Lyttelton Museum Popup Exhibition - A Place Apart

PRESS RELEASE, 01 October 2016

LYTTELTON MUESEUM PRESENTS

A Place Apart

In association with BECA Heritage Week 2016, Lyttelton Museum presents A Place Apart, an exhibition of photographs looking at life in Aotearoa New Zealand’s only leper colony on Ōtamahua Quail Island.

Images from the museum’s photograph collection give insights into the colony site and the lives of the patients who were confined there between 1906-1925.

Fear and stigma still surrounded leprosy in the early 20th century and, hidden away, its patients endured isolation and loneliness, but also inspired empathy and generosity from harbour locals and people around the country.

A Place Apart is Lyttelton Museum’s fourth popup exhibition since the building that housed the collection was demolished as a result of the Canterbury Earthquake sequence 2011-2012. The collection was rescued and is currently safely in storage awaiting a new home.

The exhibition runs from 1 October to 29 October at the Lyttel Gallery in the Lyttelton Harbour Information Centre, 20 Oxford Street. For more details, email info@lytteltonmuseum.co.nz.

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The following BECA Heritage Week event complements this exhibition:

Visit the site of New Zealand’s only leper colony on a guided tour of Quail Island by the Ōtamahua / Quail Island Ecological Restoration Trust.

The tours run on Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th October. Return fares $15 adult, $10 child, or $30 for families. For booking and details contact chairman@quailisland.org.nz or phone 384 5338.

ENDS

A_Place_Apart_A4_Poster.pdf

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