In this part three of ‘The Garden of Perfect Happiness’ we introduce Laurie Foon, an inspirational eco-creative who ran the fashion label Starfish from 1998-2013. She is the great-granddaughter of Willian Yan Foon, an early Chinese immigrant to Petone in the 1890’s, who farmed his market vegetables in Alicetown, sold his produce from his shop […]

In part one of ‘The Garden’ we looked at Chinese market gardens in the Hutt from the 1880s to the 1940s. In part two we are introduced to William Yan Foon, market gardener, green grocer and Petone resident of the 1890’s. Here is the story his family shared with us: William Yan Foon (c. 1867—1950) […]

Come and visit us at our whare to see the full story in our newest display – The Garden of Perfect Happiness.  Perhaps you remember William Yan Foon and his fruit and vegetable store on Jackson Street?  We’d love to hear your stories of arrival, immigration and food. In the following three part blog series […]

As promised in my previous post, this will focus on some great finds from the Petone Settlers Museum stores and some stats relating to how my internship is going thus far. Discovering the Petone Settlers Museum’s stores I’ve spent a lot of time recently in a cool (if a little claustrophobic) storage space, getting to […]

Hello again! It has been a busy time since my last blog post Down the Rabbit Hole with Alice! I’ve spent a lot of time at the Petone Settlers Museum stores—those tales will come in Through the Collection Store – part 2. In this post I wanted to talk about some of my creations over […]

Kia ora! I’m Alice Jackson, the new Petone Settlers Museum intern. I moved to Wellington last year to start my Masters at Victoria University after completing my undergrad and honours in Art History at the University of Otago. I’m passionate about inclusivity and accessibility, the environment and music. I’m at Petone Settlers Museum as the […]

Tēnā koutou katoa, Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa – hello there, it’s wonderful to meet you all! Your Community Curator at Petone Settlers Museum With much happiness I pause to reflect on the whirlwind beginning of starting at The Petone Settlers Museum as Community Curator. I’m coming up on two months now, and […]

Petone Settlers Museum Community Curator, Jen Boland, has created an accessible programme of events that caters for both the general public and niche groups. Jen’s new events and activity programme is being promoted under the moniker of The Happiness Club. The name comes from the original ‘Petone Happiness Club’, which ran from 1950-54, affiliated with the […]