MAVtech's marvellous machines have changed how history was made. From the high end equipment which spread news and connected us to the world to the snapshot cameras and camcorders which democratized memory this technology has shaped the world we live in. Experience audio visual history including phonographs, records, still and movie cameras, projectors and reel to reel tape recorders. And check out the cinema posters which convinced everybody to buy their tickets.
Step back in time with vintage movies and newsreels on their original film and see the advertising slides by local Foxton businesses.
To get the inside story on our collection, come along and speak with our knowledgeable volunteers. We are updating our displays and signage so keep visiting- there's always something new!
MAVtech is part of Kete Horowhenua- our district’s online archive. Researchers of local history will love our selection of cinema advertising slides which showcased businesses and events- but we have many different items on Kete and most have a connection to Horowhenua.
Follow this link to discover them! https://horowhenua.kete.net.nz/search?q=mavtech
PERMANENT Display
What's On TV?
From Black and White to Glorious Colour
Television arrived late to New Zealand with the first public broadcasts going live in 1960. Even then, some large towns like New Plymouth didn't receive TV until 1966. But once it arrived there was no stopping 'the box' with colour arriving in 1973 in time for the Commonwealth Games. Viewing choices doubled in 1975 with the introduction of a second channel! A far cry from the twenty five Freeview channels on air nationwide today.
MAVtech displays a collection of classic televisions including some from the beginning of TV in Aotearoa. We are also the proud owners of one of the country's first colour broadcasting cameras.
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PERMANENT Display
Hold That Pose!
A Collection of Classic Cameras
Fjordland National Park was founded when Parliament saw it's beauty in a photograph. Magic lantern shows encourgaed many immigrants to leave their old lives behind and move to our shores. Photography has attracted tourists to New Zealand since 1901 when the government released the world's first official tourism photos - New Zealand has truely been shaped by the camera!
From early glass plate marvels to the dawn of the digital age, MAVtech is home to some of the strangest and fascinating cameras in New Zealand. Discover a Kodak Brownie from 1901 which took just eight photos per film, and see the flashbulbs which burned so hot they set bins on fire. You'll meet the cameras which captured the news, as well as a cunningly disguised model used by the last Tzar of Russia's secret police.
With hundreds of cameras in MAVtech's collection the models in our display change every few months. So be sure to visit us, and keep up to date. But it's not just cameras in the cabinet- there's glass negatives, photographs and some very retro advertising to see.
PERMANENT Display
Lights, Cameras, Action!
Filming History and Home
Ever since the first flickering films were shown to an amazed Auckland in 1895 New Zealanders have marveled at movies. MAVtech is home to some of the film cameras the National Film Unit used to make their iconic cinema newsreels - including the award winning underwater film 'Freshwater Dive'. Many of these newsreels are shown during MAVtech's monthly movie nights.
New Zealand's history wasn't just filmed by professionals- you'll also see the machines which made our home movies including the very first model of 8mm camera ever built. When you had less than four minutes per film, the memories became even more precious and our collection includes the projectors and viewers which brought them to life.
But, by the mid-1980s film was out of fashion for home movies and video camcorders were the lastest big thing. MAVtech displays the first generation of camcorders ranging from the amateur to the professional. You'll even see one set up on it's tripod ready to record a graduation or wedding!
PERMANENT DISPLAY
Meltona Player Piano
Before there was a radio in every home mechanical music was how you heard tunes on demand. In 1925 our Meltona Player Piano was the top of the range. It was sold in Wellington for 145 pounds- around $15,000 in today's money. As well as being a full size piano the Meltona also played music automatically when you 'loaded' a song into it's reel and moved the pedals with your feet.
If you want to make some music, one of our volunteers will show you how to play a vintage melody with no experience necessary!
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PERMANENT DISPLAY
Our Master's Voice
MAVtech's collection of gramophones and phonographs stretches from 1903 to the dawn of the CD era. Some were large and ornate, often dominating the rooms they were placed in. Others were compact models which were pride of place at a picnic. Tucked in amongst them is a 1980s Sony Walkman which ushered in a whole new way of listening to music.
Many of our players are still working and our volunteers can happily take one for a spin during an open day.
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Permanent Display
The Magic of Projection
Long before Hollywood, motion pictures or even photography audiences gathered in darkened halls to gaze at cartoons projected onto the wall. MAVtech's projector collection ranges from those early magic lanterns and their slides to the Kodak carousel projectors which dominated boardrooms and family slideshows.
But the pictures didn't just stay still! We also have motion picture projectors which belonged in schools and homes going right back to one of the earliest home projectors from Pathe which was made in 1912. The old film reels they played are also on display from rescues at sea to the antics of the Saturday morning cartoons.
Permanent Display
The Reel Thing!
Long before the Sony Walkman made the miniture cassette tape popular the large reel-to-reel tape recorders ruled the audio world. In regular use since the 1930s these magnificent music machines were brought into the recording studio by Bing Crosby and soon became the standard for studio mastertapes. Listeners who wanted nothing but the best bought reel-to-reel machines for their homes to play their favourite music.
But the impact of this technology went far beyond music. Specialist machines were used to store data for early computers, starting with the hydrogen bomb tests of the 1950s.
Only a handful of companies still make the tapes these machines use. MAVtech has a collection of reel-to-reel tape recorders from when they were the last word in audio quality.
But the impact of this technology went far beyond music. Specialist machines were used to store data for early computers, starting with the hydrogen bomb tests of the 1950s.
Only a handful of companies still make the tapes these machines use. MAVtech has a collection of reel-to-reel tape recorders from when they were the last word in audio quality.
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PERMANENT DISPLAY
Play it Again!
When OMC released 'How Bizarre' in 1995 international listeners just couldn't place where in the world the song came from. Kiwis had no trouble- it sounded like us. But it took time to cultivate a local sound and for many years the hits we listened to were from overseas.
MAVtech looks after the eccletic mix of LPs, 78's and phonograph cylinders which hold some of our earliest music going right back to the first wholly New Zealand produced record- 1949's 'Blue Smoke' (we also have one of the machines which pressed many early New Zealand records). We even have a record made by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries which recorded songs about cattle health for farmers (that one didn't make the charts).
But the story of Aotearoa's recorded music goes back even further to our first international hit 'The Invercargill March' written in 1901. Today the locals don't know it but the United States Marines certainly do......
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Permanent Display
We're on Air!
In 1921 Otago University's Professor Robert Jack made New Zealand's first radio broadcast. From a few humble stations criss-crossed around the country emerged the world's first live Parliamentary broadcasts, 'pirate' radio on the high seas, censors jamming signals and revitalised Te Reo riding the airwaves of iwi radio.
But before you could listen to any of that you needed a radio set and MAVtech's radios would have catered for every budget. From New Zealand made units to British models made with a Royal Warrant we have all kinds of radio memories- including the toilet roll holder radio which amazingly never caught on....