Looking back, looking forward

Happy birthday to us!

Heritage New Zealand

Issue 169 Hōtoke • Winter 2023

ISSN 1175-9615 (Print)

ISSN 2253-5330 (Online)

Cover image: Clendon papers by

This issue of Heritage New Zealand magazine marks 40 years since this publication, then known as Historic Places in New Zealand, was first published in June 1983.

Jess Burges

Editor 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 7507 as at 30 March 2023.

The views expressed in the articles are those of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga.

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Phone: (04) 470 8054

Email: information@heritage.org.nz

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Heritage New Zealand magazine is sent to all members of Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga. Call 0800 802 010 to find out more.

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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

To recognise this milestone, I canvassed the views of some veteran heritage advocates for a story on what’s changed in the heritage landscape over those four decades.

Wellington-based conservation architect and recently retired Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga board member Chris Cochran, for one, recalls how in the early 1980s places such as the Wellington Town Hall and the Public Trust Building were threatened with demolition. That such icons could be destroyed seems unthinkable today, and the threat, he says, ultimately led to a groundswell in grassroots heritage activism in the city.

In the story (see page 30), Chris also notes that a wave of heritage-focused publications in the 1980s, including this magazine, helped to galvanise wider public support for heritage preservation.

It’s an aspiration that was articulated by Neil Begg, chair of the New Zealand Historic Places Trust, in his introduction to the first issue of the magazine, when he stated that he hoped it “will encourage those who are working in their own towns or districts to preserve historic places and inspire people who are not yet actively involved in preservation efforts within their local communities to become involved”.

While I’d flipped through the first issue on other occasions, delving deeper into its content while writing this story was a great exercise.

Sure, our ideas of magazine typography and layout have evolved since (as you’d expect), but I was struck by the variety and readability of the stories, and by the photography, which would still capture readers’ attention today. The originators of this magazine laid a solid foundation – one on which I hope we’re continuing to build.

This issue certainly has variety – and I hope you’ll find it readable too. We visit one of the country’s most recognisable heritage places – Napier’s iconic National Tobacco Company Building – to see how it’s still operating as a commercial space, and we learn how artists have been creating work inside Wellington’s Turnbull House as it undergoes major strengthening and restoration work.

Then there’s a tour of the food heritage of Auckland’s Sandringham; a peek inside centenary celebrations for one of New Zealand’s great engineering feats, the Ōtira Tunnel; and a story on the significant collection of documents associated with Clendon House in Rawene.

Back in 1983 Neil Begg stated that “the magazine will unashamedly push the barrow of historic preservation”. With the stories we tell in 2023, we hope we’re still progressing that vision.

Ngā mihi Caitlin

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.

LETTERS...

I’ve finally decided to burst in to print after reading the article ‘Taking a spin’ (Heritage New Zealand magazine, issue 167), where it mentions the Hastings Municipal Building was “closed in 2014 after being assessed as being earthquake prone”.

My dictionary gives a description of prone as ‘tending or liable to’, so I find myself wondering why so many people refer to buildings, bridges etc as earthquake prone. To me it is the earth that fits that description. My understanding is that structures on it are more likely to be prone to earthquake damage than prone to earthquakes.

Why, I wonder, have we come to adopt the wrong description?

Jeanette Baylis

Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Senior Conservation Architect Robin Byron responds:

Earthquake prone is a commonly used term for structures that are vulnerable in the event of a seismic event. Yes, as you identify, it is the ground that is prone to quakes (and different localities are more at risk of this occurring than others), but by extension earthbound structures that are not constructed or designed to resist this movement are then also prone, and damage may well be the consequence (but in some instances, even if prone, may be lucky to escape damage).

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment notes: “A building, or part of a building, is earthquake prone if it will have its ultimate capacity exceeded in a moderate earthquake, and if it were to collapse, would do so in a way that is likely to cause injury or death to persons in or near the building or on any other property, or damage to any other property.”

Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga is supportive of heritage owners’ efforts to ensure that their places, if prone, are strengthened to be safe, primarily to protect lives, but also with the hope that the heritage place itself will survive in the unfortunate event of an earthquake.

