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Ngahuru / Autumn 2023
12 Special character
Whanganui’s first heritage advisor is helping to drive a heritage renaissance in the city
16 Dream house
Creating a home in Hokianga for a taonga collection built up over decades has been the realisation of a dream
22 Play it again
Sharing stories of four iconic Auckland live music venues
30 Life ‘on the hill’
Despite being home to just a handful of people today, Denniston is a town with many friends
34 Live and learn
Teaching our histories is now compulsory in schools. What role can historic places play?
42 Footprints across the landscape
The ripple effects of a French explorer’s time in the Bay of Islands 250 years ago are still being felt today
8 He tohu maumahara
Te Kāmaka o Arowhenua is much more than just a striking landmark
10
Arrowtown’s former Bank of New Zealand building is now strengthened and restored
38 High hopes
A UNESCO World Heritage bid highlights the challenges Pacific communities face in obtaining recognition for significant heritage sites
48 The French connection
A French town liberated by Kiwi soldiers during World War I will be home to New Zealand’s first war museum in Europe
Columns
3 Editorial
4 Noticeboard
52 Books
54 Our heritage, my vision
Languages survive because they’re relevant and meaningful – and spoken with love
Dr Alan and Mrs Pauline Farrell
Dr Allan Pearson
Dr Peter Rothwell
Miss Verna Harley
Mr Alistair and Mrs Frances Matthews
Mr David Jack and Mrs Elizabeth Thomas
Mr John Davey and Ms Sarah Millard
Mr Laurie and Mrs Lynne Schischka
Mr Lindsay Hounsell
Mr Mike and Mrs Catharine Frith
Mr Ralph and Mrs Diana Robertshawe
Mr Robert Davies
Mr Roger Middlemass
Mr Tony Flewett and Ms Sue Wild
Mr W G and Mrs L A Burdon
Mrs Debra and Mr John Farndon
Mrs Dianne Aubin
Mrs Frances Bird
Mrs Janice and Paul Walsh
Mrs Margaret and Sir Geoffrey Palmer
Mrs Susan Dinsdale
Mrs Lynne Hansen
Ms Deborah McDonald and Ms Robyn Smits
Ms Judith Philpott and Mr Roy Slack
Mr Paul and Mrs Patricia Mason
Mr Peter Barker and Ms Jane McCann
Mr Thiers and Mrs Barbara Halliwell
Mrs Sue and Mr John Harvey
Ms Heather Rae and Graham Cook
Dr E E Bolitho
Miss Gaye Matthews
Mr Brian and Mrs Sally Hasell
Mr Crispin and Mrs Elizabeth Kay
Mr Mark Donaldson and Mrs Jan McLaren
Mr Michael Reaburn
Mr P and Mrs M Dickenson
Mr Phil and Mrs Helen White
Mr Robin Duff
Mr Wayne and Mrs Catherine Pallas
Mrs Alison and Mr Francis Kay
Mrs Anne Duncan and Mr Kenneth Wedgwood
Mrs Catherine and Mr Wren Bracegirdle
Mrs Diana Thompson
Mrs Jeanette and Mr Geoffrey Baylis
Mrs Helen and Mr David Baker
Ms Sally Dunbier and Mr Brian Moss
Prof Patrick Waddington and Kim Gutchlag
Lady Barbara Stewart
Mr Gordon and Mrs Rita Chesterman
Mr Jim and Mrs Andrea Hawkless
Mr John and Mrs Judith Stratmore
Mr Kevin Tonks
Mr M M Barker
Mr Mike and Mrs Janice Hay
Mr Mike Donovan
Mr Paul and Mrs Jane Wright
Mr Paul Lewis
Mr Peter and Mrs Val Osborne
Antrim House is a much-loved nationally significant Category 1 historic place that is also the National Office of Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga. Thanks to you, work is now well under way to restore and strengthen this heritage gem.
Thank you! We are very grateful to those supporters who have recently made donations. Whilst some are kindly acknowledged below, many more have chosen to give anonymously.
Mr R T Bain
Mr Walter and Mrs Allison Buchan
Mrs Barbara Strange
Mrs Bettina Brown
Mrs Elizabeth and Mr Geoff Lee
Mrs Michelle Paterson
Mrs Sandra and Mr Bruce Greenfield
Mrs Susan Peacock and Mr Keith Thomson
Mrs Yvonne Marsh
Ms Deborah Pain
Mr David and Mrs Marilyn Belcher
Mr Karl and Mrs Raewynne Rossiter
Mr Russell and Mrs Anne Hohmann
Mrs Barbara Connell
Prof David and Mrs McIntyre
Salmond Reed Architects
Mr Brian Sandell
Mr David and Mrs Lyn Buckle
Mr Graeme McDonald
Mr Leonard Smith
Mr Martial Gaspard
Mr Ric and Mrs Jill Dawick
Mr Robert and Mrs Alison Gunn
Mrs Jenny Daniels
Mrs M H Cranston
Mrs Marian Curtis
Deborah Williams and David Minifie
Mr Allan Taylor
Mr David Kiddey and Ms Barbara Macdonald
Mrs Brigid Pollock
Mrs Charline Baker
Mrs Robyn Carline
Mr Alan and Mrs Pamela Holdt
Mr Joe Hollander
Mr Randall McMullan
Don and Dr Judith Mackenzie
Mr Brian and Mrs Rosemary Hedge
Mr Ian and Mrs Jenny Thomas
Mr J B and Mrs Paterson
Mrs Elizabeth and Mr Auke Smaal
Mr Gil and Mrs Helen Roper
Mrs Annemarie and Mr Leo Panzic
Ms Beverley Lawrence
Mr David and Mrs Helen Meale
Mr David Hughes
Mr Kelvin and Mrs Sue Allen
Mr Ray and Mrs Iripete Hoskin
Mrs Mary and Mr Michel Donn
Mrs Marie and Mr Peter Sauvary
Ms Ann Mallinson
Mr Graeme Watt and Ms Lynore Craig
Mr John and Mrs Judith Hanna
Mr John May
Mrs Rae Povey
Mr Greg and Mrs Kathleen Vossler
Mr Neil and Mrs Sue Shroff
Mrs Patricia Taylor and Jo Taylor
Mr Donald Charleston
Mrs Bernadette and Mr Nick Heaphy
Mr Andrew Kennedy-Smith
Mr G and Mrs M P Searle
Mr Paul and Mrs Isabel White
Mrs Carol and Mr Peter Dyer
Mrs Gillian Clarke
Mrs Margaret and Prof William Johnston
Mrs Rona Colbert
Ms Helen Geary and Mr Murray Holdaway
Mr Brian and Mrs Linda Dawkins
Mr Ross and Mrs Betty McKenzie
Mrs Elizabeth Fisher and William Pitt
Mr Bruce and Mrs Beverly Dean
Mrs H M Voss
Mrs Penelope Hyslop
Mr Andy and Mrs Sarah Bloomer
Mr Bill Murch and Ms Diane Browman
Mrs Jocelyn Cartwright
Mr E W and Mrs G E Willoughby
Mr Paul and Mrs Kerry Heath
Mr John and Mrs Janette Brandts-Giesen
Mrs Christina Mander
Mrs D M Jones
Mr David and Mrs Sue Sweet
Mrs Ruth Moss
Mrs Avis Foote
Di and Colin Scott
Dr A J Metge
Dr Gill Hood and Mr Dan Ripley
Mr Don and Mrs Jean Ruegg
Mr Keith and Mrs Adrienne McClure
Mr Colin Patrick and Mr Bryan Gibbison
Mrs Irene Wilkinson
Mrs Nola Barnard
In Memory of Lalita Sundari Natali
Mr John and Mrs Heather Upfold
Mr Alan and Mrs Mary Dean
Mr Robert Smellie
Mrs Anne and Mr John Bruce Clegg
Mrs Mary Neazor
Dr Mark Schroder
Mr Graham Russell
Mrs J M Myers
Mrs Sandra and Mr Warren Cant
Mrs Anne and Mr Bob Flynn
Paul and Lynette O’Brien
Mr Michael and Mrs Margaret Rudge
Mr Dick and Mrs Eleanor Lane
Mrs Janne Pender
Richard & Rosemary McElrea
Jenny Middlemass
Jeff Downs
Liz Chandler
Issue 168 Ngahuru • Autumn 2023
ISSN 1175-9615 (Print)
ISSN 2253-5330 (Online)
Cover image:
Raiātea
by Jess BurgesEditor Caitlin Sykes, Sugar Bag Publishing
Sub-editor Trish Heketa, Sugar Bag Publishing
Art director
Amanda Trayes, Sugar Bag Publishing
Publisher
Heritage New Zealand magazine is published quarterly by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga. The magazine had a circulation of 7968 as at 30 June 2022.
The views expressed in the articles are those of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga.
Advertising
For advertising enquiries, please contact the Manager Publishing.
Phone: (04) 470 8054
Email: advertising@heritage.org.nz
Subscriptions/Membership
Heritage New Zealand magazine is sent to all members of Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga. Call 0800 802 010 to find out more.
At Heritage New Zealand magazine we enjoy feedback about any of the articles in this issue or heritage-related matters.
Email: The Editor at heritagenz@gmail.com
Post: The Editor, c/- Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, PO Box 2629, Wellington 6140
Feature articles: Note that articles are usually commissioned, so please contact the Editor for guidance regarding a story proposal before proceeding. All manuscripts accepted for publication in Heritage New Zealand magazine are subject to editing at the discretion of the Editor and Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga.
Online: Subscription and advertising details can be found under the Resources section on the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga website heritage.org.nz
We’re excited to be able to share with you some changes we’ve made to your magazine after months of work behind the scenes.
Firstly, you may notice the quarterly publication’s size – it’s now slightly taller and narrower than previous issues. We’d been considering changing to this new standard A4 size for a while, as the dimensions allow us to use the photography we commission (from some of the country’s finest photojournalists) to its best advantage. They also allow for more white space around stories, which we think creates a cleaner look.
However, the final decision was made when we discovered there were substantial cost benefits to the size change. Like everyone, we’re facing rising costs, which are affecting many areas of the magazine’s production. We also know members want as much of their support as possible directed to the core work of Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga –protecting and conserving our heritage –so shifting to this new size is a win-win.
We’ve also refreshed the look of the magazine’s title along the top of the cover (the ‘masthead’). This has provided not only a much-needed update but also the chance to better reflect the title of the magazine; we hope placing the ‘New Zealand’ below ‘Heritage’ makes it clearer that we are, in fact, Heritage New Zealand (not New Zealand Heritage) magazine. Inside, you’ll notice further changes. The magazine business is never static, and we’ve introduced changes in recent years – many to support greater and better use of te reo Māori, for example in story titles and kupu Māori glossaries.
The redesign in this issue brings these changes together, alongside some subtle changes to features such as photo captions and video links. Heritage New Zealand magazine Art Director Amanda Trayes always makes the magazine’s pages look beautiful, but I think her redesign takes this to a new level.
Importantly, there are aspects of the magazine we’ve left untouched.
Readers tell us consistently that the readability of our stories is important to them. More than a decade ago we changed the body font of our stories to one that provided optimal readability, and this remains unchanged. In response to readers’ feedback we’ve also limited story text running over photos.
Another piece of feedback we get from readers is about the magazine’s plastic wrap and whether this can be replaced with a paper envelope.
Sourcing sustainable wrapping solutions is such a major issue for the wider magazine industry that it’s the subject of an ongoing body of work for New Zealand’s Magazine Publishers Association. When balancing sustainability with durability and cost, the current advice is to stick with what we have – a soft plastic wrap that can be recycled through the Packaging Forum’s Soft Plastics Recycling Scheme. But rest assured, if a better solution becomes available, we’ll be looking into it.
Also unchanged is the quality and quantity of content in each issue. We love sharing stories of New Zealand’s unique, diverse and precious heritage, and we are excited to bring them to you in a refreshed format. We hope you enjoy the changes too.
Heritage New Zealand magazine is printed with mineral oil-free, soy-based vegetable inks on Impress paper. This paper is Forestry Stewardship Council® (FSC®) certified, manufactured from pulp from responsible sources under the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System. Please recycle.
As someone who is passionate about protecting New Zealand’s heritage, one of my favourite times/activities/jobs is when we have an active fundraising campaign underway.
Why? Well, believe it or not, it isn’t all about the money – although meeting a fundraising target is undoubtedly a wonderful thing. No, for me it’s about hearing why a place matters that I find so inspiring.
When sending donations to us to protect Antrim House, many of you have included notes explaining why you chose to support our project. For some, Antrim was the setting for their weddings. For others, it was the site of favourite family adventures many years ago, or the place where they worked.
Included in these communications have been stories from staff of the former Historic Places Trust (HPT), including Jim McKinlay, who walked the halls of Antrim House as a senior archaeologist in the 1980s.
Jim recounted to me: “It was nice to be based in an actual historic house. It was also a time when two different sections of the HPT – archaeology and historic buildings, which had been housed in separate buildings – were together in the same offices.”
Jim recalls moving into Antrim as “a really big thing” and exciting for staff. It was so newly restored they weren’t allowed to hang anything on the walls; instead they had to use the dado rail for hanging pictures, although one proved too heavy and fell, smashing the plug fittings below. Funnily enough, this rule continues at Antrim House today, where hanging things on walls is a strictly managed process!
