October 2, 2015
Obituary
The Devonport Flagstaff Page 33
Bryan Jackson – a larger-than-life character
Long-time entreprenuer Bryan Jackson, who owned the eclectic Jackson’s Muzeum in Devonport for more than a decade, has died. The museum closed in 2005 and the collection was sold off at public auction to pay back debts. Somewhat in character, Jackson was one of the main bidders, buying back his favourite pieces, just as he had in a previous auction in 1998. At its peak the museum was a colourful part of Devonport’s main street. Housed in the old post office, it contained more than 15,000 exhibits, including an English pub bar. The outside walls of the museum were often plastered with copies of letters Jackson sent councils and local authorities as he battled bureaucracy and perceived wrongs. After the museum closed, Jackson continued to live in Devonport and was often seen out and about with his wife Robynne and their two poodles. The museum closure marked the end of an era, which had seen a lifetime of collecting – as well as wheeling and dealing – for Jackson. Born to working-class parents George and Edith Jackson, he grew up in Orakei. At six, Jackson said he had his first money-making venture as the undisputed king of marbles at Orakei Primary School. Jackson told the Flagstaff in a 2005 interview: “I brought home three pounds and 12 shillings, which was a fortune in 1938. My Dad went up to the headmaster and asked if I could have possibly got that much money and he said ‘yes - he wins and sells marbles’ “The whole (Jackson’s Muzeum) collection started with those marbles, so really I’ve been at the museum non-stop since the age of six,’ he told the Flagstaff. Jackson went on to Auckland Grammar School, but left after attaining School Certificate. He loved caravaning holidays with his parents, and by the time he was 18, using money from selling stamps, coins, marbles and firewood, Jackson had purchased around 60 rental caravans and a new business was taking off.
Collector and colourful character… Bryan Jackson at Jackson’s Muzeum He sold his first caravan for £200 in 1950, and is said to have sold 7643 by the time he closed Bryan Jackson’s Caravans in 1989. He built, sold and restored caravans, but the biggest earner was rentals. A spin-off from the caravan business was boatbuilding, and Jackson developed a caravan and catamaran hybrid called the ‘caracat’. “The idea came from wanting to go away on holiday in a caravan that went on water,” Jackson said. After much scepticism from critics in the boating world, “Caracat Too”, the second prototype, proved itself by winning the 100 Mile Auckland Offshore Power Boat Race in 1964. The caravan business also facilitated Jackson’s obsession with collecting and provided a home for his first museum (1969 to 1973) at his headquarters in Mt Wellington. Jackson fully realised his dream of owning a museum when he bought the old post office on Victoria Rd for $750,000, and in 1992 moved with his wife Robynne to Devonport. After four years of restoration – largely funded by profits from caravans – the derelict post office was converted into Jackson’s
Muzeum. Despite many conflicts with North Shore City Council over the renovation and various exhibits placed on the rooftop and the street, it opened to the public in 1995. The museum was dedicated to Jackson’s eldest brother Rowan, who was a pilot in the Battle of Britain during the Second World War and was killed in action. Museum was spelled with a ‘z’ because it was unique in its exhibits, lighting and display, said Jackson in the Flagstaff interview. Most of the museum exhibits were put up for auction in 1998 because of Jackson’s ailing health and a shortage of funds. But in a bizzare twist, Jackson was at the sale buying back his most-prized pieces after Robynne had a cash windfall. “I can’t help collecting things. I’ve just been to Tasmania and brought back a box of bits and pieces even though the museum is closed,” he said in 2005. To the end Bryan Jackson remained his own man. His death notice in the New Zealand Herald listed his four wives as Maureen, Rita, Tandy and Robynne In 2014 he published a full page personal advert in the Flagstaff in 2014 seeking a companion.
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