Wahi Kahuika Owaka Museum will be celebrating prominent historical figure Les Lockerbie with the opening of a new "Lockerbie Room" on Saturday, November 2 at 1pm.
For more than 40 years, Owaka has been home to parts of the Lockerbie collection, named after Catlins-born Les, a man passionate about history and archaeology.
Les Lockerbie was born at Maclennan, the Catlins, in 1911 and grew up in the area where he later collected taonga from 1924 to 1936.
He was also the education officer at the Otago Museum from 1947 to 1976.
He was always interested in archaeology, which was something he had picked up from his father, Owaka Museum manager Mike McPhee said.
"They used to walk along the beach together when Les was a boy, and his dad would show him things of interest.
"At that time you could just find artefacts lying on the Papatowai Beach, just down from Maclennan.
"That’s what inspired Les to get into archaeology."
Mr Lockerbie died in 1996, and the main collection was transferred to the museum in December 2007 by Mr Lockerbie’s daughter Frances White and her husband Stephen.
The room will house the artefacts discovered by Les for all to see when it opens next month.
There will be a welcome karakia (prayer) by Ruth Baldwin and a performance by the Catlins Area School.
Then there will be a book launch about Les by Malcolm Deverson, various talks and short films by guests and then the opening of the room.
