BY JUNELYN KELLY

Young women from Solomon Islands and overseas are busy preserving the cultural heritage of our islands.  

Under the watchful guidance of National Museum curator, Grinta Ale’eke and Nick Dixon from the New Zealand Voluntary Service Abroad (VSA), the young ladies have been cleaning, reorganising and electronically cataloguing all the cultural heritage artifacts of the National Museum before they get installed back into the main exhibition hall.

The museum has been closed for renovation but should be reopened soon.

The cleaning and cataloguing work is a multinational effort: Margareth Dawea and Lucy Florita are young Solomon Islanders who will be working for the Museum when it reopens. 

Natalie and Claire Turner are the nieces of British High Commissioner, HE Paul Turner. 

The twins, who have just graduated from school, are currently spending a month in Solomons working on voluntary programmes; they plan to go to university next year. 

Mr Turner visited his nieces at work yesterday and was given a tour of the premises and the thousands of artefacts in storage. 

He said it was a hugely enriching experience seeing young people discovering and preserving Solomon’s history.

Mr Dixon is working for the Ministry of Tourism and National Museum.  

A key part of his work is organising the permanent exhibition at the new “Number 1 Haus” Museum in Tulagi where some of the artefacts will be shipped. 

The building is the former residence of the first British Commissioner for Solomon Islands, Charles Woodford, and was the centre of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate until World War II. 

The reconstruction of the residence was completed last year through the support of the Ministry of Tourism.  

New Zealand and the UK are providing financial and technical support to the “Number 1 Haus” exhibition which is planned to open in June.

Photo: Supplied

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