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Melody Tan
Public relations officer
Adventist Media Network

An Avondale College-based research centre is now managing one of its neighbourly entities--the South Sea Islands Museum in Cooranbong.

Adventist Heritage Centre curator Rose-lee Power sees the change of management as a natural transition. "The centre collects, preserves and exhibits the history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and its entities in the region. The South Sea Islands Museum is an extension of what we do."

The South Sea Islands Museum has, arguably, one of the world's best private permanent collections. It displays artefacts acquired by Adventist missionaries and others, dating from the 1800s.

Ms Power plans to introduce changes to some of the museum displays this year--she is currently searching for tapa cloth pieces from around the South Pacific. "We are looking for small pieces of tapa, about the length of a person's arm, to form part of a bigger display. We also accept bigger pieces, so donors should not cut up their tapa."

Tapa cloth is made from the inner back of trees. It is one of the most distinctive products of the Pacific islands. With 300,000 Adventist Church members living in the South Pacific, Ms Power is hoping to receive plenty of donations. "If possible, we would like to know who received the item, the date they received it, who the artist is, where it came from and what date it was originally created."

Ms Power also hopes to introduce displays about the activities and the impact of the church in the South Pacific. She is searching for Maori and early New Zealand missionary artefacts, documents and photographs. The museum currently has only one authentic Maori item in its collection.

The Adventist Heritage Centre is based on Avondale's Lake Macquarie campus. Visit http://heritage.adventistconnect.org/ for more information about the centre.

Caption: Adventist Heritage Centre curator Rose-lee Power studies a tapa piece that belonged to Adventist pioneer Reuben Hare.
Credit: Ann Stafford

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