The Huia Settlers Museum

11/10/2026

A reminder we are holding our Annual Ivy Hinge Fruit Cake Competition on Labour Day Monday, 26th October at The Huia Settlers Museum. This is in conjunction with the Huia-Cornwallis Community Group Annual Art and Craft Market.
We sell these cakes after judging for much needed funds for the museum. Your prize is your name engraved on the Silver plate and a certificate.
Anyone can enter.
No icing on cakes.
Please drop off at museum on the day before 10am or you can drop off on that weekend while we are open on Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th 1.30-4pm.

We look forward to having many cakes to judge.
Thank you for your ongoing support, we appreciate it.

05/10/2026

Can you help the Titirangi Soldiers Memorial Church find descendants from the past?

Do you recognise one of these names?

Inside the Titirangi Soldiers Memorial Church is a black granite memorial tablet, unveiled in April 1926, bearing the names of 13 local men who lost their lives during the First World War.

They were:

P.T. Armstrong
J.J. Bishop
W.N.C. Bishop
J.C. Burns
W. Carns
C. Green
J.D. Hughes
G. Pitcher
J. Rankin
P. Rawlinson
T.C. Savage
C.V. Tarlin
O. Yorke

A further plaque was later added in memory of T.J.A. Groves, who died from the effects of his war service in 1925.

Now we’re going to start digging deeper.

Over the coming weeks, we’ll be exploring the stories behind these names, who these men were, where they lived, their families, their lives before the war, their service, and how they came to be remembered here in Titirangi.

And this is where we’d love your help.

Are you a relative of one of these men, or do you have a connection to one of the families?

Perhaps you have an old photograph, letter, newspaper clipping or family story that could help us learn more.

We’d love to hear from you.

These aren’t simply names on a memorial. They were local men with families, friendships, hopes and lives and we want to make sure their stories are remembered.

02/10/2026

Labour Day Market and our Annual Ivy Hinge Fruit Cake Competition is on.
In conjunction with the Huia-Cornwallis Community Group Labour Day Market The Huia Settlers Museum will be open, and selling second-hand goods, plus a small selection of jams, pickles, and honey. We also have for sale Huia Bird and Orpheus mugs, Huia Bird tea towels, and museum teaspoons.

If you would like to enter in the fruit cake competition, here are the details;

Any size fruit cake with no icing.
Entries must be at the museum by 10am, with your name and contact number.

Afterwards they are sold off in chunks, to raise money for the museum.
The winner gets their name engraved on the silver plate, 2nd place a certificate.

Date; Monday 26th October
Market open from 10.00am - 2pm.
Venue; Huia Hall and Huia Settlers Museum
1251 -1253 Huia Road, Huia

We look forward to seeing you there.
Please remember to bring cash. Bank transfer is available.

25/09/2026

We would like to give a big shout-out to Good in the Hood, which is a long-running community donation programme by NZ energy company Z Energy. It gives away 1 million annually to local charities and non-profit groups.
The Huia Settlers Museum was fortunate to be selected as one of this year's participants at Z Lincoln Road, Henderson. As this station was closed for renovations, the proceeds were shared among the 4 charities/nonprofit groups selected for that site.
Two Trustees represented the museum today at the funding presentation at Hub West Community Centre, Henderson. What a wonderful morning, hearing everyone's stories about their organisations and the voluntary work they do, ending with food for everyone to enjoy.
Thank you, Z Energy, for the $1250.00. We greatly appreciate this donation as we continue the costly work of repairing and maintaining our museum building.

21/09/2026

Thank you to everyone who supported the Huia Settlers Museum Oral History fundraising event on Sunday. It was a great success.
Many thanks to Harvey Stewart, our guest speaker, who spoke about the building of the dams and rails in the ranges. We thoroughly enjoyed the stories and film about the work that went into this infrastructure in the early 1900's.
For those who missed the event, it was recorded and will be available to view later. Thanks to Wayne Mckenzie for the donation towards this cost. Thanks to The Dispersion Group, for making the recording.
Thanks also to the Huia Community Group for the use of the hall for this event.
We appreciate all the support.

15/07/2026

We are saddened to hear that another one of our Life Long Members has passed away.
Moira Neal died on the 15th June 2026, a few days after celebrating her 90th birthday. She and her husband Barry, lived in Huia following Barry's retirement from the Methodist ministry. Moira's interests were many and varied: genealogy, her Scottish heritage, music, deaf education and of course the Huia Museum. Some years ago, they moved away to Hamilton. At her funeral Barry quoted a tribute from Moira's friend, Lois Mould , who had worked with her at the museum. "Moira was such a great supporter of the museum and I will always remember her dedication to the museum and the history of the area".
Rest in peace, Moira

06/07/2026

In Memoriam

We are saddened to learn that one of our Foundation members, Mrs Angela Marsden, has passed away at the age of 82. She served on the Foundation Committee and by the time the museum opened in March 1984, had become its President. In 2008, she was awarded Life Membership in recognition of her contribution. The planning, progress, and completion of the Museum project were made possible by the dedication and vision of people like her, and we remain deeply grateful for all she gave.
We send our sincere condolences to her family.

Below Angela Marsden with daughter's Penny and Janet at the opening of the Huia Settlers Museum.

06/07/2026

The Huia Settler's Museum is now selling NZ post themed tea towels for fundraising. Good quality. $15.00 each. Please help support us if you can, we appreciate your support

22/06/2026

The Huia Settler’s Museum would like to acknowledge the $500.00 from Trusts – Workshop – Kelston. The funds have been used to purchase Museum themed coffee mugs which we will sell to raise much needed funds to support our ongoing costs. The museum greatly appreciates the support from The Trusts

18/06/2026

We now have more designs of coffee mugs to help raise funds for the museum. Only $12.00 each. We appreciate any and all support for the museum. Limited stock.