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MEMBER AND SUPPORTER UPDATE
... WITH BRENDON VEALE
Closer inspection
In my last supporter update (issue 166, Spring 2022), I told you of the exciting plans for our national office, Antrim House. There was also a members’ Open Day and even a livestream (our first) to give you an insight into the works planned as part of the restoration and strengthening of this Category 1 historic place. We’ve since carried out preliminary investigations to better understand the condition of the building and how much needs to be done.
This included putting hi-tech cameras down the chimneys. We found some are clear right down to the ground floor, but others are definitely blocked, and we’re currently trying to determine the implications for strengthening them (more work for the engineers!). We’ve also lifted up some of the roofing to see what the heritage fabric is like underneath. I’m pleased to report that it is mostly in the condition we expected, which is positive news. Certainly, at the time of writing, we need your support, as the condition of the building most certainly does need the repair, restoration and strengthening that has been identified. By the time you read this, however, our our fundraising will have been largely completed and the work will be underway. To those of you who supported this project – thank you! We’ll do the very best we can to make your donations work hard to protect this special place for future generations.
Brendon Veale
Manager Supporter Development 0800 HERITAGE (0800 437482) bveale@heritage.org.nz
Keep up to date by subscribing to our free e-newsletter Ngā Taonga i tēnei marama, Heritage this month. Visit heritage.org.nz (‘News’ section) or email membership@heritage.org.nz to be included in the email list. ... THE CRITERION HOTEL, SPRING 2021 Since Marise Martin shared her story of taking on the lease of Oamaru’s Criterion Hotel alongside husband Herbert, she’s moved into a new role managing three Category 1 historic places for Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga.
What prompted the change from life behind the bar to managing Totara Estate, Clarks Mill and Matanaka?
It was a sad decision, but we had to end our tenure at the Criterion prematurely because of my husband’s ill health. We were attracted to the business because it gave us the ability to work together, but once Herbert was unable to work, it meant I saw little of him. And Covid also seriously impacted our future planning. While it was difficult to say goodbye to the grand old lady, when one door closes, as they say, another opens, and I found myself in the privileged position of Property Lead at Totara Estate, Clarks Mill and Matanaka.
What are you enjoying about the new role?
No two days are the same, which keeps me invigorated – and sometimes tested. But the work is always underpinned by a deep respect for our shared stories, and the extraordinary vision and sheer hard work of all those who have gone before.
My day starts with greeting Barney, the Totara Estate cat, then I check on the sheep, before unlocking the men’s quarters, where my office is located. I stand in the doorway, look out over our vegetable garden to the mountains beyond and marvel at my good fortune.
Shortly after, our visitor hosts arrive for work, followed by visitors, and I may guide a tour, make tea and answer questions about local history. Some people visit because they have an association with one of our sites or because they’re inquisitive, and some are just returning to enjoy our southern hospitality.
The job also involves some function and event planning, relationship building with locals and other stakeholders and the inescapable clerical work!
What can visitors to Clarks Mill and Totara Estate experience over summer?
At Totara Estate you can take a guided tour followed by tea and scones, or a self-guided tour where you can linger over the collections displayed in the men’s quarters, swaggers’ room, Moncrieff’s tack room, stables, granary and slaughterhouse. You can also feed the sheep, wander around our heritage vegetable garden and, for the energetic, a walk up Mt Sebastopol provides a good workout and great views.
Clarks Mill is a gem – an astonishing example of Oamaru stone architecture coupled with the mechanics of the early working mill. The mill is carefully maintained by a special group of volunteers who are happy to share their knowledge, stories and good humour. And if you’re lucky enough to be around on the last Sunday of the month, the mill will be running.
For opening hours and further visitor information, go to
visitheritage.co.nz/visit
BEHIND THE STORY WITH ANNA KNOX, HERITAGE NEW ZEALAND MAGAZINE'S NEW BOOKS EDITOR
Where does your love of books come from, and what has sustained that love through the years since then?
Books contain worlds, and I am someone who loves to travel to places other than the ones I know so that I can understand things from different points of view. It may sound a bit overly optimistic, but I think books can truly help us better communicate and connect with and understand each other – and ourselves. I've always loved reading history books in particular – fiction, nonfiction, biographies, plays, even poetry books – that are about people, times and places that we can no longer physically access. It's an escape, but also an education.
I was read to as a child, taken to the library regularly, and always encouraged to read if I was bored. I don't have time to be bored these days, but I would always rather be reading.
Why did you want to take on this particular role?
I try to rein it in, but I'm a real enthusiast when it comes to books, and can't keep my opinions to myself! Especially when it comes to books that have 'flown under the radar'. This is the case to some degree for Come Back to Mona Vale, which I've reviewed in this issue, and is one of the most outstanding pieces of writing from Aotearoa New Zealand I've read in the past few years. Every person I've recommended it to has loved it.
Book reviews are also few and far between these days and I think it's fantastic that Heritage New Zealand magazine continues to highlight books that grow our understanding of heritage and the past and the way it affects our present and future. Plus, of course, I am compelled to make time to read!
