SCI International Grants $43,000 to National Heritage Trust for Hunting & Shooting Museum Displays

Photographed left to right: Trevor Chappell (NZDA National Life Member), Mike Knowles (SCI NZ Immediate Past President), Alby Frampton (NZDA Heritage Trust Chairman), Everett Headley (SCI International), Marcus Penny (SCI NZ President), Callum Sheridan (NZDA Immediate Past President) and Gwyn Thurlow (NZDA CEO).

The NZDA National Heritage Trust has received a Sables First for Education Endowment Grant of $43,000 (US$25,000) from Safari Club International, presented at the opening event of NZDA’s 78th National Conference and Hunting & Wildlife Expo in Wellington over the weekend. 

The money is earmarked to complete the National Hunting & Shooting Museum’s unfinished displays and signage.  

This is a significant grant and greatly appreciated by the Trust. 

Trevor Chappell, NZDA National Life Member, benefactor and donor, visited the Heritage Trust opening in February last year for its official opening ceremony and picked up on something said that day - that the Trust was short of funding. Seeing a problem that needed fixing, he sat down and wrote the funding case, built around what is actually in the building: more than 3,000 books in the library, more than 100 rifles in the gun room, and around 100 nationally significant trophies on the walls. He set out the goals and aspirations of the Trust, and framed it against the history of how game animals came to be here in the first place, drawing on T.E. Donne securing game animals from Europe, Asia and North America, and Theodore Roosevelt’s (former US President) role in securing the wapiti for Fiordland.  

Chappell also worked out early on that the money was not going to come from within New Zealand. 

That is where Mike Knowles and SCI came in. As immediate past president of the SCI New Zealand chapter, Mike shared the application within SCI’s channels and pushed it through a long process. SCI is a global organisation supporting hunting and conservation, with more than 50,000 members and chapters worldwide, including New Zealand and Australia. 

“It must have been close to 18 months, two years to get this process going,” Mike told the room at Friday’s function. 

Confirmation arrived less than a month ago that SCI’s Sables education programme backed our museum project on the understanding that the grant would assist in completing our National Hunting Museum, which aims to educate future generations of New Zealanders about the history of hunting in this country. 

“We were both completely blown away when the donation was confirmed at US dollars 25,000 ($43,000 NZ dollars at today’s exchange rate),” Mike said. 

Everett Headley, SCI’s Guide and Outfitter Liaison, was in attendance at the opening event on Friday. He addressed the large crowd and made the presentation in front of members and guests, which included Hunting and Fishing Minister, Hon. James Meager.  

“New Zealand is very special to me, it’s dear to my heart,” Headley said. “When I first saw somebody turn a red deer into a backpack and take it off the mountain, I knew that you were a little bit crazy and I was in good company. It’s never failed that every time I come to New Zealand, the people and the place are second to none.” 

He left the room with a challenge. “You have a wealth of wildlife and you are the champions that need to protect it. There is so much more work to be done, and Safari Club International, we are ready to stand behind you with whatever we can do to help.” 

Everett pointed to SCI’s history of backing hunting here, including providing the seed funding for the Game & Forest Foundation, the forerunner of the Game Animal Council, and more recent support was provided that helped develop the New Zealand Professional Hunting Guides Association (NZPHGA)’s guiding training programme. 

“Continue to be strong, continue to be united as a hunting fraternity,” Everet told the room, going on to say, “because that’s what’s going to grant us, and I do mean us, success in the future.” 

Marcus Penny, current president of the SCI New Zealand chapter, thanked Trevor Chappell and Alby Frampton for getting it off the ground, and NZDA’s Gwyn Thurlow and Callum Sheridan for the work in recent months. Callum, NZDA’s Immediate Past National President, travelled to Reno for SCI’s 2025 Convention to put the case to the SCI’s President in person. 

Commemorative donor coins were presented on the night to everyone involved, along with a gold medal featuring a New Zealand red stag for Everett to take back to SCI’s head office. 

“It is truly a game-changing amount of money,” Alby, Trust chairman, said. “Twenty five thousand US might not seem like a lot to SCI International, but it is very timely and very gratefully received.” 

Our thanks to Safari Club International, to the SCI New Zealand chapter, and to Everett Headley for making the grant presentation in person. And, further thanks to Trevor and Mike, who did the work of writing, sending, championing, and following up for two years. 

Want to help fund our museum too? You can by making a donation or sponsoring a museum display: https://nzda.shop/collections/heritage-museum-donation