Jim shared more wonderful memories with me – too many to share in this column – and you’ll be pleased to know that since his retirement from the HPT after 18 happy years, he has retained his keen interest in heritage. So, on to the point of this column for this edition. Please keep sending in those messages of support! We love to read them, and they help to underline why we are protecting these places for future generations. It’s because they become part of the fabric of our lives, entwined in our memories and the things we cherish most.
And it doesn’t get more inspiring than that, does it?
Brendon Veale
Manager Supporter Development
0800 HERITAGE (0800 802 010) bveale@heritage.org.nz
National Office
PO Box 2629, Wellington 6140 Antrim House 63 Boulcott Street
Wellington 6011 (04) 472 4341
information@heritage.org.nz
Go to www.heritage.org.nz for details of offices and historic places around New Zealand that are cared for by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga.
McAneney
How did you become a volunteer with Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga?
I unwittingly became involved whilst doing research for my latest novel, Dead Reckoning
The French visit to the Bay of Islands in 1772 under the command of Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne and the ‘lost’ bottle buried after his death at Waipau Bay (pictured right) serve as one of this book's themes.
The bottle contained a letter claiming New Zealand for the King of France. Directions to the bottle can be found in the journals of the French officers, but to the best of our knowledge the bottle has never been found.
Surprised by how little awareness there was of this history, I approached Bill [Edwards] and James [Robinson] in the Northland office of Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga seeking an explanation. Pretty soon I found myself pressganged into helping with their planned commemorations of the 250th anniversary of Marion du Fresne's visit and I have enjoyed every minute of it.
How have you been involved in the commemorations?
My scientific interest concerned the likely location of the buried bottle. Acting alone, sea-level rise of about 25 centimetres should have led to significant beach erosion, with the possibility that the bottle had been eroded away.
However, we now believe this to have been largely offset by sediment accumulation arising from the discharge of several major rivers into the bay.
The two processes – sea-level rise and sediment accumulation – have effectively cancelled each other out at this location.
We are now looking at other explanations for why this bottle has not been found, leaving aside for the moment the default explanation that tangata whenua dug it up soon after the French departure. If that were true then it's end of story for the bottle search, although the counterfactual of a stronger French involvement in New Zealand's colonial history remains, for me, a romantic notion.
Why were you inspired to use these historic events as a theme in your latest book?
Dead Reckoning is a celebration of a sailing history in the Bay of Islands that stretches back 800 years. It is impossible to sail in these waters without being inspired by the adventurous spirits who first arrived here from the Pacific, and much later from Britain, Europe and America. Marion du Fresne's visit forms an important chapter in this history. Today the Bay faces environmental challenges that also feature in the story, but, above all, Dead Reckoning brings home to the reader the exhilaration of sailing in these amazing waters, which are and have been home to many of New Zealand’s finest sailors
You can read more about the activities around the 250th anniversary of the arrival of MarcJoseph Marion du Fresne in the Bay of Islands on page 42 and about John McAneney’s latest book, Dead Reckoning, on page 53.
In this issue you write about some of central Auckland’s historic music venues, which have been the subject of ongoing research for you. What got you interested in this area?
Writing for the music history website AudioCulture made me interested in how historical information might be brought to life by harnessing an online approach. I decided to do maps of venues in Auckland over time, since I thought these would provide readers with an interactive view of the city’s nightlife history.
This work led me to taking guided walks of historic venues for Auckland Live and also opened some great new avenues of research, such as looking through Auckland Libraries’ Rykenberg Collection – and I gave talks there too.
I’m a huge fan of the Wine Cellar in St Kevin’s Arcade in Auckland, since it’s such a hub of the music scene, and I’ve played there for over 15 years in half a dozen different bands. However, as a music historian, I’m equally intrigued by venues that have stood the test of time, such as Galatos, which opened in 1908 as Druids’ Hall and held dances from the first week.
I also have a strange fascination for venues that were closed long before I was born, such as the Shiralee in downtown Auckland and the Polynesian Dance Club on K’ Road. I’ve written AudioCulture articles about each of those to discover how the music scene operated in those eras – especially since music couldn't be played in pubs back then!
It was wonderful to examine the archaeological report for the Bluestone Room and see some of the items that were found: old beer bottles, a drumhead box and a handful of old 7-inch records [45s]. It was also nice to discover that Helen Clark played a key role in saving the building from demolition, back when she was Minister of Conservation in the 1980s.
Very occasionally when you’re searching for photos to accompany a social media post, certain images jump out. You don’t always know why, but usually there’s something that catches you off guard and you just know you have to include it.
That’s exactly what happened with the photos attached to a recent Facebook post featuring the settlement of Opononi during the summer of 1955-56. Of course, that summer is still synonymous with the arrival of Opo, a young female dolphin whose gregarious behaviour drew huge crowds and international media attention until her untimely death.
Like many New Zealanders, I thought I knew the story of Opo quite well. But then, as I was searching the Te Papa Tongarewa website, I came across a series of striking photos taken by artist Eric Lee-Johnson.
The collection of 500 images documents not only Opo but also the surrounding settlement. There are images of the two-storey Opononi Hotel – a converted gum store – crowded with entranced onlookers, the narrow wooden wharf lined with cars and photographers, and the beach overflowing with adults and children.
Among these photos, you begin to notice something else. It’s not immediately clear, but it may have something to do with the rapture on the swimmers’ faces, or the dazed expressions worn by many of the onlookers – like they can’t quite believe what they’re seeing.
The more I studied the photos, the more I realised I hadn’t understood the magnitude of what it was like to encounter Opo, to dive with her, to look at her and to see her looking back inquisitively. Eric Lee-Johnson’s images managed to summon some of that extraordinary experience.
It didn’t take long for people following our Facebook page to agree, with comments coming from those who had met Opo and others learning about her for the first time. Thanks to a significant number of shares, the post reached more than 27,000 people.
We’re also celebrating New Zealand Music Month with a story on some of central Auckland’s iconic live music heritage venues. Read more on page 22.
May is New Zealand Music Month, when we celebrate music from New Zealand and those who make it, and historic places will be playing their part.
Some of the country’s most beloved venues are in heritage spaces, including Wellington’s Old St Paul’s, which regularly hosts concerts by top Kiwi musicians. Last year, French for Rabbits, Nadia Reid, and
Old St Paul’s Property Lead Tamara Patten says the magnificent timber Gothic Revival pro-cathedral hosts around six gigs a year and has capacity for 460 concert-goers.
“It’s intimate without being too small and it’s a little less formal; there’s no way to allocate seats, so you come and you share a pew
with whoever happens to be there. It creates a good vibe in that respect.
“The dark wood interior also provides a beautiful backdrop for a concert and obviously the acoustics are gorgeous.”
As Old St Paul’s is an historic church, there’s no green room where artists can hang out before a show, but that also has advantages, particularly for those who work there.
“Something that’s really great about having concerts here is you get to chat with these amazing artists,” says Tamara. “Before a show they’ll hang out in our exhibition area and share the kitchen, so we get to have nice chats with some pretty interesting people.”
Visit oldstpauls.co.nz
WORDS: HELEN BROWN
in 1877 led his people inland to establish the settlement of Te Ao Mārama in a peaceful assertion of Māori land rights.
At the outbreak of World War I, the whānau of Arowhenua proudly volunteered “every boy capable of bearing arms”.
Private Tuapaoa Whitau was among the early enlisters from the pā, serving in the first Māori Contingent that left Wellington for Egypt in February 1914.
Eighteen months later he wrote to his aunt, Miria Kemara, from the front line at Gallipoli: “Of the Temuka natives, I alone am left. All the others have been wounded. I suppose I’ll be the next, or perhaps will be killed outright. There’s only two things, and one to call upon – God above.”
Tuapaoa eventually returned home, but his brothers Arapata and Puaka did not. Other boys were also lost.
Temuka
Standing sentinel on the corner of Huirapa Street, Temuka, and State Highway 1, Te Kāmaka o Arowhenua is a striking landmark on the route between the South Canterbury towns of Temuka and Timaru.
Along with the Holy Trinity Church on the opposite corner, the kāmaka points the way to Arowhenua Pā and its poignantly named wharenui Te Hapa o Niu Tireni (‘The Unfulfilled Promise of New Zealand’, a reference to the Crown’s failure to fulfil its contractual obligations arising from the 19th-century Ngāi Tahu land purchase agreements).
Trucks rumble past, sometimes precariously close. Indeed, the kāmaka bears the scars of a previous car crash.
Built in 1934-35 and believed to be the only Oamaru stone archway of its type in the country, the kāmaka (which is a wāhi tūpuna) is also extraordinary for its multi-layered commemorative associations as a war memorial, a marker of the Rātana faith, and a monument to the leader and prophet Hipa Te Maiharoa, who
Twenty years later when a war memorial was proposed at Arowhenua, Miria and her cousin Wikitoria Paipeta gifted land and funds for the purpose. Miria added her late nephews’ names to the list of fallen Māori soldiers to be inscribed on its roll of honour.
In the inter-war years many Arowhenua people adopted the Rātana faith, becoming mōrehu. When Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana, the charismatic founder of the movement, visited Arowhenua in 1934 with his 50-strong entourage, including the impressive Mōrehu Brass Band, plans for the kāmaka were confirmed.
Local stonemasons undertook the construction, and Māori decorative work was added by a craftsman provided by Rātana. In addition to the names of the war dead, kōwhaiwhai patterns, Rātana symbols and scripture, and the raukura plume of feathers – a symbol of peace and passive resistance – were carefully etched into the limestone block structure.
The following year, the Māngai (as Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana was known in the Rātana faith) returned and unveiled the completed kāmaka, which had a
counterpart with a similar design (unveiled just four months earlier) at Rātana Pā in Whanganui. A ‘model pā’ comprising several small whare made at Rātana Pā and shipped south was installed on the reserve behind the kāmaka.
Anne (Sissie) Te MaiharoaDodds (Waitaha, Ngāti Rārua) remembers as a child in the 1940s seeing these “little Māori houses with thatched roofs”. Her whānau helped to care for them and for the kāmaka itself. As a mōrehu, a greatgranddaughter of Hipa Te Maiharoa, and a niece of Wikitoria Paipeta, Sissie says the kāmaka has been an enduring and important place throughout her life.
“We deeply respected it, right from a young age, because we
Believed to be the only Oamaru stone archway of its type in the country, Te Kāmaka o Arowhenua embodies many important layers of association and commemorationis 15km north of Timaru and 142km south of Christchurch.
belonged to the Rātana Church. Our Aunt Wikitoria’s husband, Pita Paipeta, was an āpotoro. He led lots of church services at the kāmaka marking special occasions on the Rātana calendar.”
When Sissie married in 1955, her wedding service was conducted in the lee of the kāmaka. Tuapaoa’s granddaughter Koa Whitau-Kean (Rapuwai, Waitaha, Ngāti Māmoe, Ngāi Tahu) also emphasises the importance of the kāmaka as “not just a pretty arch” but a “spiritual place” that was utilised for wānaka (in other dialects ‘wānanga’).
Her late father Richard Whitau recalled evenings spent there when he was growing up, with kaumātua praying and sharing their knowledge of star lore.
Today, commemorative events in collaboration with the RSA and the local school also take place at the kāmaka on most Anzac Days.
Sissie, Koa and other descendants of the original kaitiaki of the kāmaka, including former manager of the Arowhenua Marae Gwen Bower (Rapuwai, Waitaha, Ngāti Māmoe, Ngāi Tahu – Ngāti Huirapa), are in the process of re-establishing a committee to oversee its restoration and ongoing care.
As Gwen says, “We have always included the kāmaka on our list of significant sites to ensure its mana is acknowledged and that the correct stories about it are shared. It’s important that we ensure the kāmaka is protected for future generations.”
āpotoro: lay reader
kaitiaki: guardians
kāmaka: monument
kaumātua: elders
kōwhaiwhai: painted scroll ornamentation
mana: life force, prestige
Māngai: ‘mouthpiece’ of the Holy Spirit; Rātana founder Tahupōtiki
Wiremu Rātana
maumahara: remembrance
mōrehu: ‘remnant’; followers of Rātana
tohu: sign
wānaka*: sacred knowledge; in this context, a time and/or place for sharing and transmitting knowledge and practices cherished by mana whenua whare: buildings and homes wharenui: meeting house
*Ngāi Tahu spelling
Arrowtown’s historic streetscape, significant for its proximity to neighbouring timber and stone buildings, such as the recently restored Fork and Tap, the former Postmaster’s House and the Post Office (all Category 2 historic places).
Andrea Farminer, Conservation Advisor at Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, says the building is a vital part of Arrowtown’s fascinating heritage.
“It’s an important reminder of the town’s prosperity and role in the New Zealand goldrushes of the late 19th century.”
That prosperity, however, did not last; by 1916 the town’s fortunes were dwindling and BNZ had installed an agency of the Queenstown branch in the building. The domestic quarters on the rear ground and lower levels, which had once housed the bank manager’s family, were being used as a maternity hospital, where the local midwife delivered several Arrowtown residents.
Gold-coloured cornerstones now adorn the newly painted former Bank of New Zealand building in Arrowtown – an apt touch for what was once a prestigious bank in a thriving goldfields town.