What is heritage? (Heritage New Zealand magazine, issue 167.) This question resonates with me as the area of heritage that interests me is road passenger transport. Like most transport history, its preservation is left mainly to individuals and incorporated societies. When I first started work for the MOT in Christchurch, I knew nobody [working in this area], but I saw an item in The Press that said a group of chaps were building a tramway at Ferrymead.

I went down and one of the workers said, “Don’t just stand there, grab a shovel.” I think at 72 I’m still carrying it, but it’s getting heavier!

After getting an MA (Hons) in historical geography and while working for the Land Transport division of the MOT helping the police and setting policy for the road passenger transport industry, I became interested in this area of history. There is nothing quite so ephemeral as a bus or coach going along the road, and there were many characters involved in the industry whose tales should be preserved.

Peter Rendall

Abridged

Just a correction to the article ‘He tohu maumahara’ (Heritage New Zealand magazine, issue 168). The first Māori Contingent did not leave New Zealand for Egypt in February 1914; the Great War had not yet started.

After training, the men left in February 1915 and were sent on as garrison troops to Malta. They arrived at Gallipoli in July 1915, when there was a manpower shortage in the New Zealand and Australian Division. They fought, attached to the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade, in the August offensive, which was the last major Allied attack there.

The date error is unfortunate and really obvious. It should have been picked up during the writing, editorial or proofreading stages. Apart from all the New Zealand resources, Wikipedia also has the correct date.

Neil Frances Abridged

You’re right Neil – this is very unfortunate. You were among other readers who picked up this error, and we apologise that it slipped through despite our checks. – Editor

We’re sorry!

In our review of the book Fossil Treasures of Foulden Maar: A Window into Miocene Zealandia in the Autumn 2023 issue, we incorrectly noted the book’s publisher as Oxford University Press when it is, in fact, Otago University Press.

MEMBER AND SUPPORTER UPDATE… with Brendon Veale

As I write, work is winding up at Wellington’s Antrim House, the Category 1 historic place that many of you have helped to protect through your kind donations to the reroofing and seismic strengthening project.

In fact, by the time you read this, much of the work will be complete and I look forward to sharing the results with you.

In my last update, I mentioned I often receive notes accompanying donations. I love hearing about people’s connections to the places we care for and how these places intersect with the lives of New Zealanders.

One note I recently received was from a long-time member, Jocelyn, whose family enjoyed a wedding at Antrim. Jocelyn offered to share photos of the event with us in the hope that they may be useful in promoting heritage places for this type of activity in future.

Never ones to pass on such an offer, Tamsin Falconer, Heritage Asset Manager for the Central Region, and I met Jocelyn and heard about her daughter’s special day.

It was lovely to see the images, including some showing Antrim in its best light. But more than that, I loved seeing a building like Antrim used as a backdrop to create memories; a place to bring whānau together to share important moments.

I can’t wait to see what stories the next restoration project will elicit from our supporters!

Brendon Veale Manager Supporter Development

0800 HERITAGE (0800 802 010) bveale@heritage.org.nz

BEHIND THE STORY... with photographer Sarah Horn

You undertook your assignment for this issue in the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle. How did the cyclone and its aftermath impact on you and your work?

I’m based in the small seaside settlement of Te Awanga, close to both Hastings and Napier. We were lucky – there was no flooding at our house and we only had the power and phone out for five days. Initially we had no idea of the massive devastation that had occurred, but as news filtered in I had a deep sense of sadness. For a week Hawke’s Bay stood still: no work, no travelling, no shopping or other day-to-day activities – just waiting.

In the following weeks, as photography assignments were back on and bridges were deemed safe to drive over, I saw some of the devastation first-hand. It was mind-boggling. There was so much wood along the beach between Clive and Napier, a railway bridge had gone and the railway tracks on either side had been twisted into fluid shapes.

Elsewhere, houses were surrounded by silt and mud, but what struck me most was the emptiness of the buildings and the grey, alien landscape in which they sat.

Your assignment involved photographing the iconic National Tobacco Company Building in