MAVtech houses over one hunderd and fifty years of audio visual technology from the early 'magic lantern' projectors to video players and camcorders. We are home to over five million feet of film, 100,000 records and one very ingenious homemade boom box! MAVtech is a volunteer run museum and our team love to share their knowledge and experience with our guests.
MAVtech was founded by Foxton local Peter Edwards who had a passion for New Zealand's audio and visual technology and a vision for a museum which explained why they made us unique.
When Peter first opened the museum's doors in 1987 he displayed his personal collection- but MAVtech's displays were about to grow! The late 1980s were times of change for technology as digital was slowly replacing analogue. Businesses and government departments donated their obsolete equipment to MAVtech- equipment which is now an irreplaceable window into the past.
Today a volunteer Trust Board continues Peter's vision with the help of local supporters.
The original Coronation Hall (left) and the Hall in the early 1980s (right). Image Credit: Kete Horowhenua
The Coronation Hall
For over one hundred years the Coronation Hall has been part of Foxton community life. It was originally a wooden building opened in 1911 and named in honour of King George V's coronation. At that time Foxton was built on the flax industry with over fifty mills in the area, a railway station and a busy port. The Coronation Hall was social hub of the town and hosted meetings, shows, movies, weddings and all the celebrations of life. With the roads to Palmerston North still being sealed the Coronation Hall was the centre of Foxton’s social scene.
In 1926 the unthinkable happened and a fire destroyed the wooden Hall. But Foxton doesn’t give up easily and today’s building was planned, funded and built on the site within six months! With the movies being a popular past time the new hall was equipped with comfortable seats and a giant film screen. There was no Coronation in 1926, but the new building eventually became known by the old name.
The Hall was a 'picture palace'- a cinema with an ornate interior and a single, large screen. New Zealand's first purpose built cinema opened in 1910 in Wellington and they were soon found in almost every town, with travelling theatres servicing the smaller communities. These picture shows were more than just entertainment- in the years before television, cinema newsreels were the main way of seeing what was happening locally and around the world.
As the decades went by the Coronation Hall became seldom used and by the late 1970s it appeared that it had played it’s last picture show. But, in 1989 MAVtech founder Peter Edwards leased the building for the museum and even resurrected the cinema- saving it from demolition in the process. Today the Hall is owned by the Horowhenua District Council and is still home to MAVtech. The painting on the building is of Peter’s dog Max who is still intently listening to his master’s voice through a gramophone.
Our Supporters
MAVtech has been a part of the Foxton community for over thirty years- something which has only been possible because of our supporters!
New Zealand Lotteries Grants Board Eastern and Central Community Trust National Services Te Paerangi