The Category 2 historic place, which occupies a prominent corner site in the Buckingham Street Historic Area, is now part of the Lakes District Museum and was reopened last December following a two-year earthquake-strengthening and restoration project.
The RA Lawson-designed stone building was built in 1875 during the post-goldrush economic boom and was home to BNZ’s Arrowtown branch for more than 40 years.
According to the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga listing information, the former bank is a key element in
When the agency eventually closed in 1953, the building, along with its gardens and stables, was donated to the Lakes District Museum. And not a moment too soon, says the museum’s director David Clarke.
“The museum was founded in 1948 in the billiard room of the old Ballarat Hotel. It was a tiny room that quickly filled up with post-war and goldrush artefacts – we needed somewhere bigger.”
The museum moved into the former BNZ building in 1955 and significant alterations were made, including replacing the original roof, pediment and chimneys with a heavy, iron-clad roof. The museum expanded in the 1970s and ’80s, and the bank and stables are now incorporated seamlessly within the building complex.
It was not long after the 2011 Canterbury earthquakes that David foresaw a significant problem.
Strengthening and restoring Arrowtown’s former Bank of New Zealand building has involved everything from applying sparkle to its quoins to smearing walls with cow dungWORDS: ANNA DUNLOP / IMAGERY: MIKE HEYDON
“I realised they would come after unreinforced masonry buildings, so I engaged an engineer to assess the seismic standard of the former bank and stables – they didn’t shape up too well.”
The buildings were found to be just 10–15 percent of the New Building Standard and were deemed earthquake prone.
It took a while – and some tireless lobbying by David – for the project’s $3.5 million in funding (from the government’s Provincial Growth Fund, Queenstown Lakes District Council and the Central Lakes Trust) to come through. Heritage restoration expert Origin Consultants, along with structural engineering firm Lewis Bradford, were soon engaged to seismically strengthen the building.
“We needed to reinforce the building without suffocating the historic aesthetic value by clamping lots of steel to the outside and inside,” says architect Kirsten Gibbs.
They settled on core drilling vertically into the middle of the walls and installing steel rods – 35 in the main building and 12 in the stables – with the aim of making the strengthening work invisible.
The challenge, says Kirsten, was the unknown.
“The walls are stacked schist, but we had no idea what was actually in them; the stones were not uniform shapes or sizes, and back in the day they even threw in river boulders.”
A trial drilling gave the team confidence, and the final process went smoothly, if a little dustily.
When it came to the roof, David says, there was debate over restoring its original features.
“The heavy-lidded roof had been there since the 1950s – nearly 70 years; that’s almost the same amount of time it had had its decorative chimneys.”
In the end, it was painstakingly reinstated to Lawson’s original design with a parapet, a rectangular pediment with decorative scrolls and a small cornice, and six chimneys, all made using glassreinforced concrete for its durability and lightweight properties.
The pediment’s recessed frieze featuring ‘Bank of New Zealand’ lettering was reinstated, and lead capping was added to the top of the external cornice by a roofer from a Cromwell-based company who had been trained in ancient roofing techniques in France.
Artisans with local knowledge were also employed to restore the outside of the building, which had been painted with nonbreathable acrylic paint, trapping water behind it and damaging the plaster. This was chipped off and replaced with traditional lime plaster – mixed with chopped horsehair to bind it – followed by limewash paint. But during the plastering stage a problem arose.
“We noticed this brown stuff leaching through the plaster,” says David. “It was sulphur, drawn out from remnants of coal in the old chimney breasts. The plasterer told me the traditional solution was to smear it with cow dung – it worked a treat.” (The dung, smeared on the outside of the wall, acted as a poultice to draw out the sulphur. The wall was then cleaned and limewashed again.)
Inside, the large ground-level room was returned to its original layout; half-height partitions show where the bank office, parlour and bedrooms once were. These areas are now galleries displaying exhibitions on banking, medicine and the goldrush. The door and windows are original, but the three Victorian-era fireplaces were sourced by David from a demolition yard in Christchurch.
The ceiling, which was lowered when the 1950s roof was added, has been raised, and the decorative ceiling roses and cornicing restored. Downstairs, what was once the kitchen and dining room is further gallery space, featuring contemporary exhibitions on tourism and the holiday cribs of the 1950s and ’60s.
David says one of the final external restoration touches was to paint the quoins a sparkling, vibrant gold. He admits the colour was controversial but says it was based on the shades of historical paint found under layers of newer paint (“they probably used oxides that were easily obtainable”). He says the gold was used to highlight the two-tone look that can be seen clearly in black-and-white photographs of the original design.
“The ultimate aim was to restore the fabric of the building to how it would have been. I hope RA Lawson would be proud.”
To see more of the Lakes District Museum, view our video story here: youtube.com/ HeritageNewZealandPouhereTaonga
When Scott Flutey caught wind of plans by Joel Arnold and Grace Hessell to convert an unlisted heritage building into a modern café, he had to speak up.
“I wanted them to know the council had money available to help with projects like theirs,” says Scott (Ngāi Tahu), Whanganui District Council’s first-ever heritage advisor.
A year before, Scott had more than doubled the amount of cash available for such projects and updated the council’s Heritage Grant Fund application criteria to include a broader range of projects. It meant the 125-year-old building on Glasgow Street was now eligible for council funding. So he scribbled his name and phone number on a scrap of paper, with a message to get in touch, and slipped it under the front door of the old wooden building.
The couple contacted Scott, successfully applied for funding and completed a months-long renovation last year. In August they launched Little Curious Bagels in what was the Old Curiosity Shop, one of Whanganui’s best known heritage buildings. This year, Scott hopes to add the building to the district plan.
“It’s been a high point in my job so far,” says Scott, who has been employed at the council since October 2019.
“Sure, I could’ve left them to it,” he says. “Instead, Joel and Grace were able to hire skilled tradespeople and, as a result, avoid damage to the building’s fabric and joinery and conserve its heritage character for years to come.”
Such things matter deeply to Scott. A Gonville native, he remembers the angst he felt when Whanganui’s D.I.C. department store was demolished in 2003, followed by the John Swan-designed St Mary’s Presbytery on Campbell Street in 2008.
“Those two big losses galvanised a lot of people in Whanganui’s community. I was young at the time, but I remember feeling I couldn’t take the special character of Whanganui for granted.”
After high school, Scott left his hometown to study history at Victoria University of Wellington. To complete his honour’s degree, he wrote a thesis on the uniformed patriotic women’s organisations that sprang up briefly in New Zealand during the South African War of 1899. Whanganui alone had 30 members, he says. Ngāpuhi had its own chapter too.
Scott says the short-lived, quasi-military groups hadn’t been studied before, despite the significant news coverage they received at the time and the paraphernalia they generated, including photos, paintings and uniforms. His thesis furthered a growing interest in New Zealand’s social history, developing since 2012 when he co-authored a local history of the YMCA with his grandmother, Anne Flutey.
That interest was piqued further on a summer internship at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in the last year of his master’s degree in museum and heritage studies. At Te Papa, Scott scoured Gerald Ellott’s philatelic collection to identify the subjects of letters sent home by Māori and Pākehā soldiers fighting in the New Zealand Wars.
Mostly, they wrote of prosaic things like what they ate and gave descriptions of the countryside, he says. But the letters also provided insights into Whanganui’s significant role as a military base during the wars.
Six months at the Melbourne Guild of Fine Woodworking followed before Scott landed his role at Whanganui District Council a few months before the global pandemic struck.
“I was really excited to get started. There are so many stories in Whanganui that aren’t being told. I wanted to change that,” he says.
Scott’s first big project was to research and write the district’s inaugural heritage strategy, He Kaupapa Here: Ngā Taonga Tuku Iho, published in 2022.
Whanganui is undergoing something of a heritage renaissance, driven by passionate individuals like the city’s first heritage advisor, Scott Flutey
It was a case study in best practice, said Dean Raymond, Planner (now Area Manager) for the Central region of Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga at the time of its launch. Scott consulted widely, carrying out an online survey, collecting feedback at the Whanganui River Markets, holding meetings, engaging iwi and hosting public hearings.
He used the findings to document the district’s most valued heritage, going beyond historic buildings
to acknowledge the significance of landscapes, natural wilderness areas and cultural taonga. He explored the important role heritage played in people’s sense of cultural identity, belonging and wellbeing. And he looked at how to address the challenges that would be posed by climate change, population growth and development in the years ahead.
Finally he wrote an action plan to identify, protect, manage and promote the district’s heritage over the following decade. Two actions noted in the plan were increased funding for heritage projects and improved access to specialist advice and skills. The promotion of Whanganui as a heritage destination and more funding for tourism events such as Vintage Weekend and Whanganui Heritage Month were also listed.
In 2021 Whanganui became a member of the League of Historic Cities and in 2022 it was designated a UNESCO City of Design, co-ordinated in part by Scott. Today Whanganui is the only place in New Zealand included in these listings.
“Whanganui is undergoing an exciting period of reconnecting with our past,” says Scott, whose walking tours of Whanganui’s Brutalist architecture and sites around Durie Hill sold out at last year’s Whanganui Heritage Month event.
“We’re opening up and sharing more of our stories. Even though many Whanganui people appreciate what’s here, locals and visitors still want to understand more.
I’m proud to help with that.”
mihi whakatau: formal speech of welcome rangatira: chief
“I was really excited to get started. There are so many stories in Whanganui that aren’t being told. I wanted to change that”
My favourite place in Whanganui is St Paul’s Memorial Church, known locally as Pūtiki Church, in the Whanganui township of Pūtiki (see Heritage New Zealand magazine, Winter 2020). It’s important historically as the fifth church on the site to serve the people of Pūtiki. Pūtiki itself is one of the earliest settlements in Whanganui and the site of an early Christian mission station established on land gifted by a local rangatira.
The church is extraordinarily beautiful, although that isn’t necessarily apparent until you go inside. You have to enter the building itself to enjoy the full range of Māori decorative arts on display. Spearheaded by Sir Apirana Ngata, the Māori Arts and Crafts movement spread to public spaces like Pūtiki Church throughout New Zealand in the 1930s. Inside this small community space there’s everything from arapaki (or tukutuku) panels of fine finger weaving to traditional wall carvings and painted ceiling rafters. It’s one of the few public places you can visit locally to see
my favourite design, the Whanganui mumu pattern, on display on the parish walls. The pattern is specific to Whanganui and looks like a checkerboard. You can visit Pūtiki Church by arrangement to hear a local expert tell you the stories behind this specific design and others in the space.
I don’t visit Pūtiki Church a lot, but I have attended the occasional Sunday service there. I was also one of the volunteers who helped to restore the interior in 2017 and 2018. Church trustee Huia Kirk pulled the restoration project together over 10 years; my bit was the last leg in that bigger effort. It was amazing to be part of it and, as a keen weaver and woodworker myself, I watched others and learned a lot.
More recently, I helped host a mihi whakatau at Pūtiki Church for the the New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO. A group came to Whanganui to assess our UNESCO City of Design application. The church and the church hall, which features designs completed in the 1970s by Dr Cliff Whiting, were part of our application. We were able to relax and admire Cliff’s distinctive artwork when the formalities were over, sitting down in the hall for a chat and a cup of tea. n
Behind a new whare taonga and research centre in Hokianga lies the story of a collection built up over decades and the realisation of a dream to house it
WORDS: NIKI PARTSCH / IMAGERY: JESS BURGES
We all have dreams, but it takes a certain kind of person to get things done.
Raiātea, a hāpu-owned and -managed whare taonga and research centre, is the product of such a long-held dream – of a place to hold taonga and resources that tell the interwoven stories of the Catholic faith in the Far North and make them accessible to whānau.
But to understand this dream, you must first meet the dreamer.
Esteemed Catholic priest and Far North District leader Pā Tate was born Henare Arekatera Tate on 23 March 1938 in the tiny township of Rāwene at the apex of a peninsula in sub-tropical Hokianga.
The third child of eight, he spent his childhood across the harbour at Motutī. After attending a local primary school, he received his secondary education at Auckland’s St Peter’s Māori College (renamed Hato Petera College in 1972), where he excelled, before becoming a priest in 1962. As he was the first Māori from Tai Tokerau to be ordained, this was a source of immense pride to the people of the North, where Catholicism was long established and had a strong influence amongst Māori, particularly in Hokianga.
Known thereafter as Pā Tate, Henare retained a strong relationship with Hato Petera and became widely recognised for his deeply held faith and devotion, eloquence and subtle persuasion, and for his meaningful community work, endless energy, sharp intellect and wit. He was a man adept at drawing and captivating any audience – and getting things done.
As Pā Tate came from a musical family, composition and song were also strengths, and in 1972 he led a group across New Zealand performing the play Karaiti te Māori (Christ the Māori). It was later performed in Panguru in 1978 – the year that also marked Pā Tate’s return to Hokianga as parish priest of Panguru and
the beginning of the realisation of his dream to build a new marae complex, including an archive and resource centre.
Following the Festival of Faith in 1978, five acres (two hectares) of land at Motutī were gifted by the local Kaanara whānau for the marae complex. Formerly the site of an orchard and a cow shed, the land is surrounded by native bush that erupts with birdsong at dawn.
The main wharenui, dining hall, car parks and residential accommodations were built in subsequent decades until eventually, in 2017, the ground was made ready for the final piece of Pā Tate’s dream: a new building to house an archive and resource centre, which would ultimately become Raiātea.
