The Carnegie Library, a category 2 heritage-listed site, is a treasured landmark in
Grahamstown, Thames, and has housed The Treasury Heritage Research Centre since 2009.
Due to a public funding crisis, The Treasury temporarily suspended services at the end of 2023, as the charitable trust could no longer pay administration and specialist staff. The Carnegie Library will reopen from Wednesday to Sunday in early August when the Thames School of Mines relocates its operations there. Their retail shop will occupy the reception foyer, and an education room will be set up in the current meeting room. Future tours of their historic school and museum will begin from the Carnegie Library, and restoration efforts will commence on the historic Electricity Room at the Thames School of Mines site.
The Treasury will continue operating the Library’s Reading Room, which houses paper-based records from the Hauraki and Thames-Coromandel districts. The Board
of The Treasury/Te Whare Pātaka is working with volunteers to reopen the Reading Room for part of the week, welcoming visitors to explore the stories of those who shaped the region.
Anne-Louise Robertson, Interim Chair, comments “The taonga cared for The Treasury tell the post-colonial stories of our region’s rich industrial, economic, and trading history. Most are the records of European settlers but we also have someextraordinary records that give us a glimpse into how the relationships between Tangata Whenua and Pākehā shaped this area. We hope to grow these collections so we can tell a
fuller history of our unique rohe.”
Alongside the 1905-built Carnegie Library is the Trust’s ultra-modern state-of-the-art Archive facility. The Archive’s strict temperature and humidity controls and fire-suppression system safeguard the region’s post-colonial documentary heritage. The collections, which include letters, photos, newspapers, telegrams, maps, ledgers, and minutes, provide extraordinary details of Hauraki-Coromandel’s early days of colonisation.
Te Whare Pātaka, a name gifted to The Treasury by Ngāti Maru, is one of only two such
facilities in provincial Aotearoa New Zealand. Efforts to diversify the records in the ReadingRoom and Archive are expanding the collections to better represent Pare Hauraki iwi and the many communities that make up the region’s cultural heritage.
The partnership between The Treasury and Heritage New Zealand, Thames School of Mines marks the start of a new era of community engagement and collaboration. The the aim is to create a heritage hub in Thames that attracts visitors and establishes the town as a premier heritage destination in the Coromandel region.
Thames-Coromandel District Mayor Len Salt says “We’re thrilled that the doors will soon reopen to this very special building. Within its walls is history that shapes our identity, both past and present, and this collaboration will allow more people discover its treasures and the stories they tell.”
Come and experience an unforgettable heritage journey that will leave you inspired, educated, and eager to return.
Jan Wright – Chairperson
chair@thetreasury.org.nz
