Ancient war machines on show

WARWICK SMITH/Manuwatu Standard

ANCIENT WEAPONRY: Murray Hill gets up close and personal with the working parts of Marius, a Roman-style ballista being developed for an exhibition which Te Manawa hopes to put on tour. When completed, the machine is expected to be able to fire a heavy arrow more than 250 metres.

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Te Manawa Museum is preparing an exhibition of ancient war machines, which it hopes will tour the country after going on show in Palmerston North.

Entitled Slings and Arrows, the exhibition will showcase the evolution of pre-gunpowder artillery during classical and medieval times, and is scheduled to have its first showing in Te Manawa from August 8 to October 11.

The machines were developed by a Palmerston North amateur experimental archaeologist, Murray Hill.

"I decided that the best way to learn about the machines was to research and build them," he said yesterday.

"Once I made one or two of them, I was hooked."

He now hopes to make his research into pre-gunpowder artillery the basis of a postgraduate degree.

Slings and Arrows will feature eight large-scale models of seige engines such as ballistas, mangonels and trebuchets, plus 26 one-12th-scale models and displays of illustrations, text and diagrams.

Social history curator Tony Rasmussen said the museum had received a science grant to assist with the preparation of the exhibits.

The project had its beginning around Anzac Day last year, when Te Manawa presented a small display of seige engines some of Mr Hill's earlier models.

"It was very well received and brought in lots of visitors, so we decided to investigate the possibility of a more sustainable exhibition with the ability to tour," Mr Rasmussen said.

Advance notice of the exhibition had been posted on a museums' website and was attracting interest already.

Several schools had also enquired about the itinerary.

"We anticipate the exhibition to be particularly popular with school groups," he said.