The Museum Stand is part of the historic and well-loved sporting ground, the Basin Reserve. The swampy land comprised in the Basin Reserve was surveyed in 1840 by New Zealand Company surveyor Captain Mein Smith as a possible site for a sheltered inner mooring for boats, to be accessed via a canal. The proposal was not advanced, and work was forever shelved by the 1855 earthquake that raised much of the land around Te Aro and made an inner harbour impracticable. The name remains from this proposal.
In 1857 the land was set aside as a recreational reserve and was drained in 1863 using prison labour from nearby Mount Cook Gaol. In 1866 a group of Wellington citizens formed a committee to develop the ground, with the assistance of the Provincial Council Board of Works, so it could be used for cricket matches. The first game was played on 11 January 1868 between the Wellington Volunteers and the men of the HMS Falcon. The lease of the reserve for sporting purposes was renewed to a committee of three, who represented the interests of the general public, the Caledonian Games Committee and cricketers, in 1870. This purpose was secured in 1873 when the Provincial Council vested the reserve in the Wellington City Council “for such purposes of public utility.” Thus it remains to this day.
The first grandstand was built by the Caledonian Sports Association in 1868. It was demolished in 1923 to make way for what is now called the Museum Stand, which was by this date in a dilapidated state, provoking adverse comments from cricketers. The Council called for entries in a competition to design a new pavilion. The successful entrant was an architect by the name of P.H Graham. However, the City Engineer’s Department was not familiar with his work and expressed doubts about the suitability of his design. He was paid the prize money of £100, but was informed that his involvement was at an end. Aggrieved, he pursued the Council in an attempt to obtain a contract to prepare working drawings and to guarantee his supervision of the project. This was the usual outcome of such competitions. He involved the New Zealand Institute of Architects in the matter, but all protests were fruitless. A completely new pavilion was designed by the City Engineer’s Department. Contracting firm Higgins and Arcus Brothers submitted a successful tender, and work started in late 1924, supervised by the City Engineer. The new pavilion, which cost £16, 710, was officially opened by the Mayor Robert Wright.
The stand was used by those prepared to pay a higher ticket price to sit in relative comfort. Patrons entered the grounds from Sussex Street, and walked up a grand, sweeping staircase to reach their seats. Today, the entrance is at the base of the pavilion, and the old side entrances are blocked off. The cricketers’ changing facilities were on the north side of the pavilion. Aside from the sporting ground, the pavilion was the central feature of the reserve, a status that it held until 1981.
That year, as part of a major redevelopment of the Basin Reserve, a new stand was constructed to the north of the Museum Stand. Known as the R.A. Vance Stand, it included facilities for the members and players, and the ground, previously rectangular in shape, was re-orientated into an oval shape. The Museum Stand, which had been declining in status and suffering from lack of maintenance for some time, was no longer side on to the action and was further marginalised as a result. The building was re-roofed in the 1990s and the grandstand and WC facilities are now used by the general public.
However, the growing interest in New Zealand’s cricketing heritage gave it a new purpose. In 1986 the Council approved the establishment of a cricket museum in the main reception room under the stand. Charged an annual rental of $1,000, it took over residency on 1 December 1986 and has remained in the building ever since. New Zealand Cricket (NZC) took over funding responsibilities in 2003, and unused rooms in the bowels of the stand were turned into exhibition space. The museum is now jointly run by NZC and the Wellington City Museums’ Trust, and has a full-time curator.
The Museum Stand has been used by patrons at a vast number of events, even though the Basin Reserve is now largely associated with cricket. Some of the activities that have taken place at the ground since 1924 include hockey, rugby union, rugby league, Australian Rules, cycling, brass band displays, soccer, school sports, athletics, baseball, softball, military tattoos, open air religious services, concerts and fireworks displays, all eagerly watched from the seats of the Museum Stand.
The Basin Reserve as a complete site has significant historic value. Aside from the Museum Stand features include the R.A Vance Stand, groundsmen’s shed, playing oval and picket fence, Reid and Dempster gates, former Midland St Patrick’s Cricket clubrooms, the main fence, William Wakefield Memorial, toilets, scoreboard, light towers and embankment.
