Tuatapere’s Yesteryears Museum and Café is holding a clearance sale, allowing the public the chance to buy a piece of the town’s history. 

Yesteryears was opened and operated for many years by Helen McKay and her husband Val, who used the museum to display their large collection of local heritage pieces.  

The Tuatapere institution has been closed in recent years but is set to receive a new lease on life as a gallery space for new owner and artist, Karen Friend. 

The sale is aimed at clearing space in the museum to display Friend’s work, while still keeping the history of the museum alive. 

Some of the local heritage items in the museum. Photo: Karen Friend.

“The café and museum started at a time when Tuatapere was very low,” says McKay. 

“People mainly subsisted on native logging, and when the government closed that down ever so many people lost their jobs and shifted away.”

“I’ve had a long passion to save the heritage of this area. When people were leaving town, and the older generation is passing, I ended up buying a lot of it. It was so important to keep that heritage that was disappearing before our eyes.”

The museum space was also used as a café, with McKay famous for her homestyle cooking. 

“I had a real interest in keeping the food of the time relevant as well. I would make pikelets on the coal range, scones, homemade pies. It certainly proved to be popular, and I had visitors tell me it was the highlight of their trip to New Zealand.” 

McKay decided to close the café and museum due to ill health. It was put on the market and recently was bought by Friend. 

“I came across the place when I was looking for a place to showcase my work, like a gallery. I fell in love with the feel of the place, and I loved what Helen [the previous owner] had done. I had to ponder for a few months how I could keep the vibe alive,” says Friend

Interior of the Yesteryears Museum. Photo: Karen Friend.

Friend says she has always been excited about bringing coffee and art together and thought she could incorporate her idea for a gallery with the established café and museum. 

“I woke up in the middle of the night and thought, I’ve got it! I went to Helen the next day and she liked the idea too. There are so many pieces, it was just too much to incorporate into a gallery.” 

“We have thinned it down into pieces that we need to keep and pieces that can be sold. It breaks my heart a bit to let things go, but we have run out of storage, and it needs to happen.” 

Friend says pieces they have decided to keep include three doctor’s bags belonging to Dr. Eric Elder, who served the Tuatapere community for nearly 60 years.

“He was the doctor, vet, midwife, he was everything. He’s a local legend and it’s a real piece of history. We knew we had to keep the bags, even though they could potentially be worth quite a lot,” she says.  

McKay says that she hopes Southland locals will attend the sale.

“It would be nice for Southlanders to come out and take a piece of our history home with them. Anyone with an interest in keeping the past will enjoy it.” 

The Yesteryears Museum sale will run from Friday 1 April to Monday 4 April, from 10am to 4pm daily. Sales are cash only.