Ashburton Art Gallery and Heritage Centre

The Ashburton Art Gallery and Heritage Centre here is a complex that houses both an art gallery and a museum, and it's owned and operated by the Ashburton District Council. The Ashburton Museum first opened in 1972, and both the museum and the Ashburton Art Gallery moved into former County Council buildings in 1995. The museum then moved into a new purpose-built facility in 2014, with the art gallery following in 2015. Both of these institutions officially merged into a single organization under the Ashburton District Council in 2021.

Back in 1983, the president of the Ashburton Society of Arts, Alison Ryde, suggested an arts centre with public exhibition space for local artists. The Ashburton Arts Centre Association was set up in 1985 to create an art gallery here. They first tried for land on West Street but shifted to fundraising when permission wasn't granted. Then, four years later, they partnered with the Ashburton Historical Society to ask the District Council for space in the old County Council building.

The gallery now holds a permanent collection of over 700 works, plus more than 2000 on long-term loan. A big part of this collection includes works by Ashburton-born children's book author and illustrator David Elliot. You can find drawings from books like *The Making of the Word Witch* and *The Moon and Farmer McPhee*. Other artists in the permanent collection include Rudolf Gopas, Nigel Brown, and Philip Clairmont. The gallery also partners with the Zonta International Club of Ashburton for an annual Female Art Award, which includes a cash prize and a solo exhibition for the winner.

The Ashburton Historical Society, led by Harry Scotter, Ethel McQuilkin, and Ellis Woods, first met in October 1958 with the goal of establishing a museum. Their collection was initially kept in a building on the corner of Cass and Tancred streets. In 1960, librarian Thelma McArtney joined the committee and emphasized the importance of collecting and photographing buildings that were about to be demolished. In 1972, the Ashburton Borough Council offered the Society a small building on Tancred Street, originally the Hospital Board Office, which was dubbed Pioneer Hall and became Ashburton's first museum building. It was staffed by volunteers and run by the Historical Society, which became an incorporated society in 1973.

By 1978, the museum had a paid staff member, Mrs. M. E. Kenny, who worked four hours a week, increasing to six by 1987. She was replaced by Rita Wright, who catalogued the collection. The museum has both cultural and natural history collections, along with about 250,000 photographs. Some notable items include a 90-million-year-old petrified wood found in Alford Forest and a doll named Sarah Jane, brought to New Zealand on a settler ship in the 1850s.