Katikati's 'hands on” heritage will be restored in the shape of its own museum thanks to a $180,000 grant from the Western Bay of Plenty District Council.

During this week's Long Term Plan deliberations, councillors agreed a heritage museum in Katikati will receive a $60,000 grant per year for the next three years to enable the heritage museum to set up base in the former Katikati Fire Station.

The Katikati Heritage Museum will be re-housed at the former Katikati Fire Station. Photo: File.

Council has granted the $60,000 as an interim ‘seed fund' for the Museum Trust so they can apply for external funding for its ongoing operation.

The grant is subject to the trust providing a sustainable business plan for the museum.

The decision comes 12 months on from the Katikati Heritage Museum closing its doors due to financial difficulties, with council taking ownership of the collection to ensure it is preserved.

'I'm really excited about what's happening,” says Katikati Community Board deputy chairman Brendan Gibbs. 'It will be really good for Katikati.”

The former fire station will only be refitted to become suitable to house the collection on an interim basis.

Council expects a community organisation, such as a museum trust, would take over the costs of running the museum within three years.

Brendan adds: 'Certainly it's a good place for starters, it's not a long term ideal.

'For the meantime I think it's fantastic because it's such a hands on museum. There aren't many museums in New Zealand where you can put your hands on things.”

The museum's entire collection won't fit into the old fire station, so static displays would be set up and changed throughout the year.

But first on the agenda is setting up the permanent fixture of the ‘School House', helping students discover the history of Katikati – and New Zealand – through the main theme of schools and life in the early 1900s.

Students will discover what school used to be like through early readers, blackboards and slates, strict rules and traditional subjects such as arithmetic, moral and physical instruction, geography and recitation.

'It's going to be a permanent fixture because we have lots of schools coming in on a regular basis from far and wide, like Rotorua and the Waikato, to see the school house,” says Brendan.

In its LTP documentation, council outlined that although its current financial priorities are to reduce debt and focus on other services, if the community wants to establish a museum in their area, it will consider supporting them.