In the 1980s Dame Whina Cooper ONZ DBE, also famously from Hokianga, wanted to name the main meeting house Raiātea, but instead it was named Tamatea.
The name Raiātea relates to a South Pacific island to which many Hokianga Māori have deep connections. It is also the name given to the Tahitian-built ship that brought Bishop Jean Baptiste Pompallier and Catholicism to Aotearoa New Zealand.
Dame Whina passed away in 1994, so in 2015 Pā Tate asked her children for permission to use the name Raiātea for the archive and resource centre building, and they agreed.
After a feasibility study was completed, Arcline Architecture prepared the design and Kaitaia firm Pouwhenua worked on the build. The project was overseen by engineer Craig Price, who generously donated his time. Funding came from several sources, including
the Ministry for Culture and Heritage Manatū Taonga Regional Culture and Heritage Fund, NZ Lotteries’ Environment and Heritage Fund, Foundation North, the Far North District Council and hapū fundraising.
Chris Dixon lives at Motutī and is the key holder at Raiātea.
“Religion is so integrated with the Māori culture up here that I couldn’t tell the difference growing up. It wasn’t until I was at university in Auckland that I realised it wasn’t like that in other places.”
Chris is proud to have helped his father, master carver George Dixon, sculpt the sailboat that sits above the entrance to the whare taonga. (George is also working on other whakairo for Raiātea and the marae.)
“This was quite a big job,” says Chris. “The canvas used for the sails is the same as what they use on a real sailboat.”
He unlocks the main door and shows us a favourite detail: “The carpet squares here at the entrance match the bishop’s colours, purple and red. It’s nice in the daytime, but lit up at night it’s even better. You can see the glow from the roadway.”
“He would bring a thing to people’s attention and then encourage them to follow it through – like he did with Raiātea”
Pā Tate passed away on 1 April 2017 and is buried in the urupā at Hata Maria St Mary’s Church in Motutī. While he did not live to see the fruition of his dream, he lived long enough to see that it would be achieved, and his dream was passed on to Ngā Kaihoe o Raiātea to complete.
The house where he lived is so close to Raiātea that it’s easy to see why a raised walkway between the two was considered early in the design phase.
Sister Magdalen Sheahan (Daughters of Our Lady of Compassion) lives there now. She knew Pā Tate for many years and confirms the project was his “long-held dream”.
“He would plant a seed and sometimes it would grow. He would bring a thing to people’s attention and then encourage them to follow it through – like he did with Raiātea – giving it some water from time to time,” she reflects.
Opened on 23 April 2022, Raiātea is a modern building. The whare taonga (for exhibition and education) is on the upper level and the archive (for research and storage) is on the lower.
Its opening ceremony was followed by the unveiling of Pā Tate’s headstone.
Displaying the taonga collection in the whare taonga ensures that the items are accessible to everyone for education and research purposes. Many items were collected by Pā Tate over three decades, and most relate to the history of Māori Katorika in Aotearoa New Zealand.
“The museum demonstrates Hokianga’s longstanding relationship with the Catholic Church,” says Motutī Marae Trust Chair Geremy Hema, “and how the Church and te ao Māori are connected.”
Some items were donated to Motutī marae by overseas visitors. The collection includes carvings, tukutuku panels and other taonga such as photographs, maps, letters, documents and an exquisite kākahu woven by Diggeress Rangituatahi Te Kanawa CNZM QSO and worn by Pā Tate when he received his PhD from the Melbourne College of Divinity (now the University of Divinity).
Whina Te Whiu, who co-ordinates the collection, says many items relate to Catholic history but from a Māori perspective. She recalls that Pā Tate told her: “Raiātea is part of the marae; it’s not in isolation, it’s not on its own. It is an extension of the marae.
1. The marae complex at Motutī with Raiātea on the left, the dining hall at centre and the wharenui to the right.
2. A graceful, modern build, Raiātea houses the whare taonga and research centre.
3. Chris Dixon shows some taonga pounamu from the collection at Raiātea.
4. The interpretation panels, carpet and display cases match the bishop’s colours.
5. A gold chasuble.
The majority of Māori in northern Hokianga are Catholic. Most of them define themselves not as Māori who are Catholics but as Māori Catholics whose faith has been built from a unique relationship developed during the time of Bishop Pompallier in the early 1800s.
“The museum demonstrates Hokianga’s longstanding relationship with the Catholic Church and how the Church and te ao Māori are connected”
“It is a puna that nourishes my people, and it can provide nourishment for those who come. It does not stand alone. Our taonga are not just in this whare, the whakairo in our whare tūpuna are taonga, and our stories are our taonga.”
“Because it’s on the whenua of our marae it has the extension of its mana and tapu,” explains Whina. “Therefore, it has the extension of our aroha manaaki to that building and to our whakapapa for those who want to engage in that space and to our manuhiri who want to come and engage and be fed by it.”
Pā Tate’s youngest brother, Rennel (Ren) Tate, currently lives at Motutī, just a few steps from the whare taonga and wharenui. When asked what it’s like to live in such a place, he says: “It’s nice, quiet, beats living in the city. I lived in Auckland for 52 years from when I left home, then three or four years in Tauranga before coming here.
“I imagine if he [Pā Tate] were still alive and living in his house over there, he would get up and have a look over here every morning,” says Ren, as he looks across the divide between the rear deck of the whare taonga and the house where Pā Tate lived.
“The window closest to us here is where his office was. He’d open the curtains and have a look at this building, that’s where he would be looking from. It would be hard to miss.”
The whare taonga and research centre were only open to whānau during 2022, and groups from Auckland schools, including De La Salle College and St Anne’s Catholic School, visited and stayed overnight at the marae.
Public access is anticipated in 2023.
With no natural source nearby, water is a precious commodity; rainwater is collected and stored in several 20,000-litre tanks. All tours and noho must therefore be managed carefully in relation to the supply of water and other resources.
As Ren sits inside the whare taonga, he reflects on the realisation of his brother’s dream.
“I guess it feels like it was just a teardrop in the ocean. That’s how he operated, from an idea. It started out small and ended up big. He was right into museum stuff – so many things he brought here from all over the world.”
1. A tukutuku panel gifted to Motutī reflects the relationship between Māori and Te Hāhi Katorika in Hokianga.
2. Crucifixes and statues are part of the collection at Rāiatea.
3. The house where Pā Tate lived and the window of his office viewed from Raiātea.
aroha manaaki: loving care of/support
hāhi: church
hapū: sub-tribe
kākahu: a type of cloak
Katorika: Catholic/s
mana: life force, prestige
manuhiri: visitors
noho: stays
puna: spring
tapu: restricted/sacred
tukutuku: woven latticework
urupā: cemetery
whakairo: carving/s
whakapapa: genealogy
wharenui: meeting house
whare taonga: museum
whare tūpuna: ancestral house whenua: land
Music historian Gareth Shute has created maps of Auckland’s historic venues for the website AudioCulture. He takes us through four key spots in the heart of the city: the Civic, Auckland Town Hall, the St James and the Bluestone Room/Store
It’s a Friday night in September and the Civic theatre is bustling. Hollie Smith is in the main theatre, a covers act performs out in the foyer, the Modern Māori Quartet is downstairs in the spacious Wintergarden, while upstairs cabaret singers perform in the Piano Bar and there’s musical comedy in the cosy Abyssinian Room. The event –the Auckland Live Cabaret Season – is inadvertently showcasing the Civic’s versatility, even as it approaches 100 years old.
The Civic opened in 1929 as a theatre and cinema. Two carved lions with piercing blue-green eyes guarded the main stage and stars twinkled on the ceiling overhead, while in the foyer dozens of golden Buddha and majestic elephant statues were set back in alcoves. After the film screened, a golden barge holding an orchestra rose up to advertise the dance hall in the Wintergarden downstairs. All in all it was an ostentatious operation, given that only 200,000 people lived in Auckland.
During World War II, locally stationed US soldiers loved the Civic’s lush decor and the Wintergarden’s hot music. In 1943 the line-up included the US swing band led by virtuoso clarinettist Artie Shaw. This revived the Civic, cementing its role as a chic cinema and a top-class live venue that went on in 1966 to host the Rolling Stones.
The Civic contained myriad underground spaces that were converted into nightclubs in the 1980s. Simon Grigg hosted Thursday nights at short-lived club Berlin and recalls the Civic being a hive of activity.
“Johnny Tabla ran clubs throughout the ’70s and ’80s in two spaces beneath the Civic. On Queen Street you had the entry to Aladdin’s, which became Club Roma. Up around the corner was King Creole’s, where Russell Crowe used to DJ. When Berlin was in that space the DJ booth was still in a sawn-in-half Cadillac attached to the ceiling. Nobody wanted to DJ in it because it rocked back and forth – it was just held up by chains.”
The Civic isn’t the only historic music venue in the area. Slightly further up and across Queen Street is the St James Theatre, which was opened in 1928 to replace Fuller’s Opera House, although it was also a cinema. It was listed as a Category 1 historic place in 1988 and over the next two decades hosted many huge stars, including Miles Davis, Jeff Buckley, James Brown and Neil Finn’s Seven Worlds Collide ensemble.
The St James has balcony boxes either side of the stage and sloping tiered levels above, but conveniently allows ground-floor attendees to either stand or be seated (in comparison with the Civic, which is seated only). Sadly, the St James was closed in 2007 following a fire during renovations, although in recent years it’s been the setting for music videos by Tami Neilson and Avantdale Bowling Club.
Crossing back over Queen Street, we find Auckland Town Hall. Opened in 1911, it had an inbuilt pipe organ –likely the largest musical instrument in the country. The building’s austere baroque design reflects its inclusion of the Auckland Council Chambers, but its Great Hall has proved remarkably adaptable.
While in the early days it hosted orchestral and choral performances, jazz bands became huge
drawcards in the decades that followed. In 1956 an audience of 750 flocked to see a new rock and roll group put together by jazz drummer Frank Gibson Snr, although the crowd was more interested in dancing than watching the band. This all changed in 1964 when the Beatles’ Town Hall performance induced hysterical mayhem in the crowd.
Like the St James, Auckland Town Hall was listed as a Category 1 historic place in 1988, following the Civic’s Category 1 listing in 1985. As well as having significant architectural value, all three venues are living
embodiments of the city’s evolving music scene. Moving into the new millennium, the Town Hall hosted the Aotearoa Hip Hop Summit, which provided crucial stepping stones for rising stars such as Nesian Mystik and Scribe. More recently, acts such as Teeks and Leisure have bridged the past and present by appearing alongside the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra. When we consider the current struggles to save the St James, it’s worth recalling that during the 1990s
$45 million was spent on the Civic and $33 million on the Town Hall. The latter’s organ required an overhaul in 2010 so it was dismantled and 40 tonnes of parts were sent to Germany for repairs (at a cost of $3.5 million).
Venues, however, don’t need to be theatre sized to have historical value. The Bluestone Room was built in 1861 as a warehouse and is listed as a Category 1 historic place called the Bluestone Store (after the volcanic basalt of its exterior walls).
Up until the 1980s, its neighbours were His Majesty’s Theatre and Broadcasting House, which were both demolished despite protests. The Bluestone Room – considered the oldest stone building left in the commercial heart of Auckland – was only saved because of a 1987 protection notice approved by then Minister of Conservation Helen Clark.
The building’s musical history began in 1963 when it was opened as The Top 20, where bands such as Larry’s Rebels covered the hottest chart hits of the week. Legendary promoter Hugh Lynn worked as the club’s compere in 1964.
“You could feel it was an old building. I think it was happy that we were in there. It was quite unique because you’d come into the lane and there’d always be people hanging around outside,” says Hugh.
“The scene was changing from ballroom dancing to rock and roll, so there was a bubble of this excitement growing across the city. I remember going to an event that Benny Levin put on around the same time, called Jamboree at the Town Hall and it was packed. I saw this guy in a leopard-skin suit and high-heel shoes – it blew me away.”
Musician Larry Killip played at the next two incarnations of the Bluestone Store. He performed at packed Sunday afternoon shows at the 1480 club (it was run by Radio Hauraki and named after its AM frequency) and also took the stage when it became the Bo-Peep.
“My first memory of the Bo-Peep was standing at the door looking in one night. I was all of 16 and simply overwhelmed by the scene before me,” recalls Larry.
“I liken it to wandering into the bar scene in Star Wars. It was hot, sweaty and smoky, and the band was playing loudly at the entrance as you walked in. Maurice Greer was resplendent in his dapper look, complete with bell trousers, tight velvet top and flowing red hair, all while standing up playing his drums, which included timpani drums and a big gong.
“The Bo-Peep was where us aspiring musicians/ band members would catch our heroes: Salty Dog, The Human Instinct, The Troubled Mind, The La De Da’s, The Underdogs. We would always come away inspired.”
In 1971 singer Tommy Adderley and promoter Dave Henderson reopened the venue as Granny’s, with Grandpa’s situated above. Grandpa’s tried to avoid alcohol laws by being a ‘private club’ but received so many fines that Adderley was financially ruined.
In the late ’70s, the Babes disco club operated downstairs while punk club Zwines operated upstairs (leading to regular clashes!), then a fire closed the building down. It reopened as the Bluestone Room bar in 2000, and in the 2010s ‘Punk It Up’ Zwines reunion gigs were held upstairs.