Your column looks slightly different from previous columns. What's changed and why?
There are three to four featured books per column where I can go a little more in-depth. There is also a 'round-up' section as I think it's really useful to know what books have recently come out in subject areas that are of interest to readers. I hope to include a broad range of books, including fiction, non-fiction, children's and illustrated non-fiction in the round-up as well as across the features throughout the year.
Places we visit
Queen Street, Auckland, p38
Karekare Beach, p16
Motueka, p8 Tiritiri Matangi Island, p40
Hastings,
Riverton, p46 Dunedin, p22
HERITAGE NEW ZEALAND POUHERE TAONGA DIRECTORY
National Office PO Box 2629, Wellington 6140 Antrim House 63
... WITH PAUL VEART
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Web and Digital Advisor
In a world before Instagram, TikTok or even affordable cameras, how was a well-dressed Aucklander supposed to get their picture taken? The answer was simple: take a walk down Queen Street and find John Rykenberg.
Throughout the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, Rykenberg and his team were Auckland’s most prominent street photographers, documenting bars, restaurants, musical performances and passengers waiting at the wharves. A favourite spot was Queen Street, where they would photograph passers-by, who would then pay for the pictures and receive them in the mail the next day.
We recently featured Rykenberg’s 1960 Queen Street photos on the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Facebook page, with enthusiastic results. People were particularly impressed by the style and confidence shown by Rykenberg’s subjects, with a lot of appreciation for their gloves, pleats, cardigans and sports jackets.
There was also discussion in the post’s comments section about the formalities that a trip to town – whether Auckland or elsewhere – would once entail. Many commenters remembered not only ironing their clothes and polishing their shoes, but also being told by their parents to be on their very best behaviour.
According to writer Frances Walsh, Rykenberg approached street photography “as a way for people to afford photography, as back then not everybody could afford a studio sitting”. While the approach was generous, it also caused problems, with the New Zealand Professional Photographers’ Association denying him membership on several occasions.
Today, Rykenberg’s collection is increasingly acknowledged as having significant historical and aesthetic value. Keep an eye out for more highlights in our social media channels over the coming months.
Brushing up
Trading continually since 1836, Kerikeri’s Stone Store is New Zealand’s oldest shop.
But it’s not just the building that has deep roots; some of the products on its shelves also have an impressive heritage.
Since September, for example, the store has been stocking brushes made by Browns Brushware, which began trading more than 140 years ago and is still in Brown family hands.
The fifth-generation manufacturer first unveiled its line of brushware in 1879 at an expo in Gore celebrating the first train trip from Dunedin to Invercargill. Today it continues to operate from the New Lynn, Auckland, site it has occupied since 1938.
Notably, the company also played a role in Sir Edmund Hillary’s 1957 TransAntarctic Expedition, supplying its ‘Superior’ brushware range to the historic polar expedition.
Stone Store manager Liz Bigwood says the store team is always on the lookout for quality New Zealand-made products of a type that would have sold in missionary times or that reflect the building’s use for much of its life as a general store.
She says she was particularly struck by the commercial history of Browns Brushware, including that it is still run by the same family, as well as the quality and authenticity of its products.
“The addition of the relationship with Sir Edmund Hillary’s Trans-Antarctic Expedition, with Browns ‘Superior’ Brushware range confirmed by the Ross Sea Committee, is the icing on the cake,” she says.
“What more could cement it in the Pantheon of brushware than Sir Ed using it while crossing the Antarctic on Massey-Ferguson tractors in 1957? Nothing. It’s one heck of a heritage story.”
And for those unable to make it to Kerikeri, thankfully the Stone Store also embraces modern technology, with many of its products available to purchase online:
shop.heritage.org.nz
FULL CIRCLE
While Christmas is usually a time to kick back and slow down, the lead-up to the holidays can be anything but.
For those looking to carve out a bit of ‘me time’ amidst all the end-of-year events and parties, Christmas shopping and menu planning, Fyffe House has just the thing.
For a number of years, the Category 1 historic place in Kaikōura has hosted Christmas wreath-making workshops for adults, where participants can while away a couple of hours creating something beautiful to hang in their homes.
The workshops are the brainchild of Shelley Brady, a visitor host at the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga-run property and a serious Christmas enthusiast. Rather than offering a wreath-making demonstration, the workshops give participants the opportunity to pick and choose from a wide range of provided materials and produce a unique creation.
All the materials are found or recycled, collected by Shelley throughout the year; the wreaths are built from bases fashioned from wire coat hangers and can be adorned with everything from op-shop-sourced tinsel to natural materials found on her farm.
The workshops have become a local tradition, says Fyffe House manager Ann McCaw, running annually even during the disruption of the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake and the Covid-19 pandemic. “Shelley decorates our pink shed with hundreds of lights and it all looks very Christmassy and over the top,” says Ann.
“We have a number of regulars who come and it’s their tradition to spend a couple of hours doing something handson and for themselves. "It’s about having some ‘me time’ in that busy lead-up to Christmas.”
For more information on the workshops, visit the Fyffe House Facebook page at facebook.com/
