You know, Fred and Myrtle, you must remember them... unless you're not from New Zealand.
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Back in the 1960s when the Flutey’s were living in Bluff – a tiny town of around 1,850 residents in the
lowest corner of the South Island of New Zealand. At that time Fred was working at the harbour and
would collect Pāua shells for manufacturers and returned servicemen. After getting rid of what he could,
Fred then cleaned up the unwanted shells and took them home to add to the growing pile in the couple’s
living room.
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Now Myrtle was an understand wife, appreciating the beauty and Fred's hard work, but she was still a woman,
and the housekeeper. When moving all this crap to clean got to be too much, instead of freaking out on Fred
to get this crap out of the house, she took a box of 4" nails and started nailing them to the walls.
Before long folks started dropping by to see the display. I grew up in a town that size and believe me,
everyone knew about it. Then the word spread and people started coming from further away. Fred and Myrtle
loved having company and showing off the house. Myrtle started getting up at six AM to have the house
spick & span by 9. Of course politicians, the tourist board and celebrities wanted to be associated with such
popular people, which increased their fame even more.
Fred passed away in 2001, (Myrtle preceded him, probably from overwork), and the house went to a Grandson
who didn't want the hassle of keeping the house open but didn't want to see the collection broken up.
His solution, which didn't set well with some locals, was to donate the collection to the Museum of Canterbury
which was hundreds of miles away.
To their credit the museum duplicated much of the house.
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More than 4000 original items were taken from the house to include in the exhibit including the carpet,
a Lions Club Banner which hung over the doorway, the house number from the outside fence, and the
large concrete Pāua shell which stood in the centre of the lounge.
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I spent way too much time on this but I liked the story.
