Museum of transport and technology report from the Chief Executive/Museum Director

The Financial Year 2024 – 2025 has been a very successful year, despite the ongoing economic challenges.

The priority has been to continue  to deliver on the 2019 -2029 MOTAT Master Strategy whilst upholding the responsibility set out in the MOTAT Act 2000.

International Recognition: Te Puawānanga, our science and technology exhibition which opened in May 2024, won the International Exhibition of the Year at the Museum + Heritage global awards in London. This investment has proved highly successful in driving visitation in its first year. The exhibition is specifically designed to inspire the region’s tamariki to take a lifelong interest in science, technology, engineering, art, and maths. This experience is also one of the cornerstones for the development of the Western Springs Precinct as a science, technology, and ecological precinct with a cultural overlay.

This was the second year in a row of winning at the Museum + Heritage Awards, after winning the Best Use of Digital last year for Te Kotiu (in the Aviation Hall).

The museum has also been shortlisted for the inaugural ICOM Sustainability in Museums Award. The shortlisted projects were selected from a pool of 130 initiatives spanning 60 countries.

The heritage renewal of the passing loop, Motions Road crossing, and s-bend for our tramway was successfully completed. We are proud that we are able to continue running the tramway at no cost for visitors, it remains a very popular part of the Western Springs Precinct infrastructure. We are grateful for the support from Council and Tātāki Auckland Unlimited, the “Adopt a Tram” campaign was also very successful.

Visitation is always an interesting challenge because we have to charge admission unlike the Museum, Maritime Museum, and Art Gallery. It has been really pleasing that despite this, and the ongoing cost of living crisis, visitation jumped by 11.9% to 278,627 an increase on last year of 29,738. With the exception of a visitation spike in 2017/18 we have never seen visitor numbers as high as this and we expect to see continued growth in visitation this year.

• Non levy income was over $4 million, an increase of 6% on last year and one of our best years ever.

• Visitor satisfaction was 97% up 3 % on last year, we had 104,000 visits to our Collections on line an increase of over 20%.

• Incredibly greenhouse emissions have been reduced by 64% since 2016.

We are grateful to see our team’s pride in working for MOTAT once again exceeding the Aotearoa benchmark:engagement increased by 3% to 69% (up from 53% in 2015 when the surveys started).

Managing the tramway in the Viaduct has continued to be popular, despite being ticketed and the closure of the Viaduct bridge for much of the year. It particularly worked well with the Viaduct lido for this growing community.

Total tram passengers increased by 16.5% on last year to 247,029 – this is the most passengers we have ever had on the trams in a year by quite a margin despite a partial closure of the tramway while we were doing the works.

Education has been outstanding with an increase in total school students of 5.6% on last year.

On the collection front we have accessioned 957 objects, an increase on last year of 77.9%.  On the transport side, we were honoured to accept a donation of the Lancer 4L hang glider. This hang glider was used by the donor locally in Auckland, particularly at Muriwai, during the 1980s and 1990s.

The highlight donation of the year was the Wisk Generation 5, autonomous, battery-operated aircraft now exhibited in the Hautu Aunoa / Auto Pilot exhibition. Not only was it fantastic to get this object, it has been brilliant seeing it put on display so quickly.

Our investigation in relation to the remediation of the issues associated with the heritage Pumphouse and the Aviation Collection Workshop continued during the year.

Our dedicated team of volunteers have once again played an integral role in our operations, with many successes across the year, including their contribution to our Tram Trailer 21 and Rail Coach A1819 restorations and the repair of our differential analyser (to mention only a few highlight projects).

Our Kaupapa Māori Committee continues to support and guide the development of MOTAT and the team to build on our understanding of te ao Māori and tikanga Māori in line with our obligations under the MOTAT Act.

Despite the ongoing challenges of paying down the $10,000,000 loan we have continued to focus on providing value for money to Auckland’s ratepayers. This includes initiatives such as working with Auckland Conventions to deliver corporate events. All non-levy revenue is used to help with the cost of our heritage capital renewals and reducing the cost to serve for the ratepayers (which is enshrined in the MOTAT Act Section 12(h)).

We thank the Mayor and Deputy Mayor for signing the Three Year Funding Agreement from 1 July 2025, aligning us with a similar agreement for the Auckland War Memorial Museum which started a year earlier.

We are delighted to be a member of Auckland’s Cultural Regional Alliance and have worked through the year to focus on achieving better outcomes for Auckland through collaboration. Our working relationship with Tātaki Auckland Unlimited, as the landowner of Great North Road, and the development of the Te Wai Ōrea Western Springs Precinct and other opportunities continue.

The Governing Body continues to investigate the review or repeal of the MOTAT Act 2000 (A Private Act of Parliament).

In conclusion the Museum continues to progress professionally and whilst we are independent organisations we have been grateful for the closer and positive relationship through the Society Chair. Our financial support for the Society to date has been supported by our Board, despite our financial challenges, because of this positive relationship.

- Craig Hickman-Goodall, Chief Executive/Museum Director Museum of Transport and Technology