Departure of museum boss hailed

SUNDAY STAR-TIMES

Vanda Vitali

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Mountaineer Graeme Dingle has welcomed the departure of Auckland War Memorial Museum's controversial Canadian director and says foreigners should not be appointed in charge of the country's treasures.

Vanda Vitali resigned suddenly last night.

"I just think this is a lesson in employing foreigners to look after our treasures," said Mr Dingle, a close friend of Sir Edmund Hillary who accused the museum of bullying Sir Ed's children in a dispute about his legacy last year.

He said museums were important and those leading them needed to be sensitive to local issues.

The chairman of the Auckland Museum Trust Board, William Randall, said Dr Vitali's departure was by mutual agreement and came for "a variety of reasons".

Dr Vitali said: "The board's vision and mine are diverging."

She caused controversy last May when she clashed with the Hillary family over the use of his papers.

In his will, Sir Ed left the museum a collection of writings, diaries and photographs, but a bitter row erupted over a clause which allowed his children access to the material.

A court battle between the two parties was averted in July after the intervention of Prime Minister John Key's office.

Peter Hillary said at the time that Dr Vitali was "very difficult to deal with". He did not want to comment yesterday.

But Mr Dingle said he believed relationships with the museum would improve once Dr Vitali was gone. "I hope so, they've still got a whole lot of my stuff and I just hope it's looked after better than it would have been with her."

Irishman Michael Houlihan, 61, has been appointed to head Te Papa, replacing former chief executive Seddon Bennington, who died while tramping in the Tararua Range in July last year.

Mr Dingle did not criticise that appointment but said: "If they are from outside of the country they need to be open to and willing to understand us as a people."

Since starting at the museum in 2007, Dr Vitali has also upset World War II veterans by raising the possibility of changing its name.

Deputy director Tim Walker quit six months into the job, reportedly after falling out with her.

Dr Vitali will finish work at the museum on April 9. An interim director is to be named soon and the search for a successor will begin immediately.

Dr Randall said that among Dr Vitali's achievements were her successes in revitalising the museum's public programmes and exhibitions.

Dr Vitali said she was "very proud of what we have achieved in the past three years at the museum, particularly with regards to increasing the relevance of this iconic institution to the people of Auckland and New Zealand.

"Much of the work I was charged with when I was recruited has been completed, and we are beginning to see a wonderful public response," she said.

"Aucklanders are coming back to their museum again, enjoying the exhibitions and programmes, and participating in informed debates on major scientific and cultural topics."

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