Memory, Performance, Identity: Making Personal History, Making Meaning: A Critical Analysis of an Independent Heritage Initiative at Duart House, Havelock North

Abstract

On a small ridge overlooking Havelock North and parts of the Heretaunga Plains to the west, a Victorian homestead known as Duart House was rescued from neglect by a local community group in 1985. The group became known as the Duart House Society (DHS) who formed to care for its maintenance and promote it to the public for social and cultural activity; however, in managing local heritage, the DHS have done so according to their own priorities and needs. This dissertation examines a case study of an independent heritage initiative and considers the question of how we might understand the ways in which people engage and respond to heritage, and why these activities should be of interest to professionals in favour of democratising museums and heritage. There is currently no research on independent heritage activity in New Zealand and international studies have also been largely neglected. A range of historical, empirical and theoretical approaches are incorporated in this research, including interviews, observation, questionnaires, primary and secondary resources, to generate a diverse range of data reflecting the wide range of factors that influence the central question of this research. By utilising Duart House of Havelock North as a case study, in conjunction with theories of intangible heritage, history and memory, the research moves beyond the 'official' museum and heritage sector to draw attention to the exclusive nature of people's sense of the past in New Zealand. This dissertation also addresses an issue that has been under-theorised in the existing literature of museum and heritage studies, namely that of individual memory, and the importance of objects and places to keep memory alive in the face of change. The research not only provides an in-depth study of one example of local heritage, but suggests an awareness of heritage as personal opposed to collective, and something which is 'performed' in multiple layers rather than just a physical place or 'thing'. It concludes that heritage is a far more complex process between people, place and memory than the literature on the subject claims, which poses a problem for museums who want to be 'all things to all people' and one that is not easily resolved. The research proposes a new direction for museums that is less concerned with 'truth' and more comfortable with 'open-ended exploration', 'wonder' and 'imagination'. This dissertation therefore serves as a critical resource to prompt further debate about the challenge of establishing closer relationships between museums, heritage and communities.