall and connect both Museum sites. Tramlines on sleepered track set under bitumen were laid within the museum boundaries with trams commencing operation on 16 December 1967. The Museum tramline was later extended beyond the Museum grounds along Great North Road and opened on 19 December 1980. A further extension along Motions Road to Auckland Zoo commenced services on 5 December 1981 using rail set in mass concrete. Between 2006 and 2007 the tram line was further extended by a distance of , to the aviation hangar at MOTAT 2, the service commencing on 27 April 2007. The tramway is dual gauge, employing 4-foot and 4-foot inches gauges, the rail welded and set in mass concrete. Gallery MOTAT Aviation Hall, Auckland, New Zealand.jpg|MOTAT Aviation Hall New Zealand 9 283.jpg|A MOTAT to Zoo tram service operated by Melbourne W2 class tram #321, Auckland, 2006 Keith Park Train Station Motat.jpg|Keith Park Train Station Y542 at MOTAT (47657544712).jpg|Y542 at MOTAT ==History==

Old Time Transport Museum MOTAT's origins began with the Old Time Transport Preservation League, an organisation established in 1957 by tram enthusiast Graham Stewart and his cousin-in-law, Merv Sterling. Stewart approached the Auckland Transport Board in 1956, hoping to preserve one of the final trams operating in Auckland, the 'Queen Mary' (tram No. 253), which operated on the Onehunga line. After the closure of the line, the Auckland Transport Board presented the vehicle to Stewart, after finding no other organisations interested in caring for the tram. In May 1957, Stewart transported the tram to a plot of land in Matakohe, Northland, owned by cousin-in-law, Merv Sterling, and together they established the Old Time Transport Preservation League, a society which operated the Old Time Transport Museum. In June 1957, Merv Sterling's uncle Richard Sterling, a former tram operator, purchased Tram No. 248, a vehicle which he had been the first motorman for when it began service in 1938. Planning to turn the tram into a play room for his children, Stewart convinced Merv to preserve the vehicle, and send it to the museum at Matakohe. As the museum was soon running out of space for vehicles, the Old Time Transport Preservation League began discussions with different local bodies to move the collection elsewhere. Establishment MOTAT was established on 6 July 1960, during a community meeting organised by Frank Simpson and chaired by mayor Dove-Myer Robinson, during which discussions were held to establish a museum preserving transport relics, pioneer artefacts and technological advances. A decision was made during the meeting to establish a transport museum at Western Springs, and aviator George Bolt, former chief engineer of Tasman Empire Airways, was announced as the first curator of the museum. Auckland City Council gifted land for the establishment of MOTAT in 1963. Developing the Western Springs site was difficult, due to the land being unsuitable for buildings or housing rolling stock, needing significant development. The Museum of Transport and Technology officially opened in October 1964, in a ceremony attended by Edward Douglas-Scott-Montagu, 3rd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu. Within two years of opening, MOTAT had amassed approximately 4,000 volunteers, and received over 100,000 items primarily donated by Aucklanders. and in 1967 the museum gained its first paid employees. From 1968, an area behind the museum buildings was redeveloped and drained, as a space where rolling stock trains could be stored. The first rolling stock was placed on this section of railway in June 1969, with the first passenger train running at MOTAT, a T 1912 – Andrew Barclay steam locomotive, in May 1970. Expansion: 1970–1983 MOTAT greatly expanded between 1970 and 1985, requiring a full-time director from 1970. In 1972, the Transport Pavilion was erected as the first newly constructed permanent museum building, having been funded by the Auckland Savings Bank to commemorate the Centenary celebrations of the Auckland City Council. In the same year, a 1920s shopping street was constructed, and the original Waitākere railway station was moved to MOTAT, officially opening after refurbishment in the following year. Beginning in 1973, the Auckland Education Board began appointing education officers, as a response to the growing number of school groups visiting the facility. In 1977, the Sir Keith Park Memorial aviation pavilion was opened by aviator Jean Batten. Located on Meola Road at a distance from the rest of MOTAT, the site was developed as an area to display the museum's aviation collection. The museum's London double-decker buses were used to transport people between the two sites. From 1972 to 1982, MOTAT held an exhibition displaying the Gemini Space Capsule. In 1979, the Hall of Electricity opened as the first electrical museum in New Zealand. MOTAT became a major source of research into early New Zealand aviator Richard Pearse, and one of the major proponents that led Pearse to become a more recognised figure. The museum holds the