These constant revitalisations are seen as positive by Bev Parslow, Area Manager Mid-Northern for Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga.
“A building like the Bluestone Store is able to survive because of the materials it is made out of and the fact that a large warehouse has such potential for adaptive reuse. The focus from a heritage protection standpoint is on ensuring these buildings have some form of reuse and community support.”
The Bluestone Room is now vacant owing to the decline in the hospitality trade during the pandemic and the reduction in foot traffic caused by the nearby City Rail Link’s construction. However, the venue experienced similar fallow periods prior to being brought back as Babes/Zwines and the Bluestone Room, so there’s no reason to think it won’t emerge again –adding further layers to its unfolding story.
To hear more from Gareth, view our video story here: youtube.com/ HeritageNewZealandPouhereTaonga
“I liken it to wandering into the bar scene in Star Wars. It was hot, sweaty and smoky, and the band was playing loudly at the entrance as you walked in”
The Kaimanawa Range, 77,348 hectares of mountains, rivers and valleys, is home to New Zealand’s most famous wild horse herd. The first horses were introduced to New Zealand by the Revd Samuel Marsden in December 1814, but it wasn’t until 1876 that the first wild horses were recorded in the Kaimanawa Range.
The original bloodlines came from a mixed breed known as the Comet – small in stature, robust and sure-footed. Over the years, other breeds have contributed to the lineage: escapees from the Land Wars, horses released from local farms and, in 1941, horses that were released from the mounted rifle cavalry units at Waiouru when a strangles epidemic threatened.
This unique landscape is also home to almost 750 species of native plants, including many uncommon and endangered varieties.
Since 2009 an annual horse muster has maintained the herd at approximately 300, ensuring that the habitat and plant life are protected and greatly improving the condition of the horses.
Representatives from the Department of Conservation Te Papa Atawhai, the New Zealand Defence Force and Kaimanawa Heritage Horses get together every autumn to carry out a head count in the lead-up to the muster in order to ascertain how many homes will be required for the captured horses. I was lucky enough to be invited to join the most recent trip, which, for me (a huge horse lover), was like having a backstage pass to my favourite band. The range itself is incredible, like another world, and being able to get up close and see the horses in their own environment was truly a privilege.
Technical data
Camera: Canon EOS 5D MK III
Lens: EF100-400 f4.5-5.6L IS USM
Aperture: f/5.6 ISO: 100 Exposure: 1/250
WORDS: CLAUDIA BABIRAT
his is called a banjo. Can anyone guess why?” Gary James rotates the shovel so that he’s holding it like a musical instrument. A look
of recognition sweeps across the faces of the school kids standing opposite him and a couple of hands shoot up in the air. “Its wide blade meant that miners could shovel a lot of coal in a short amount of time. Who wants to have a go?”
We’re in the Friends of the Hill museum on Denniston Plateau, up a winding road half an hour north of Westport, standing at the entrance of a replica mine. Gary is hosting a school group on camp. It’s a tough crowd – a group of teenage boys –and the topic is history. But everyone’s listening. That’s because Gary has the best stories. In fact, he has all the stories. And he’s passionate about sharing them with people who want to find out more about the place that he’s loved for most of his life. There are a few things a future visitor to Denniston should know. Firstly, yes, there’s a museum. You’ll find it if you continue past the turn-off to the steep railway incline for which Denniston is famous. If you like your heritage with a twist of authentic, in-the-flesh storytelling, you
A gathering 30 years ago of hundreds of former Denniston residents sparked the idea of Friends of the Hill, a community group that’s still actively connected to the coal-mining town – despite it being home to just a handful of people today
should visit. (“The museum is open on request, and every day between Boxing Day and Waitangi Day,” Gary is quick to add. “Entry is by donation.”)
Secondly, Denniston may look like a ghost town, but it’s not. Many people who once lived here – and more recently their descendants – make the journey to Denniston regularly. Their connections to the once-bustling community remain strong by their being Friends of the Hill.
Thirdly, six people still live in Denniston today. One of them is Gary, another is his wife Sylvia. They live in a former miner’s cottage that they bought 35 years ago for $7000.
“Denniston has always had a reputation for being an extreme and isolated place to live, and a lot of people think we’re crazy,” laughs Sylvia. But, she points out, it’s only a 30-minute drive to the closest shops. They have cell phone reception (“it’s a bit patchy”) and electricity. The only things missing are flush toilets. “The ground is too rocky to dig into.”
There’s no lack of social life.
“We’ve met an incredible number of people who were born and raised here,” says Sylvia. “In its heyday, 1400 people called Denniston home: coal miners and their families. And for many of those who return, it’s like a homecoming.” Some try to find their old house sites or where they worked; others just want to share their stories with someone.
For Gary, these are all precious encounters; he collects stories like some people collect stamps. Born in Westport, he developed a deep personal connection with the area while out roaming the plateau and
nearby hills as a youngster. He also has strong family connections to Denniston.
“Growing up, we lived next to my great-grandmother, who used to tell me about her husband who was a travelling shoe salesman. He visited Denniston once a week – on the day when the miners were paid and had some money in their pockets.”
Sylvia lived in Denniston before she met Gary, following the lead of her great-grandmother, who resided on the hill for two years.
“She moved here in 1898, a widow with a child in a mining town full of men. She came here to be a wet nurse for the mine manager’s wife.”
Over time, Gary and Sylvia have created an intricate web of connections between their own stories and those of the people they’ve met. As Gary says, “We’ve become the custodians of Denniston’s stories.” He prefers this title over their more official ones.
“The idea of Friends of the Hill started in 1993 at a gathering in Christchurch of Denniston’s former residents. When we got there, we found that over 500 people had come!”
The organisers, getting older, said the gatherings needed to come home or the events would stop. Gary and Sylvia got the ball rolling before leaving the reunion, and a few months later Friends of the Hill was born. Gary is the group’s chair and Sylvia acts as secretary.
This is where the museum comes in. The Friends needed a base for reunions and a place where people could drop by. The best location, they decided, was the former high school.
Betty Garing, a core member of Friends of the Hill, remembers going to school there.
“It had one classroom, one cooking/science room, and one woodworking room,” says the 82-year-old, whose parents were raised, met and got married on the plateau.
“Growing up, my family moved to Waimangaroa, at the base of the hill, when I was two. We moved back up the hill after my dad got a job as an official in the mine. If you were an official, you had to live at Denniston.”
Betty’s story is the kind that Gary loves.
“It was a strong community with a lot of spirit,” continues Betty. “We had football teams, soccer, hockey, a picture theatre, a few shops, everything we needed. When I left school, I got a job in the mine’s office as a typist and later worked in payroll. I worked at an old mine manager’s house. I was in the big front room, which had a fireplace. It was always warm,” she laughs. “We had no shortage of coal.”
As the mine wound up, so did the community. “There was a gradual drift down the hill.”
In 1961 Betty married Clem, a carpenter for the mines. They bought a house from Denniston (“originally built for the workers who put in the aerial ropeway”), dismantled it into three sections and moved it down the hill to Waimangaroa. She still lives there today, just down the road from her aunt and uncle, who are 96 and 98 years old respectively and the oldest active members of Friends of the Hill.
Dan Moloney remembers the school buildings equally well, but for a different reason.
“We started creating the museum in 1994; it was all done by volunteers. The building in which we built the replica mine had been used as a machinery shop and there was grease all over the floor. It was a big job to clean it all up,” he says.
Dan is a founding member of Friends of the Hill and, at 70, “probably one of the youngest”. Dan’s great-grandparents owned the Crown Hotel at Coalbrookdale, which his grandfather (also Dan) later ran for a short time.
What made Dan senior especially interesting was that between 1900 and 1905 he was seldom without
“We’ve collected all their people’s stories over the years. We can fill in the pieces they’re missing”
his wooden tripod and camera; his collection is now at the Alexander Turnbull Library. “The photos are very special to me,” says Dan, “because I can still visit those places, although the hotel is no longer there.”
The Friends of the Hill museum now houses many treasures, including family heirlooms that “have come back on the hill”. Gary knows the story behind each one, such as the sewing machine that was used to make shrouds for the departed, whose coffins had to be transported down the hill for burial, and the home perm set that belonged to a widow whose husband had died in a mining accident.
“There was no benefit for solo mothers,” Gary points out. “To survive she made money by doing the hair of the ladies who lived here.”
As well as welcoming the public, the museum hosts specialist interest groups and acts as a venue for events such as last year’s Matariki Festival.
It was even used by the BBC during part of the Lost World series shoot. But its most important function continues to be as a hub for biennial Friends of the Hill reunions.
“One of the biggest changes over the years has been the drop in numbers,” says Gary.
“We started off with about 300 members, many of whom attended reunions. We’re down to about 80.”
Now it’s mainly descendants who return to Denniston. Many come to scatter their parents’ ashes, and Gary and Sylvia regularly provide something they can take away with them.
“They often want to know about where they’ve come from, so we invite them in for a cuppa. We’ve collected all their people’s stories over the years. We can fill in the pieces they’re missing.”
And once in a while Gary and Sylvia are surprised in return. “This year we finally heard from the Mottleys – the first family to live in our house,” says Gary. “We’re hoping to meet them soon. I’ve been waiting for this moment for 27 years.”
Not ones to want the final word, Gary and Sylvia point out that there are many active members of Friends of the Hill throughout the country, all equally enthusiastic about retaining and sharing their history. The local group, they say, keeps a small ember of mining life glowing on the hill.
This story was supplied to Heritage New Zealand magazine courtesy of Tohu Whenua.
1. Buller High School students learn about the history of Denniston, hosted by Friends of the Hill. Image: Jason Blair
2. Sylvia and Gary James.
3. Friends of the Hill members welcome visitors to the museum.
4. Inside the Friends of the Hill Museum. Imagery: Claudia Babirat
5. View from the entrance to the Banbury Mine (1879-90) showing old coal tubs on right side of image. Image: Peter Robertson
Denniston Mine is recognised as a Tohu Whenua – one of our nation’s best heritage experiences – and rightly so. It’s an exhilarating feeling when you stand at the edge of Denniston’s famous feature, the incredibly steep railway incline that once provided the only access to the plateau.
Described as the eighth industrial wonder of the world, this is where, for 87 years, wagons brimming with coal (and sometimes the odd sneaky passenger) hurtled 1670 metres down a near-45-degree slope.
Engaging onsite interpretation makes the most of stories collected by the Friends of the Hill from the tough-as-nails residents who called this brutally beautiful place home. These days, several easy tracks weave their way past extensive relics that include the coal wagons, the brakehead (so named because it fed the huge water-fed brakes that slowed the full wagons as they hurtled down the incline), workshop foundations and the Banbury Arch, which carried the coal tramway at Banbury Mine and is believed to have been built by Cornish stonemasons.
Other West Coast sites with Tohu Whenua status include Reefton, Waiuta, Brunner Mine, Hokitika Port, Commercial and Government Centre, and the recently remodelled Te Kopikopiko o te Waka near Te Moeka-o-Tuawe Fox Glacier, which is the first Tohu Whenua story-based landscape site. n
It’s hard to believe that up until this year much of Aotearoa New Zealand’s history wasn’t routinely taught in schools. Whether due to a form of cultural cringe in favour of ‘more important’ overseas stories, or convenient cultural amnesia, Māori history and conflicts such as the New Zealand Wars were officially ignored in the curriculum, stifling our understanding of generational trauma, events and politics today.
But from this year, students and parents around the country will gain a new appreciation of Aotearoa New Zealand’s past as a refreshed history curriculum encourages students into local heritage sites for real-life learning. This is known as ‘education outside the classroom’, or EOTC, and offers places where students can connect their local heritage sites with national events – such as the hill above Russell where Hōne Heke chopped down a flagpole and sparked a war.
One catalyst for the new curriculum surfaced in 2014, when students Waimarama Anderson and Leah Bell were standing on a dusty road at Rangiaowhia, a wāhi tapu in Waikato, with the rest of their Ōtorohanga College peers. In 1864 imperial and colonial soldiers had attacked an undefended village and gardens there, burning whānau alive in their homes and the whare karakia and later taking the land.
On that day, kaumātua wept as they told their ancestors’ stories, which also affected the students deeply – as did a visit to another wāhi tapu, the historic battle site of Ōrākau.
Leah, who was 14 at the time, recalls they were learning about similar atrocities occurring in the US during the Civil War but not about what had happened just down the road. She and Waimarama, then 16, organised a petition, which garnered 13,000 signatures, for the Land Wars to be taught in schools, the introduction of a national day of remembrance, and the inclusion of local history in the curriculum.
“Even in the face of these sometimes painful histories, this is a small moment of celebration, as we’re building a generation of informed citizens,” Leah says today.
Leah says EOTC is “of immense importance” in building a shared national understanding – especially about how past events have contributed to centuries of racism and Pākehā privilege in education, health, generational wealth, justice, politics and housing.
“It will help teach students that humanity is not up for debate,” she says. “It can be used as a way of galvanising the next generation to be really informed.
“History is no longer intangible; it has direct implications for today.”
Pauline Cleaver, the Ministry of Education Associate Deputy Secretary for Curriculum, Pathways and Progress, says the new curriculum will not prescribe accounts or versions of histories. Instead students will learn to interpret past decisions and actions by understanding the values of the time.
