Museum of Transport and Technology - MOTAT

**MOTAT
**by Celia Walker

The Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT) has a mixture of static displays, moving objects and hands-on technology. When the wheels are literally in motion on monthly themed Live Days it really comes into its element. On these themed days action can range from period-garbed gents riding pennyfarthing bicycles, coal being hurled into a smoking boiler, military re-enactments, and a noisy, puffing steam tram.

At all times there are the volunteers that have been at the heart of MOTAT’s operations since its beginnings in 1964, working away
restoring and caring for the many objects in the collection. Electric trams run the route between the two sites on a regular timetable, so even during the quieter weekdays a heritage transport is pretty much guaranteed.
MOTAT sprawls across two sites in the heart of the area once known as Te Waiorea (Water of the Eel), a freshwater spring and significant eeling ground.

Farmer William Motions bought the land from local Maori, and this was later purchased and the springs dammed to create the Western Springs lake for a water supply for Auckland. It seems a relatively forgivable use of coal to power the steam-driven beam engine that once pumped water out to reservoirs in the central suburbs. When this gets fired up it is a hot, smoky, behemoth of machinery that is an impressive thing to watch. The engine was installed in 1877, along with its attractive brick pumphouse building (recently earthquake-strengthened). The large steam locomotive in the centre of the main MOTAT complex is fixed in place, but great for kids to pile into the driver’s seat.

Train enthusiasts who prefer a more mobile experience can have occasional short steam-train trips on some Live Days, when trains run on the 1km section of track on the Motions Road site. Other steam experiences can be had if you are lucky enough to find the steam tram running – this also means also coal dust, black smoke, and quite a bit of noise, but is definitely memorable.

The vehicle section contains some oddities as well as items of historical significance. These include the Trekka ute, NZ’s only production vehicle – an ungainly and under-designed 1960s/70s phenomenon; Sir Edmund Hillary’s Ferguson tractor used on the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition; and New Zealand’s first beer tanker. Almost hidden within the vehicle collection is the MOTAT Print Shop – most Sunday afternoons volunteers give hands-on demonstrations of the arcane arts of letterpress and hand-printing using a range of vintage presses.

Another highlight (for some at least), and also easy to miss, in an underground burrow of a building, is the model train set-up. These model trains are next level, and not just for kids – a hyper-real mini-world with multiple trains moving through tunnels, across bridges and over tiny landscapes that blur the boundary between fake and real.

The MOTAT 2 site off Motions Road, just beyond Auckland Zoo, houses the extensive aircraft collection. This has greatly benefitted from a huge extension and refurbishment opened in 2011 designed by Studio Pacific Architecture. The veneer lumber framing enabled a massive 42-metre interior span, accommodating the wingspan of several large aircraft, including a Lancaster bomber. A display is devoted to Richard Pearse, the pioneer aviator who may have flown before the Wright Brothers. The vintage interior of the Solent flying boat offers a glimpse into luxury travel 1950s style, and there are tiny planes and helicopters as well as more sinister fighter planes.

With greatly increased funding since a legislation change in 2000, MOTAT has moved a long way from the slightly ramshackle and oddball place it once was. It hasn’t lost its heart that has come about from thousands of hours of volunteer labour, and is well worth a few hours of wandering.

Image Credits: Bernard Spragg, Pseudopanax and Winston Wolfe via Wikimedia Commons