remains of Pearce's first plane, the fuselage of his second plane, and his third plane, and collaborated on a recreation of Pearce's first plane for the 1975 documentary film Richard Pearce. In 1977, the Bush Tramway Club, formerly operating at MOTAT, moved to Pukemiro. In the 1970s visitors to MOTAT were entertained by the MOTAT Chorus, a group of barbershop singers who later became the Auckland City of Sails Chorus. By 1982, train tracks had been established at the Meola Road site of MOTAT, and live trains began operating between two stations at the site, linking the aviation hall to the railway workshops. Financial hardship: 1983–2000 MOTAT began experiencing financial difficulties after the summer of 1982/1983, when patronage dropped by 40%, as new competing public attractions had been established in Auckland. In 1983, large numbers of temporary workers and staff were laid off, and the New Zealand Government ceased to provide workers through temporary work schemes. Kirby instigated major reforms at MOTAT, including large numbers of staff redundancies, with permanent positions dropping from 43 to 9. which was modelled after the Auckland War Memorial Museum Act 1996. In 2007 the engine moved under pneumatic pressure for the first time in 79 years, and was re-commissioned in a special public opening on 19 April 2008. An arson attack in 2008 led to a vintage railway carriage being destroyed. extending the existing building to in size. In 2012, a report on MOTAT by museum professional Cheryll Sotheran noted infighting and tension between management, volunteers and Auckland Council. After Michael Frawley was appointed as the CEo of MOTAT in February 2013, Frawley restructured the organisation into three "hubs" (business services, museum experience, and classic collection), increased staff numbers, and led to MOTAT refocusing on "Kiwi ingenuity" - using the historical collection to demonstrate both the past and future of New Zealand technology. Te Puawānanga Science and Technology Centre was opened at MOTAT in May 2024, as a science space designed for teachers, families and children. The centre, composed of three gallery spaces and three classrooms, focuses on learning through play and exploration, Mātauranga Māori, and relationships with the environment. The centre won the International Exhibition of the Year at the Museums + Heritage Awards in 2025. In 2025, the Auckland Council voted to increase funding to MOTAT. ==Governance and funding==

MOTAT was run directly by the MOTAT Society from 1960 until 1984, when the MOTAT Board of Trustees was established. Prior to the museum's official opening in 1964, the chairman of the executive committee fulfilled the duties of museum director. Originally, MOTAT was funded through memberships, admission fees, donations and volunteer work. MOTAT became partially funded by the Auckland City Council in 1984. From the year 2000, all Auckland local government bodies became required to contribute to the funding of MOTAT due to the Museum of Transport and Technology Act 2000. List of museum directors and chief executives ==Walsh Memorial Library==

The Walsh Memorial Library was established in 1964 by members of the Aviation Historical Society of New Zealand, who combined their private document collections to create a library during the establishment of MOTAT. It was originally based on the upper floor of the Western Springs pumphouse, and formally named and established in 1968. During the mid-1970s, the Pearse Medal was created as a means to establish funds for a permanent library building. In 1977, the library moved to its permanent home with the opening of the Pioneers of Aviation building The library contains books, technical manuals, image collections, oral histories, and archives of several organisations, including the Society of Automotive Engineers, New Zealand National Airways Corporation, Royal Aeronautical Society, New Zealand Railways Corporation and the Auckland Transport Board. ==Collections==

on display at MOTAT MOTAT's collections include over 300,000 items. In 2006, an estimated 65% of the collections were in storage. Motat's aviation collection, named in honour of Keith Park, is of international importance. MOTAT features several major collections of transport vehicles: • Aircraft collection – houses one of New Zealand's largest collections of civil and military aircraft, all with genuine New Zealand aviation pedigrees. These range from relics from Richard Pearse's first 1903 aircraft and an interpretive replica, as well as a large part of his original third vertical takeoff aircraft. 