Fiordland Vintage Machinery Museum Inc. (FVMM) has celebrated its 40th anniversary with an open day recently.

At least that’s what the committee thought, until they discovered it was closer to 45 years since the Museum’s inception.

FVMM was registered as a society on 5 December 1979 by its then president Edward John Lane, based on a resolution made at the Annual General Meeting on 24 April that year.

The application for registration was signed by 15 foundation members and had references to year 1978, which indicates that the organisation was at least 45 years old.

The FVMM Society (often referred to as the Club) has remained committed to its guiding principles of acquiring, restoring and preserving vintage machinery, and educating the public through tours, talks and gatherings. 

The first few years were spent doing just this, working on equipment either donated to the Museum or belonging to its members. 

However, some members of the club were looking for a bigger project.

The Rogers K92 steam locomotive being lifted out of the Oreti River in 1985. Photo: Waimea Plains Railway Trust

In 1985 railway enthusiasts from the FVMM Club came up with the idea of retrieving and restoring a 100-years-old Rogers K92 locomotive that was dumped in Oreti River near Lumsden a few decades prior. Carran Contractors did the lifting of the engine and Northern Southland Transport trucked it to Te Anau.

Chris Carran of Carran Contracting remembers the job well.

“It took three days to dig it out. We weren’t exactly sure where it was and we needed to know where to dig. There were other locomotives and wagons dumped there, so we needed to make sure we got the right one, and they were completely covered with water and mud,” he said.

The club’s first building was an old shed relocated from the Clinton railway station to house the locomotive during restoration work.  

The job, led by Herbie Hall, with the help of Ted Roberts, Barry Goldsmith, Ron Boatwood and Bill Fahey took thousands of man-hours of work spread over more than 10 years. At the end of this period the steam engine was returned to working order. 

The 1990s was a difficult time for the FVMM. Financial and organisational problems lead to diminishing membership, to the point that the club was nearly dissolved.

Ted Roberts (left) and Harvy Hall with the restored K92 locomotive, c. 1995, Photo: FVMM

In 1997 K92 was moved for storage to Taieri Gorge Railway workshop in Dunedin to undergo further restoration.

It was subsequently sold to the Waimea Plains Railway Charitable Trust in Mandeville, where it still is today. 

In 1998 Bill Christie agreed to be the president of the dwindling club and co-opted his wife Derene as the club’s secretary.

“I was reluctant to take on this role. We never had enough members at our Tuesday night meetings to make up a quorum, because our members were older farming people who don’t like going out at night. So, I changed the meeting time to 10am on Sundays and we had plenty coming. We raised money to improve the club’s financial position by charging for storage of private machinery. We sold railway sleepers and went door to door to increase our membership. We used to do regular cook-ups with sausages and mashed spuds, which were very popular,” Mrs Christie recalls.

The couple stayed in their respected roles for 12 years, until 2009, when Brian Risk was elected president.

He acknowledges the Christies by saying “they held the club together”. 

“The problem was we weren’t getting a lot of support from the council or anybody. Interest dropped until 2008 when we sold part of our land, where the Placemakers is today. We got a lot of money for that land and from that day on we built 6 new sheds. This created a lot of enthusiasm and our membership increased threefold,” Risk says.

“Since then we restored about 50 vehicles."

"We were very lucky with some of our members being very generous and donating a lot of machinery and material that is at the Museum today."

FVMM members c.2021. Photo: Kevin Christie

"The Museum has about 70 vehicles in total."

"We still receive donated equipment."

In 2008 we obtained a charitable status. It was the best thing we ever did.”

He gives credit to Bob Anderson, FVMM current secretary/treasurer, a position he has held since 2008.

Anderson and wife Maxine, came to Te Anau in 2006 from Auckland, where he worked as an IT manager.

“I remember when Bob and Maxine arrived. We were surprised, because we were all country folks here and they were townies. But Bob soon made his mark on the Museum. Without his expertise we’d be struggling,” Risk admits.

About 200 people attended the open day and the anniversary celebrations, according to the current Museum president, Kevin Christie, who took office in 2019.

“It was a great success and we would like to do it again next year, possibly every year”.

He talks about the future of the Museum.

“We want to build one last shed on the north side of the property, primarily for engines and motorbikes. We are currently waiting for a building consent."

"We also want to revamp one of our sheds. The main focus is decluttering. We’ve given away or returned to the owners everything we had more than one of. This will be a display area for interesting motorbikes, outboard motors and stationary engines."

"There will also be a farming section,” Christie explains.

He says the future is interesting.

“The Museum plays a very important role in the community."

"Our members are mostly retired. It gives them the opportunity to get out of the house and do something meaningful and useful. The association and camaraderie are important."

"But we are getting thinned out gradually."

"As older guys we understand how this historic machinery works, and we’d like to pass this knowledge to the younger generation."

"We’had about six new members join last year. They are a breath of fresh air.”

FVMM foundation members

(transcribed from a hand-written application for registering FVMM as an incorporated society. Some details are illegible)

1. E J Lane, carpenter, 16 Henry St, Te Anau

2. ???, Book Clerk, 66 Matai St, Te Anau

3. ???, no occupation, 35 Henry St, Te Anau

4. K Muir, contractor, 17 Mackinnon Loop, Te Anau

5. B Brown, 11 Henry St, Te Anau

6. S G Galland, farmer, No 1 Rd, Te Anau

7. J R Cook, farmer, No 1 Rd, Te Anau

8. A A Small, driver, 5 Miro St, Te Anau

9. J F Small, farrier, ???? Te Anau 

10. R Boatwood, contractor, Te Anau

11. D A Swaney, coach driver, 66 Mackinnon Loop, Te Anau

12. N Nicholson and R G McDonald, tractor driver, 31 Gunn St, Te Anau

13. P M Wilson, 92 Mackinnon Loop, Te Anau

14. C J Inder (?), mechanic, 80 Matai St, Te Anau

15. A J Williams, grader driver, Te Anau

Presidents of the FVMM

Edward John Lane 1978 -19??

Gordon Harold Wilson 19?? - 1998

William Christie 1998 – 2009

Brian Risk 2009 - 2018

Alistair Hartley 2018 - 2019

Kevin Christie 2019 - present