Museum substance was old antiseptic
Paul Taylor
07 July 2021, 3:09 AM
Waikawa Museum staff have been given to all clear to return to work after the bomb squad disposed of an historic antiseptic chemical.
The New Zealand Defence Force Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit, based in Christchurch, were called to the Catlins museum after a roving Southland District Council officer spotted the substance in a display.
It was in a medicine kit, dating from the 1900s, which has sat in the museum since 1982.
Museum vice president Janette Buckingham says: "It would have originally been used as an antiseptic.
"There's no way of knowing if it was dangerous, but it has been disposed of.
"We were down at the museum yesterday for a working bee, myself and Jo Massey from Invercargill. She helps and advises us.
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"She's pretty tuned into all this sort of thing and noticed this tin. All of us have walked past it many times and not taken much notice."
The medicine kit was part of a General Store display, with a cash register and other items.
It contained picric acid, which can crystallize over time, becoming hazardous and potentially explosive.
"I didn't dare handle it after she told me. We're well rid of it, but really it could have sat there for another 100 years.
"It seemed so harmless and was a precaution."
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The EDU disposed of the chemical in a safe environment away from the museum, a police spokesperson says.
The Waikawa Museum, opposite Waikawa Fire Station, is expected to reopen in the coming days.
