Brickell’s Life Captured By Photos

By John Freer

Providing the story of Coromandel’s Driving Creek creator Barry Brickell in digital form will come to fruition in November.

This is 51 years after Barry established his pottery which is now one of the leading tourist attractions on the Coromandel Peninsula.

From his steam driven kiln, his pottery and art works to the world-famous Snake Railway and Zipline, Barry’s life has been captured in over 24,000 photographs and images which are being digitised for public access.

In November, “Barry’s Doo” is being held to recognise 50 years since he purchased the site and embarked on the Driving Creek adventure. It is 51 years, but like many things with last year’s wash-out, the celebrations were delayed 12-months.

The public, through a new web-based site, will then be able to access the images while at the same time being able to add to the collection or comment on images which they view.

This, according to Riyah Snow who is working on the project, will help in completing the story of both Barry’s life and that of Driving Creek.

The project is the brainchild of Paul Madigan, who while visiting a friend undertaking a residency at Driving Creek, was made aware that some images had been destroyed in a fire and therefore saw the need to save and protect remaining photographs.

Riyah said of the 24,000 images, half had already been saved in the collection while work continued on the balance of the collection.

Open the link below to hear our interview with Riyah.