“Interpretations of the past are contentious – we want ākonga to understand this and develop the skills to think critically about the interpretations they read and hear,” she says.
“The ‘big ideas’ outlined in the curriculum content will be brought to life when ākonga learn the critical histories of local places and peoples. These histories will reflect the make-up of ākonga in the classroom and in doing so will see them have a richer learning experience of the histories of local iwi, hapū and communities.”
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga welcomes the new curriculum, says Director of Regional Services Pam Bain. A new website and updated technology will offer a range of new resources to take advantage of the change and go with the current suite of podcasts, workshops, displays, websites and apps. The organisation is also contributing to Tohu Whenua –landmarks that tell our stories – a visitor programme and network of heritage sites that is operating in three regions with an ultimate goal of 15.
“I think it’s absolutely fantastic,” Pam says. “The opportunity for everybody in New Zealand, not just the school kids, to have a better understanding of the
Teaching New Zealand histories is now compulsory in schools, but what role will learning outside the classroom at historic places play in communicating our important stories?
“It’s the real fabric, the real people were here, real things happened; we can’t conjure up the people, but you can stand in a place and populate it in your imagination”
history of Aotearoa New Zealand is just extraordinary. It’s an opportunity for all of us and can only be good for the country as a whole.”
With the organisation managing more than 40 places, Pam says it will provide a valuable source of local stories with national impacts.
“I don’t think you can beat learning about stories and people in the places where they lived,” she says. “And with taonga still in the place, in the context of where things happened.
“It is different going to a museum to learn about the suffrage petition when you can go to Kate Sheppard House [in Ilam, Christchurch, a Category 1 historic place] and be in the room to learn about that petition where those women were pasting it together.
“Context is everything.”
Some historic sites will see a fresh influx of visitors, and some are developing new offerings to enhance the curriculum. At our nation’s birthplace, the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, Education Manager Monika Kern sees the value of education outside the classroom every day. The team has been working with the curriculum draft since 2021, after winning a Ministry of Education contract to create resources for teachers.
Recently Monika was also seconded to Te Pū Tiaki Mana Taonga, the Association of Educators Beyond
the Classroom, helping more than 300 culture and heritage workers across the country to upskill in a 15-month programme funded by the Ministry for Culture and Heritage. She says the sector now seems well prepared for the curriculum change.
“Gone are the days when a student put a signature on a burnt bit of paper and that was their treaty learning. Some teachers did a marvellous job, but some didn’t really know how to approach it,” she says.
“The curriculum now guides teachers. They describe it as ‘the learning that cannot be left to chance’, which I really like.”
What’s the best way to get students hooked on heritage? She says that it’s always evolving. At Waitangi, staff begin by listening to what a teacher wants to get out of a visit, then create a co-designed lesson plan. When the class arrives, they are flexible.
“We see if the students’ eyes glaze over; it might mean we change something. They can’t go away with stuff they could have looked up online; they need critical engagement – why did that happen, why was that acceptable, would it still be acceptable today?”
It’s not just about shepherding students through a museum or having them watch a re-enactment of a historical scene. Most sessions also have a practical or creative component that should be fun as well as educational.
“The opportunity for everybody in New Zealand, not just the school kids, to have a better understanding of the history of Aotearoa New Zealand is just extraordinary”1. The awardwinning Te Kōngahu Museum of Waitangi, Waitangi Treaty Grounds. Image: Waitangi Treaty Grounds 2. Jay Ruka (Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Mutunga), is Dean of the Taranaki Cathedral Church of St Mary. Image: Mark Harris
“We are learning all the time too; we always learn from our students,” she says. “I don’t think there has been a single visit where I haven’t had a new insight.”
Another place where history comes alive for students is the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taongamanaged Kerikeri Mission Station, say Property Lead Liz Bigwood and Visitor Services Coordinator Kellee Rei-Harris (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Toa, Ngāti Pākehā).
They point out that it’s one thing to hear that Ngāpuhi chief Hongi Hika allowed the Mission Station to be built on tribal land near Kororipo Pā; it’s quite another to go to the place and see the pā site looking over it, offering a strong sense of that relationship.
Under the new curriculum children will be introduced gradually to historical events, issues and their modern-day aftermaths. As Kellee says, “The good, the bad and the ugly.” Each year will build complexity on the one before.
Liz believes the authenticity of a Tohu Whenua like the Mission Station makes it a powerful place of learning.
“It’s the real fabric, the real people were here, real things happened; we can’t conjure up the people, but you can stand in a place and populate it in your imagination.”
Kellee says the power of the pā site is still evident in what has physically gone too.
“Even though there are no longer structures on Kororipo Pā, like whare, pātaka or Hongi’s European
house, you can see the hill, the remnants. You’ve got all the terraces indented into the fabric of it. You can see where the kāinga attached to Kororipo used to be. These are really important things we can point out to the rangatahi.”
In New Plymouth, a new building, Te Whare Hononga or The House That Binds, is under construction at the Taranaki Cathedral Church of St Mary, one of New Zealand’s earliest stone churches and a Category 1 historic place. It will be a purpose-built place for education, for mana whenua Ngāti Te Whiti to tell their stories alongside those of St Mary’s.
Cathedral Dean Jay Ruka (Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Mutunga) says it’s “well overdue” to have the bold, modern Māori space alongside St Mary’s.
“St Mary’s is a historical colonial site and everything about it screams that,” he says. “This is the fruit of generations of Māori clergy predominantly, but also Pākehā leaders. Where the manifestation of doing something about that colonial history has come about in a real, tangible and practical way.”
He says it’s a very popular place for school groups, and the main target is to get as many young people as possible learning there.
“St Mary’s already gets groups from all around the country coming here anytime. Now we have this purpose-built space that helps people to understand the history even better. It’s awesome to begin to balance out the kōrero.”
ākonga: students
hapū: sub-tribe
kāinga: village
kaumātua: elders
kōrero: conversation
mana whenua: those with tribal authority over land or territory
pātaka: food storehouse
rangatahi: youth
taonga: treasures
wāhi tapu: site of sacred significance
whare karakia: church/es
Just like her late father Raymond Pirangi, Teuira Pirangi is a tourism entrepreneur on a mission. Every Tuesday and Wednesday she hosts three-hour walking tours of her ancestral homeland – one of only a few historic villages still intact in the Cook Islands.
Three nights a week, on the same site, she leads a 40-person team that puts on a traditional umu and cultural dance for up to 120 guests. When she’s not doing that, you’ll find her mowing the property’s sprawling lawns or deep in conversation with a bride-to-be about where on the hilltop site the upcoming nuptials will take place.
Then, of course, there’s the ongoing matter of applying for UNESCO World Heritage status, an effort that she and the Cook Islands Ministry of Cultural Development initiated in 2013 and that –fingers crossed – will protect Highland Paradise Cook Islands Cultural Centre for future generations.
“I know my father would be proud of what has been achieved here since his passing in 1997. But sometimes the work we’ve yet to do can feel overwhelming,” Teuira explains before our walking tour begins.
Teuira became managing director of Highland Paradise Cook Islands Cultural Centre in 2000, wrapping up a decades-long career as a debt collector to look after her mother and help run her father’s tourism business and fulfil his vision for the centre.
Since then, the self-funded tourism venture has won six Air New Zealand Cook Islands Tourism Culture Awards and launched an annual competition for local school kids to showcase their mastery of traditional skills such as weaving, drumming, ukulele playing and storytelling.
“Dad’s dream was to have people understand the historical significance of this ancient site and to use it as a way to engage our people in the heritage and culture of the Cook Islands,” says Teuira.
Located in Mangaroa Valley, within the west coast district of Arorangi on the island of Rarotonga, the
According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) –which celebrated its 50th anniversary in November 2022 – World Heritage status helps raise awareness of a site’s heritage value and boosts access to assistance, training, advice and funding. To date, more than 1000 buildings and wilderness and historic places have been included on the World Heritage List. Find out more at whc.unesco.org n
elevated site was once the mountain village of the Tinomana tribe, overseen by Teuira’s ancestor and ariki, paramount chief Tinomana.
Archaeological studies carried out separately by Canterbury Museum and the University of Auckland in the 1960s, and the University of Auckland again in 2017, found evidence of ancient stone marae, as well as several places of worship, sacrifice and warfare. Meanwhile, radiocarbon dating of cooking structures in the valley shows that the area was probably first inhabited in the 1500s.
The findings corroborate oral records of occupation by Tinomana and his wives and children from the 1700s until the early 1800s, when European missionaries arrived in the Cook Islands and changed traditional life forever.
Today, the site’s artefacts and history are on full display to the public as one of a small but growing number of heritage tourism ventures in the Cook Islands.
Storytellers Eco Cycle and Walking Tours, owned and run by former Kiwi environmental sociology lecturer Dr Corrina Tucker, is another example. Her tours, launched in 2019, take in a range of historic sites,
the challenges that Pacific communities face in obtaining recognition for significant1. Teuira Pirangi of Highland Paradise Cook Islands Cultural Centre in Rarotonga.
including Ara Metua, an ancient coral inland road estimated to be around 1000 years old.
New Zealand archaeologist Gareth Walter believes cultural tourism has an important role to play in the Cook Islands and throughout the Pacific. In 2017 Gareth spent three weeks carrying out field work at the ancient village in Maungaroa Valley as part of a master’s degree at the University of Auckland.
Today, although based in Australia as Heritage Management Lead for Rio Tinto, he continues to travel to the Cook Islands and work with Teuira to get the site included on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Cultural tourism done well can help indigenous communities realise their aspirations, while ensuring globally important histories are told, he says.
“But in places like the Pacific, where there’s limited funding and heritage protection support available, it’s not uncommon for family-run businesses to become the primary means for achieving those goals.”
On the upside, that means the experiences can be authentic and reflective of an indigenous worldview. On the downside, it can be burdensome for time-poor, cash-strapped communities.
“Seeking UNESCO World Heritage status takes years and can cost millions of dollars in research, consultation and so on. There are a lot of moving parts,” says Gareth.
“And when you look at what is listed today, you’ll find very few Pacific world heritage sites and even fewer sites reflective of indigenous heritage.
“To me, that’s why Teuira’s efforts are so important. Not only is she helping to protect and promote an important chapter of Cook Islands cultural heritage, but there’s also the potential to pave the way for the protection and promotion of other Polynesian heritage sites.”
Gareth would like to see government agencies in Pacific nations such as New Zealand get behind Teuira’s bid. Among the agencies that Heritage New Zealand magazine was directed to while researching this story were the Department of Conservation Te Papa Atawhai (DOC) and Creative New Zealand.
“Not only is [Teuira] helping to protect and promote an important chapter of Cook Islands cultural heritage, but there’s also the potential to pave the way for the protection and promotion of other Polynesian heritage sites”
DOC Senior International Advisor Sarah Bagnall agrees that obtaining UNESCO World Heritage status can be an important way to recognise the world’s most special places. And while DOC successfully achieved such status for the natural wilderness site of Te Wāhipounamu – South West New Zealand, she isn’t aware of Teuira’s bid or the range of government measures available to protect sites of cultural heritage in the Cook Islands.
Similarly, Creative New Zealand spokesperson Makerita Urale is neither aware of Teuira’s bid nor clear about the full range of government support available for cultural heritage protection in the Cook Islands.
However, she says, the agency does fund storytelling projects in the Pacific and occasionally works with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to fund cultural arts projects there.
Gareth believes the story of the Tinomana tribe in Maungaroa Valley is one important piece of a bigger storytelling jigsaw.
“We know some left the Cook Islands to voyage to Aotearoa in the early days of Polynesian settlement in New Zealand. We also know European missionaries played a major role in the village of Maungaroa disbanding and converting to Christianity, ultimately paving the way for colonisation in the Cook Islands.
“You shouldn’t see a site like the one at Maungaroa Valley in isolation. At more than 500 years old, it helps us understand a much bigger story that’s relevant to people and cultures throughout the Pacific and the wider world.”
Visit Highland Paradise Cook Island Cultural Centre for the Tapuae Day Tour to meet Teuira Pirangi and see the ancient village of the Tinomana tribe and learn about its history (good walking shoes and insect repellent are recommended for hiking to forested archaeological sites). Find out more at highlandparadise.co.ck
Be hosted by the descendants of the Tinomana tribe at Highland Paradise Cook Islands Cultural Centre on Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights. Enjoy a village tour and traditional tapu-lifting ceremony. Experience an umu feast and watch traditional Cook Island dancing. Find out more at highlandparadise.co.ck
Sign up for a cycle or walking tour with Storytellers
Eco Cycle and Walking Tours run by Dr Corrina Tucker. Tours range in length from a couple of hours to half a day. All tours take in fascinating stops at Cook Island cultural heritage sites and can include (on request) an introduction to the heritage food, architecture, flora and history of the Cook Islands.
Corrina has written handy booklets on the country’s heritage sites for people keen to know more about the sites visited on the tours or to use for self-guided cultural heritage tours. Sites included are Tuoro (Black Rock), the departure point for the spirits of the dead in Rarotonga, and Titikaveka (Cook Islands Christian Church), an historic church constructed partly from blocks carved from the nearby coral reef in 1841, among many others. Find out more at storytellers.co.ck n
WORDS: CAITLIN SYKES / IMAGERY: JESS BURGES
The French explorer Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne is a lesser-known figure in New Zealand history, but the ripple effects of the time he spent in the Bay of Islands 250 years ago have arguably shaped the New Zealand we know today
Ahush descends on our boat as we pause, reflecting on a headland that separates two small sets of boats moored either side. Then, as ripples created by our craft drift towards the headland, Ka Waiata ki a Maria carries across the quiet.
