Saved from the Wreckage

I visited Wellington's Museum of Wellington a couple of days ago and found it to be a very well designed and beautifully presented little museum - not that it was my first visit; this more a reiteration of my enjoyment of the small, intimate displays, the painting/mural entitled "Wahine" by James Turkington (1966), that was recovered from the wreckage of the vessel Wahine, that sank off the Wellington coast in 1968. It's part of the museum's very moving Wahine Gallery, which is a memorial to the Cook Strait tragedy. Although this mural had only been submerged for a few months before it was recovered, it was already encrusted with barnacles and small mussels. After cleaning and restoration though, only a few near-invisible scars remain on the formica surface. www.museumofwellington.co.nz