Wikipedia:Meetup/Mohua / Golden Bay

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An in-person meetup was held in Mohua / Golden Bay during the second weekend in February 2024 (10 and 11 Feb). Wikipedians and Wikimedians, both new and experienced, from throughout New Zealand were invited to attend this event. The focus of this meetup was Mohua / Golden Bay.

Outcomes edit

Eleven Wikimedians attended the weekend. They were from Golden Bay (the host), Christchurch, Wellington, Auckland, and Sydney. The event mainly focussed on content creation as opposed to presentations and seminars, apart from spontaneous interludes – dashes and uploading videos were two topics that did get discussed, and the finer details of MOS:DASH caused some hilarity.

Mohua is hard to get to, and many Wikimedians who would usually turn up couldn't make it, but joined in remotely. It was clear that the area was getting a lot of attention prior to the event, with many editors focussing their energies on it. As such, the table below is an incomplete reflection of what really happened.

During the event and immediately afterwards, we created 11 articles, significantly improved 4 articles, created 15 categories on Wikimedia Commons, uploaded photos to 14 Commons categories, created 17 Wikidata entries, and significantly improved 2 Wikidata items. Thus far, 4 of the articles have been nominated for "Did you know?" that is featured on the homepage. Those articles are Mussel Inn, Richard Washbourn, Onekaka Power Station, and Cobb Power Station. The table below shows the event details:

Topic Article new Article expanded Commons new upload photos WD new WD impr. DYK
Mohua editathon yes
Collingwood Area School expand yes
Mussel Inn yes yes yes
Richard Washbourn yes yes yes yes yes
Parapara Inlet yes
Cobb Power Station expand yes
Onekaka Power Station yes yes yes yes yes
Onekaka Ironworks yes yes yes yes
Kehu yes yes yes yes
Langford Store yes
Milnthorpe Park and Arboretum yes
Milnthorpe Park Society yes
Man, Slasher, Wheelbarrow: the story of Milnthorpe Park Arboretum yes
Unit 10 yes yes yes
Pillar Point Lighthouse yes
Pillar Point yes
HealthPost yes yes
Anatoki Salmon yes yes yes yes
New Zealand King Salmon yes
visitor attractions in Tasman yes
Fifeshire Foundation yes yes
Tākaka marble yes yes yes yes
Kairuru yes
Herbert Henderson yes
Jim Henderson yes
Anatoki River suspension bridge yes yes yes
One Spec Creek yes yes
Farewell Spit Tours yes yes yes
Bulmer Cavern yes
Nettlebed Cave yes
Robert Jenkin yes
Strangers in Mohua: Abel Tasman’s Exploration of New Zealand yes
Farewell Spit yes
Kahurangi National Park yes
total 11 4 15 14 17 2 4

Most of the attendees stayed at the host's property, which made the edit-a-thon different in character to previous events. Many of the editors got to know each other much better as a consequence. Everyone said that it was a great weekend. Attendees especially enjoyed the personal connections and informal idea-sharing that happened throughout the weekend.

Programme edit

Mohua programme (24-hr clock)
Day Time Activity Notes
Fri 11:00–16:00 WANZ committee meeting at Axel's place
Fri 18:00 Dinner Mussel Inn in Onekaka; if others are already in the Bay, please feel free to join us
Sat 10:00–16:00 edit-a-thon at Collingwood Area School (hall)
Sat 18:00 Informal dinner Rootsbar
Sun 10:00–16:00 edit-a-thon at Collingwood Area School (hall)

Logistics edit

The meetup is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, 10 and 11 February 2024. The executive of Wikimedia Aotearoa New Zealand (WANZ) will hold a planning retreat on the Friday prior.

Mohua / Golden Bay is one of the most beautiful areas of New Zealand. It is a holiday hotspot, and the usual population of the area grows threefold during January, with February still reasonably busy. Mohua is also tucked away in the north-west corner of the South Island and not just round the corner from Nelson; it's two hours by car from there. The Tākaka Aerodrome is signposted as "Tākaka Airport" but the planes leaving here are tiny. Wikipedians and Wikimedians interested in attending should therefore give consideration to their logistics. Flights may book out long before and accommodation can be scarce. It pays to arrange logistics early. And Golden Bay is definitely worth a visit, so why not make this part of your 2024 summer holidays? Collingwood Area School provides us with the weekend venue, hence don't book a spot on the Pōhara campground and think that you'll be close by. Nearby campgrounds are in:

  • Collingwood (Collingwood Holiday Park, 6 William Street, Collingwood 7073) – 8.9 km from the local host's house and 850 m from Collingwood Area School
  • Tukurua (Golden Bay Holiday Park, 99 Tukurua Road, Parapara) – 3.7 km from the local host's house and 10.5 km from Collingwood Area School

You need to bring a laptop, or a camera if you just want to take photos, and maybe reference books if you have a certain topic in mind that you'd like to write about.

Event registration and grants edit

To register go to the Aotearoa New Zealand Events page. To help offset costs, we will be charging a nominal $20 for the event to be payable beforehand via our website; this will be put towards venue hire and catering. The committee has made $200 travel grants available on request; these will be paid out after the meetup. To apply please email info@wikimedia.nz.

Before you start editing please add yourself to the Dashboard by clicking this link and authorising it. This tracks the progress of the group and will help the organisers report back to the funder and supporters of the event.

Suggested activities edit

Anything Golden Bay. Here are some suggestions for new articles or things to do.

 
Mohua place names at Tākaka Library, unveiled in August 2023
  • Go on photo excursions and upload your work to Wikimedia Commons.
  • Work the te reo translations of place names into existing articles.
  • Expand the existing place articles especially history section, including links to mana whenua (local Māori nations) / hapū and iwi. The Wikipedia:GLAM/Auckland Museum/Suburbs has a good guide and suggestions of where to find this type of information.

Goldrush edit

 
Lightband Gully goldmining memorial on the former highway in Parapara

Mining history edit

 
Druggans Dam

Geography edit

 
Uruwhenua

Tangata whenua edit

Communities edit

Other edit

 
Bainham Store

Expand edit

biographical
 
Perrine Moncrieff
physical
 
When they approach the main runway from the southwest, pilots first check whether there's traffic on SH60 – no kidding

People edit

Add your name to the list by adding an asterisk and three tildes like this: * ~~~

Attending edit

Hoping to come / thinking about it edit

Unable to come edit

Things done edit

 
Collingwood Area School

Media coverage edit

Story in GB Weekly of 16 February 2024 here. Turn to page 6.

References edit

  1. ^ "Onekakā Ironworks". Engineering New Zealand Te Ao Rangahau. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
  2. ^ Lash, Max. "Tyree, Fred and Tyree, William". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
  3. ^ Hindmarsh, Gerard (7 September 2019). "Top secret World War II base not really under radar in Golden Bay". The Nelson Mail. Retrieved 9 February 2024.