When Alana Kelly isn’t helping the Museum’s Venues team create memorable events, she’s digging into long-forgotten histories. And her hard work was recently rewarded with two awards at the annual New Zealand Archaeological Association (NZAA) Conference.
Alana was awarded the prize for best student paper in Archaeology in New Zealand, the journal of NZAA. Her article “Third Time’s the Charm: An Investigation into the Quarantine Landscape of Lyttleton Harbour” was an extension of her honours dissertation which was based in Dunedin. Alana says quarantine history and archaeology hadn’t been well investigated in New Zealand, especially in comparison to other countries such as America and Australia.
Image: The Templeton Flax Mill Heritage Museum in Riverton is New Zealand's only operating flax mill. By Alana Kelly.
She also took out the best student paper (MA) for her presentation “Mechanising Flax Fibre Production: The New Zealand Flax Mill Project”, which was based on her Masters research into the history and remaining archaeology of the flax milling industry.
Image: Flax milling machinery. By Alana Kelly.
Top image: Tane Flax Mill and Opiki toll bridge near Foxton. By Alana Kelly.