Kororāreka Marae Chair Deb Rewiri sings the waiata to acknowledge tūpuna who died in battle at this place, Paeroa Pā. It was here, 250 years ago, that French sailors, armed with muskets and seeking retribution for the killing of explorer Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne, killed more than 250 tangata whenua at the pā on Moturua Island in Pēwhairangi/the Bay of Islands (also known as ‘the Bay’).
Our boat trip has been organised as part of activities in 2022 marking 250 years since the arrival of Marion du Fresne and the crews of his two vessels on our shores. Unlike James Cook, who three years earlier had spent six days in the Bay, the French spent more than two months in the area in 1772.
The massacre at Paeroa Pā was a culmination of events that formed one the earliest prolonged
interactions between Māori and foreigners in Aotearoa – interactions, argues Bill Edwards, Area Manager Northland for Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, that have shaped the New Zealand we know today.
“It’s probably one of the most significant interaction events in New Zealand history, but it doesn’t really get talked about,” he says. “And we need to talk about it.”
Marion du Fresne was already a highly experienced sailor and navigator, with naval skills honed in conflicts such as the Seven Years War before he embarked for the South Pacific in 1771 with his ships the Mascarin and the Marquis de Castries. His mission was twofold: to return the Tahitian Ahutoru to his homeland, and to find Terra Australis. On both counts, however, the mission was unsuccessful: the hypothetical ‘Southern Land’ remained just that, and Ahutoru, like Marion du Fresne, never made it home, succumbing to smallpox on the journey.
There were other misfortunes. While Marion du Fresne’s vessels were taking soundings near the Prince Edward Islands in the southern Indian Ocean, the wind changed and the boats collided. Requiring timber and suitable conditions to establish a forge to repair the damage, and a place for his sailors to recuperate from scurvy, Marion du Fresne sailed onwards to Australia then New Zealand, anchoring in Northland, first at Spirits Bay then at the Bay of Islands.
Specifically, the French spent most of their time based around Moturua – the very same island that, unbeknown to them, Cook had visited three years earlier.
Moturua, however, is a landscape filled with history and stories stretching back centuries before these European arrivals. The Mangahawea Bay Partnership Project, set up in 2016 by Ngāti Kuta and Patukeha alongside three Crown agencies, has established Mangahawea Bay on the island as a place of very early Polynesian settlement.
Left by ancestors like footprints across the landscape, place names, such as that of Motu Rangiātea off Mangahawea Bay, reference these deep Pacific connections.
It was a freshwater source that drew both Cook and Marion du Fresne to the adjacent bays of Waiiti and Waipau on Moturua. And it was here that the French set up a camp in early May 1772 that included a hospital, a watering place and a forge to undertake metalwork for ship repairs.
A timber camp was also established at Manawaora, a nearby bay on the mainland.
“The French were spread out across the landscape, and because they were here for quite a period of time, some of their relationships with tangata whenua broke down for numerous reasons: breaking tapu, taking resources, tying up the time of rangatira and multiple political reasons,” explains Bill. “And when they broke down, they broke down badly.”
On 12 June 1772, Marion du Fresne and 26 members of his crew were killed at Te Hue Bay.
A series of reprisals ensued, culminating in a massacre at Paeroa Pā where, for the first time, muskets were used to attack a traditional pā, resulting in a huge number of casualties.
A month after Marion du Fresne’s killing, on 12 July, the French left, burying a bottle in the sands of Waipau Bay containing a declaration of France’s possession of the entire country as they departed.
As with the 250th anniversary in 2019 of Cook’s landing, the 250th anniversary of Marion du Fresne’s arrival in the Bay of Islands has served as a point for activity and reflection.
Although the French explorer is a lesserknown figure in New Zealand history, Bill says the ripple effects created by his interactions with tangata whenua – and other, subsequent early contact in the North with the French – have been substantial.
Bill outlined some of these in a paper he presented at the conference of the Australasian Society for Historical Archaeology (ASHA), hosted by Kororāreka Marae and held in Russell last September, in which he argued that their impacts are evident in some of our founding documents.
He points, for example, to the 1831 petition to King William IV for protection signed by 13 Northern rangatira, which noted: “We have heard that the tribe of Marian [the French] is at hand, coming to take away our land. Therefore we pray thee to become our friend and the guardian of these islands, lest the teasing of other tribes should come near us, and lest strangers should come and take away our land.”
The subsequent arrival of Charles de Thierry in Hokianga, says Bill, also provided impetus for both He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tirene – the 1835 Declaration of Independence of the United
“It’s probably one of the most significant interaction events in New Zealand history, but it doesn’t really get talked about. And we need to talk about it”
Tribes of New Zealand – and the Treaty of Waitangi.
“A generation after the arrival of Marion du Fresne,” he says, “there was a really important fear of the French in the minds of the people here – a fear that I think was utilised by the British for colonisation.”
As part of Tuia 250 – the series of events in 2019 that marked 250 years since Cook’s arrival – Bill and his team overlaid charts produced during the HMS Endeavour’s voyage with modern maps to identify significant sites of early interaction with Māori in the Bay. The chart then provided a route for a series of boat tours run in conjunction with mana whenua, where people could hear about
both the written historical accounts and the oral histories associated with these places of early interaction.
The work provided a model for marking the anniversary of Marion du Fresne’s arrival, when historical and modern maps were again overlaid, this time to locate the French footprint.
In late September 2022, the findings from both projects were combined to help form the route of another boat tour of the Bay. Organised by Heritage Northland and run as a field trip as part of the ASHA conference programme, the trip was also open to the public and local school students. The tour spanned both the Bay of Islands and hundreds of years of history – from early
“This European contact archaeology sits within a landscape of Māori archaeology that goes back to 1300, when the first Polynesians arrived”
Polynesian settlement at Mangahawea Bay, to Waiiti and Waipau Bays, and to the first mission station at Oihi (Hohi).
Importantly, the voyage was also a chance for those on board to hear the history of these important places from a range of perspectives; oral histories from different hapū were shared on the voyage, along with insights from historians including Dame Anne Salmond and Bill, as well as archaeologists, an ecologist and Murphy Shortland, who has mapped the Bay’s traditional names.
“The idea was really to look at the seascape and the landscape through the eyes of the people as they first came here, from the Polynesian settlers to Cook and [Marion] du Fresne; to actually see first-hand these places of early contact because we’re now able to geographically locate them,” says Bill.
A map produced of ‘J Marion’ (Moturua) Island by Crozet, a leader on Marion du Fresne’s voyage, is also helping to tease out archaeological evidence of the French footprint on the island, explains James Robinson, Senior Archaeologist for Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga.
Crozet identified a range of features on the island – including two streams at Waiiti and Waipau Bays, and Paeroa Pā (which was also separately mapped by the French) – and the locations of the hospital and forge the crews set up during their weeks-long stay.
While the island as a whole isn’t perfectly mapped, explains James, its accuracy increases closer to the bays in which the French were based and has provided a foundation on which modern maps can be overlaid.
Crozet’s map shows the locations of the hospital and forge relative to the islands’ streams. Overlaying this information with modern maps, which also show the surrounding area of flat land required to set up such temporary infrastructure, has helped to pinpoint the areas where archaeological evidence might be found.
One focus of the search so far has been a large hole located in the area of the type required for what James calls a ‘go-ashore’ forge.
“It’s what sailors had to build in far-off places when they had metalwork to fix on their boats. It’s not a full blacksmith’s forge that we’d think of today with all its infrastructure; instead, on the boat they would have a small anvil, a pipe to get air into a hole in the ground in which they’d build heat, a hammer, tongs and bellows. So when they left and took those tools with them, all you’re really left with is a hole in the ground.”
Investigations of the hole have revealed a feeder near its top and a nearby drain leading to a stream – features identified in other archaeological sites confirmed as go-ashore forges.
In October 2022 James and Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga volunteers carried out a grid search around the hole using a metal detector, which identified a concentration of metal fragments in one area near the hole. A further investigation to see if that metal was scale, a by-product of the metalworking process, was imminent.
“If we can find scale – tiny, microscopic pieces of iron – then without doing any damage to the hole itself we’ll be able to say this is consistent with this being a forge, and we’ll be happy to record it as such.” While this would be a significant finding, James points out, it would only add to the highly complex and significant archaeological landscape of Moturua.
“This European contact archaeology sits within a landscape of Māori archaeology that goes back to 1300, when the first Polynesians arrived. There’s a lot going on throughout the island – villages, gardens, pā – and some of it is very ancient, with continuous occupation.
“The eight-week period when [Marion] du Fresne was in the Bay 250 years ago is an interesting phase of New Zealand history to explore, but what it also does is again emphasise Moturua Island as a very important, central place.”
1. Searching for evidence of scale at the possible ‘go-ashore’ forge site.
2. A possible go-ashore forge site.
hapū: sub-tribes mana whenua: those with tribal authority over land or territory
rangatira: chief/s tangata whenua: people of the land
tapu: sacred
tūpuna: ancestors
waiata: song
A French town liberated by Kiwi soldiers during World War I will soon be home to New Zealand’s first war museum in Europe
The walled medieval fortress town of Le Quesnoy sits in a river valley in the northeastern corner of France. It’s been on the front line in wars and battles for the best part of two millennia and was occupied by the German army for most of World War I – that is, until the town was liberated by New Zealand soldiers.
On the other side of the world the memory of that battle has faded, but that’s about to change. Thanks to the renovation of a 19th-century mansion house in the heart of Le Quesnoy and an Oscarwinning creative team, New Zealand is about to open its first war museum in Europe.
Herb Farrant, President of the New Zealand Military Historical Society, first visited Le Quesnoy in 1995 and has kept going back.
“With Le Quesnoy being the culmination of the New Zealand Division’s service in the Great War, it became obvious to me from about 2000 that we needed to do something about it.”
Seven days before the Armistice, New Zealand troops surrounded Le Quesnoy, with its deep, wide moat and strong ramparts. Bombardment wasn’t possible because there were too many civilians trapped inside, so they employed a medieval tactic: scaling the walls by ladder. But instead of arrows, it was German machine gun fire raining down on them. One-hundred-and-forty-seven New Zealand soldiers died as a result of that day’s fighting, while all the townspeople were spared.
The taking of Le Quesnoy was a significant action during the Battle of the Sambre – the last operation of the Hundred Days Offensive that ended World War I.
“The skill and valour with which the stronghold was carried are beyond praise,” reported a Reuters’ war correspondent.
Expecting to see British troops, the residents of Le Quesnoy were surprised to discover who their rescuers were, says Herb.
“The great comment on all New Zealand monuments relating to the Great War is ‘From the uttermost ends of the Earth’.”
Le Quesnoy still honours the nation that came to its aid. There’s a school named after the first soldier over the wall and New Zealand-related road signs. In 1999 Le Quesnoy was twinned with Cambridge in Waikato.
Herb started annual battlefield tours of the Western Front for relatives of New Zealanders who’d served in World War I, and knew the civic authorities in Le Quesnoy. In 2004 he spoke to the mayor about a museum, but nothing came of it until he got a former New Zealand deputy prime minister involved.
Sir Don McKinnon recalls Herb stopping him around a decade ago to ask whether he’d heard of Le Quesnoy. Sir Don admits he knew little about the town before he visited for the first time in 1995, as part of Anzac Day commemorations as the then Minister of Foreign Affairs. He felt the place should have had more recognition, so he agreed to help Herb with the development of a museum and visitor centre.
Sir Don became chair of the New Zealand Memorial Museum Trust, set up to raise money from private donations. There was a further boost after the 2014 election of a new Le Quesnoy mayor, Marie-Sophie Lesne, who strongly supported the project, believing the museum to be “an undeniable asset for the town” that “will allow visitors to witness the friendship which has united us since 4 November 1918”.
As commemorations for the centenary of World War I got underway, it was announced that the Australian government was funding a new and very expensive war museum in France.
“That probably prompted a few people to think about it; that no government – and I was part of government – had ever felt a pressure to do something like this,” says Sir Don. However, he says, the current government has allowed a tax benefit for New Zealand donors, who have committed the millions needed to commence the renovation and plan the visitor experience, with the trust still seeking further contributions to bring the project to fruition.
In 2017 the museum finally found a home. Marie-Sophie Lesne helped the trust to purchase a 19th-century mansion house inside the walls of Le Quesnoy. Recently vacated by the local gendarmerie, it came with eight 1950s maisonettes, a stand-alone cottage, a garage and a hectare of land.
In 2022 Wētā Workshop, the creator of the Gallipoli: The Scale of Our War exhibition for the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, joined
“With Le Quesnoy being the culmination of the New Zealand Division’s service in the Great War, it became obvious to me from about 2000 that we needed to do something about it”
the Le Quesnoy project. Wētā Workshop’s artists, technicians and craftspeople will create an interactive visitor experience based on human stories “whether you’re talking about the soldier from Waipukurau or the French family who hid in the basement of their house for weeks on end”, says Sir Don. Wētā Workshop’s installation will feature New Zealand’s involvement throughout World War I.