1930s de Havilland Fox Moth, Tiger Moth and Dragon Rapide, 1940s Short Solent double-decked flying boat, from New Zealand's first International Airline TEAL, a Short Sunderland marine patrol flying boat, de Havilland Mosquito wooden fighter bomber, a restored 1940s Avro Lancaster bomber, Douglas Dakota through to a de Havilland Vampire 1950s jet fighter and most recently former RNZAF Douglas A-4 Skyhawk and Aermacchi MB-339CB advanced jet trainers. The aviation site of MOTAT located in Meola Road is also known as the Keith Park Memorial Airfield. A replica Hawker Hurricane is on a plinth in the markings OK-1 of New Zealander and RAF Air Chief Marshal Keith Park memorial at the entrance. • Railway locomotives and collection – includes seven steam locomotives from a pioneering 1874 NZR F class to the iconic NZR K class steam locomotive, smaller branch line, industrial and logging tank locomotives. Also six diesel, petrol and petrol electric locomotives, including the DA class which was built to replace the K class from the 1950s through the 1960s and became the most prolific mainline locomotive in New Zealand. This is operational and able to be viewed on Live Days which occur every third Sunday of the month. Also included in this collection is a 1910 Tangye steam engine, and a 1911 triple-expansion engine built by Campbell Calderwood from Paisley, Scotland, which was formerly from the ill-fated Sydney Ferry Greycliffe which sank on 3 November 1927 after being hit by the much larger Union Steam Ship Company's Royal Mail Steamship Tahiti with the loss of 40 lives. The engine ended its commercial life in the Tīrau dairy factory. Steam for the Beam Engine and other artifacts provided by a 1957 Daniel Adamson steam boiler, which was formerly used at Frankham's Mill, Te Puna. • Railway carriages – the collection also includes stations, carriages, wagons and other rolling stock. • Tram collection – the collection includes over 20 electric, steam and cable trams, many of which are operational, with support equipment and vehicles from former New Zealand tramway systems of Auckland, Wellington, Wanganui and the Mornington Cable tram system in Dunedin. Auckland's horse-drawn tramway opened in 1884 and was replaced by the electric tram system in 1902, closing in 1956. The final closure of an original street tramway was in Wellington in 1964. An 1883 Dunedin Cable Car trailer is the sole South Island tramway exhibit and there are additional trams from Melbourne and Sydney, Australia. Street furniture used on the Auckland Tramways can be seen on the Western Springs Tramway including traction pole skirts and cast iron pillar boxes dating from the 1900s, concrete safety zones, platform information signs, Cincinnati Recording Clocks, Queen Street Dispatchers Cabin all dating from the 1920s and some used into the trolleybus era. The museum is one of five operational Museum and Heritage Tramways in New Zealand. • Petrol / diesel bus collection – contains a significant collection of historic buses from the Auckland region, including a 1924 White Motor Company 4-cylinder side-valve petrol engine, wooden-bodied 23 seat omnibus, through a 1954 Bedford SB, petrol engine, 35-seat lightweight wooden-body bus specifically built for Grafton Bridge services, through to a 1978 M.A.N SL200 No.1603 retired in the 2010s. • Trolleybus collection – this collection contains a representative cross-section of trolleybuses which operated in Auckland between 1938 and 1980. First used on a 1 km department store-operated route in central Auckland from 1938, the trolleybus system later duplicated and then replaced the aging tram system between 1949 and 1956. The trolleybuses were in turn replaced by diesel buses in 1980. • Road transport collection – rotationally displays in excess of 100 cars, trucks, motorbikes and emergency vehicles. Some of the iconic vehicles in the collection include one of the first Trekka utility vehicles, New Zealand's only homegrown production vehicle built between 1966 and 1973, based on Czechoslovak Škoda engines and chassis. Other vehicles include a 1960s Cooper Climax race car, an early American Brush Motor Car Company runabout, an International horseless carriage, an Austin Motor Company beer tanker (the first in New Zealand) and a wide number of other vehicles. Also in the collection is one of the Ferguson Company tractors which Edmund Hillary used to lay supply depots for the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition, and with which he beat British explorer Dr Vivian Fuchs Sno-Cats to the South Pole on 3 January 1958. MOTAT also houses a small collection of Police vehicles, including former New Zealand Transport Department, later New Zealand Ministry of Transport (M.O.T.) patrol cars and patrol motorbikes, the road policing duties of which were combined into the New Zealand Police in the early 1990s. The NZ Police Collection of 40 plus vehicles were housed at MOTAT for a number of years until 2011. 19th century heat machine room with coal boiler, Auckland - 0951.jpg|Coal boiler room 19th century bedroom, Auckland - 0901.jpg|19th century bedroom 19th century classroom, Auckland - 0767.jpg|Wainui School classroom Beech AT-11 Kansan (8919664259).jpg|Beechcraft AT-11 De Havilland Vampire (8920318016).jpg|De Havilland DH.100 Vampire Pearse Aeroplane No 3 1992-12-29 Andre Gerwing Collection ID 024032.jpg|Richard Pearse's third airplane Trains of the Western Springs Railway, MOTAT 2019-11-17 01.jpg|Steam locomotives Tram 11 (22991444454).jpg|Two working trams ==References==