London-based New Zealander Robert Hanson is the trust’s architectural advisor. He’s liaising with the trust, Wētā Workshop and the French architect working on the project to ensure that Wētā Workshop’s creation respects the original building and doesn’t adversely affect any future changes to the property.
“Every object’s got to be lit and it’s got to have a cable going back to the data room … I want to make sure we know where those cables are along the floor or the ceiling so that in future we know where to go to open it up and modify or take them out.”
The mansion house was built between 1873 and 1892 by Achille Carlier senior, who would later become deputy mayor of Le Quesnoy and a member of parliament. Carlier’s widow held talks on horticulture at the house in 1904 and Achille Carlier junior was the town’s mayor at the outbreak of World War I. He ended up spending almost a year in German prisons for harbouring wounded French and British soldiers in the local hospital. Carlier remained mayor of Le Quesnoy until 1919.
The gendarmerie took over the property in the early 1950s, installing metal windows and covering up ornate ceilings and partitioned rooms.
Transforming the mansion house into a museum involves part restoration, part modernisation. Original tiles in the main entrance area and a grand staircase are being restored, and timber windows will replace the metal ones. The external walls will be insulated, a lift has been put in, and the ground and first floors have been strengthened. The second floor is being converted into offices, a conference room, a kitchen, a bathroom and data rooms.
No decision has been made on the fate of the 1950s maisonettes, but accommodation for travellers is an option under consideration. On the extensive grounds are birch trees, mature cherry trees and lawns – and a recently discovered gravestone. Bearing the date 1631, it depicts an angel and is thought to be connected to a 12th-century abbey that once stood on the site of the mansion house.
It’s hoped the museum will open to the public in late 2023. And it’s hoped that like Gallipoli, Le Quesnoy will become a place of pilgrimage – a new stop on every young New Zealander’s OE.
“Virtually every travel agent in this country will say, ‘You’re going to Paris? Why don’t you go up the road for two hours and see something that’s important to this country’s military heritage?’” says Herb.
Anyone who makes it to Le Quesnoy from New Zealand will get a warm welcome.
“You only need to whisper that you’re a New Zealander,” says Sir Don, “and people are offering to help you, buy you a drink, buy you a cup of coffee.”
https://nzmmtlq.nz/
The opening to this academically robust and generously presented history of Wellington is strangely unpeopled. Ghosting through the late 1870s city, we get the lay of the land and the landmarks on it, but no bodies between them.
Thankfully, the pages are soon populated by a fascinating cast of characters, as ex-parliamentary historian John E Martin eloquently recounts a transformation of the harbour settlement from the early 1800s to a capital city in 1865 through their stories.
As well as the usual suspects (Featherston, Governor Grey,
Te Rauparaha, Plimmer, Wi Tako and various Wakefields), John weaves in stories of lessexalted figures – for example, J H Wallace, who, with his wife, lost six children to scarlet fever in 1865 after campaigning for urgently needed improvements to sanitation systems.
With 23 maps and more than 350 beautifully reproduced photos and illustrations, the narrative is largely chronological. Each chapter also follows a theme, which adds a satisfying complexity to the reading.
The subject matter remains wide ranging and built heritage features prominently, with regular overviews of Wellington streets and their buildings, creating a timelapse of familiar and forgotten landmarks.
Working-class struggles aren’t given as much airtime as the manipulation of government policy for personal gain by those in power. However, the many stories of the evolving city together testify to the unceasing challenge of sustaining a settlement, and then a city.
A complicated tension will arise for some readers who both champion the colonial story of Wellington becoming the city they love, but also see, through a post-colonial lens, the trauma and sacrifices of tangata whenua that made it possible: the almost complete eclipsing of Te Aro Pā by the “tide of industry and housing”, for example, and the rapid disintegration of the coastal communities by “the March of purchase”.
It’s not a simple tale of conquest, however, and John does justice to the multifaceted dynamics of power, conflict, ambition and luck, and the many twists, turns, allegiances and divisions that saw “a fishing village like Wellington” become a nation’s capital city.
RRP $60
The 23-million-year-old weevils depicted in Fossil Treasures of Foulden Maar – a concise and delightful summary of New Zealand’s now world-famous palaeontological site near Middlemarch in Otago – were found lying prone on their sides, as if they’d just been having a nap while waiting to be discovered.
In fact, the writers tell us, it was “because their stout, long-legged bodies tipped over on their sides as they sank through the water to the lake floor”.
Twenty-three million years! It’s a time span the human mind can’t quite comprehend, but a book like this – written by three key researchers and their supporters, and full of wonder-inducing images –brings readers a step closer.
A maar is a type of cratershaped volcano, and since this one erupted, leaving behind a small lake, tens of thousands of layers of sediment have accumulated inside it, preserving a unique record of life.
The stacked layers are called biogenic varves, and in cross-section look like a barcode. These layers are dense with information about the pollens, spores, sponges, leaves, ferns, conifers, flowers, fungi, fish, spiders, insects and eels that once lived there.
The international significance of Foulden Maar has been recognised by
scientists for decades, but the general public only became aware of it in 2019 when a report by the New Zealand branch of investment banker Goldman Sachs was leaked, revealing plans for a massive mining operation on the site.
The valuable diatomite (soft, siliceous sedimentary rock) in which all the fossilised specimens are preserved was to be excavated and exported for use as a stockfeed additive and fertiliser; 23 million years of knowledge, much of it as yet undocumented, as well as critical information about climate change to help us navigate the next century’s inevitable challenges, was to be destroyed.
The mining company, however, went bust and in February Dunedin City Council bought the land, ensuring the protection of this nationally significant fossil site.
“They are our biological heritage and merit the same attention and respect as other aspects of our national heritage,” the writers of this book conclude.
“The work at Foulden Maar has barely begun. Much treasure still lies buried.”
Andreas J Hirsch (translated by Uta Hoffmann)
(Oratia) RRP $70, hardback
A dream of New Zealand was sewn into world-famous Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser’s childhood by his Jewish mother, who told him stories of a far-off southern land free from conflict and at one with nature.
Hundertwasser spent the last 30 years of his life trying to realise that dream, which this biography diligently recounts. The book itself is exquisite – fabric-bound, with a high-gloss cover image of Storm in a Glass of Water (1999) and packed with beautifully reproduced paintings and photographs.
Hundertwasser is perhaps best known in Aotearoa for Kawakawa’s mosaic-tiled public toilets, but his influence on and engagement with his adopted country goes much further. He lived here from the mid-1970s, based on his land at Kaurinui, Northland, where he was buried in 2000. An early project was a Conservation Week poster depicting a weeping head; the tears were the trunks of trees (Chapter 3).
While he failed in several bids for large-scale architectural work, such as the national museum, a vision for a public art gallery was realised, posthumously, in the Hundertwasser Art Centre with Wairau Māori Art Gallery in Whangārei.
Something of his mother’s idealising and romanticising – and sometimes its problematic side – continued with Hundertwasser and can be seen in his New Zealand projects, particularly the architectural ones. His ambitions to create living buildings with humus-filled walls and tree “tenants” providing “natural cooling”, no longer hit the mark in a country that battled against damp, mouldy structures.
However, his vision for a “peace treaty” between humans and nature long before the environmental movement gained significant traction, his bids to protect heritage buildings, and his insistence on recycling and reusing materials mark him as a visionary.
Fono: The Contest for the Governance of Sāmoa
Peter Swain
(Te Herenga Waka University Press) RRP $40
Tells the story of the development of Sāmoa’s unique system of governance from first settlement through German colonisation and New Zealand’s administration to indigenous governance.
Pounamu Pounamu
Witi Ihimaera
(Penguin) RRP $30
Fifty years on, a reissue of this classic collection of short stories and Witi’s first book.
The Physician’s Gun
John Evan Harris
(Roiall Emerald) RRP $32.99
Adventure novel set during the New Zealand goldrush and inspired by the notorious Maungatapu murders of 1866, ages 11+.
The Fateful Voyage of the St Jean Baptiste
John Dunmore
(Heritage Press) RRP $39.99, hardback
Another reisuue, 52 years after winning New Zealand’s premier book award. Tells the tale of Captain Jean de Surville’s journey to the South Pacific in 1769. Hardback with beautiful endpapers.
Te Wehenga: The Separation of Ranginui and Papatūānuku
Mat Tait
(Allen & Unwin) RRP $36.99, hardback
From one of the authors of the award-winning The Adventures of Tupaia comes this retelling of the Māori creation story. Incredible illustrations.
The River in our Backyard/ Te Awa e Pātata Rawa Ana Malcolm Patterson and Martin Bailey
(Oratia) RRP $22.99
Newest bilingual picture book in the ‘Sharing our Stories’ series connecting kids with local heritage.
Dead Reckoning: A Latitude 35⁰ S Adventure
John McAneney
RRP $30.99
Second book in the ‘Latitude 35 Degrees South’ series. Novel charting the sailing adventure of three teens and a dog, and the lessons in local and national history learned along the way.
Mokorua: Ngā Kōrero Mō Tōku Moko Kauae – My Story of Moko Kauae
Ariana Tikao, photo essay by Matt Calman, te reo Māori text by Ross Calman (Auckland University Press) RRP $45
One woman’s journey to her moko kauae as an expression of her Kāi Tahu identity.
We have one copy of The Fateful Voyage of the St Jean Baptiste to give away. To enter the draw, send your name and address on the back of an envelope to Book Giveaways, Heritage New Zealand, PO Box 2629, Wellington 6140, before 30 March 2023. The winner of last issue’s book giveaway (Heart of the City: The Story of Christchurch’s Controversial Cathedral) was Alan Tunnicliffe of Christchurch.
INTERVIEW: JACQUI GIBSON / IMAGERY: BRAD BONIFACE
Key to retaining the rare language that’s central to Henry Liu’s cultural heritage and personal identity was learning it at home from the people he loves
I’ve spoken the Meixian Hakka all my life. Hakka is a minority language that originated in Northern China more than 1000 years ago. It was the primary language spoken in my household growing up. My late father, who migrated to New Zealand from Hong Kong with Mum, was a staunch advocate of the language.
But how do you pass on a rare oral tradition to a child when it’s not taught at school or practised by anyone in the community? You speak it at home. You make it the language of family intimacy, of domesticity, of love.
As a professional translator, I work in six languages, including French, German, Mandarin and Cantonese. But Hakka is the language that’s closest to my heart. It’s part of my cultural heritage and central to my identity. It’s also my whakapapa link to the Hakka clans who for centuries fled persecution and ended up in places like Malaysia, Taiwan, French Polynesia and New Zealand.
They say to learn a language is to gain insight into its culture and people. What does the Hakka language tell you about Hakka people? To begin with, Hakka means ‘guests’ or ‘visitors’. Hakka was the name given to us by the Southern Chinese who took us in after we fled from war as far back as AD300. Even today, we Hakka people think of ourselves as guests in someone else’s home. We don’t like to overstay our welcome or be too visible. And we’re all multilingual, so we can assimilate and blend in while continuing to preserve our identity.
I have recently become a dad. My daughter is still very young, but I speak to her in Hakka, among other languages. We’ll see what she picks up and what she responds to. My wife is an English-speaking Pākehā, so our daughter might end up speaking a hybrid of English and Hakka. Maybe also some te reo Māori from school and possibly some Cantonese from me and the wider family. Who knows? I’m comfortable with whatever happens. While I believe language learning should start early, I also think it’s a personal journey – one that’s informed by what’s happening around you. Languages survive not because they are forced upon you. They survive because they’re relevant and meaningful – sometimes even cool! – and because they’re introduced to you in creative ways. In my case, I learned Hakka at home from the people I love.
Henry Liu is a professional translator and interpreter and a past president of the International Federation of Translators (the only New Zealander to be elected to the role). He recently featured in the Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand ‘Chinese Languages in Aotearoa’ project.
whakapapa: genealogy
Languages survive not because they are forced upon you, they survive because they’re relevant and meaningful – sometimes even cool!
Taranaki-based Heritage Preservation and Field Support Solutions have been caring for our heritage since 2016. As well as conserving historical and artistic objects of all types, we are excited to now be able to offer climate-controlled storage for artworks, archives, taonga and other heritage items that are sensitive to environmental changes.
Climate-controlled storage protects from dust, light exposure, humidity, mould and pests that may pose a risk or hazard to valued items when stored at home or business.
We would love to tell you more about our facility and how we can protect your heritage.
Contact Brendon Veale for further details: 0800 802 010 | bveale@heritage.org.nz PO Box 2629, Wellington 6140 www.heritage.org.nz
Portraits from the collection of Avenal McKinnon
27 April –
25 June 2023
10am – 4pm Wed - Sun FREE
Te Whare Waiutuutu
Kate Sheppard House
83 Clyde Road
Christchurch
Programme of events at katesheppard.co.nz
Séraphine Pick, Portrait of Katherine Mansfield , 2014
Want to give your kids a uniquely Kiwi experience? Tohu Whenua makes it easy to find heritage adventures that are fun for the whole whānau.
Be a history detective. Get hands-on in an inventor’s workshop. Explore a pā site. Learn to bind books at our oldest printery. Make damper at a historic farm.
Visit Tohu Whenua, a network of our nation’s most treasured heritage places.
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