How do New Zealand’s heritage parks stay relevant?
Unmissable heritage experiences for your next roadie this spring.
MISSION STATION POMPALLIER MISSION AND PRINTERY
Scan the QR code to view curated itineraries of beautiful heritage sites across Auckland, Northland, and Aotearoa New Zealand. Linger a while as you step back in time this spring at these unforgettable places.
NORTHLAND
KERIKERI
Photography by Mark Russell and Mike Heydon.
CLENDON HOUSE
ALBERTON
HIGHWIC
Heritage New Zealand
12 Picture this
A small-town Kiwi upbringing sparked a love of heritage for photographer Grant Sheehan
16 Premier property
The Wellington icon that is Antrim House has been future-proofed by a team of specialists
22 At the coalface
The West Coast’s Blackball is experiencing a renaissance thanks to a community-led programme
30 A safe haven
A passionate Samoan komiti is bringing an iconic central Auckland building back to life
34 A league of their own
Alongside rugby union, rugby league has put down deep social and cultural roots in our society
8 Ahead of their time
The Dorset Street flats in Christchurch paved the way for a new post-war style of modern urban living 10 Making connections
A Taranaki community pulled together to save a much-loved bridge from demolition
Journeys
Park life
How do New Zealand’s heritage parks stay relevant as our perspective on heritage evolves?
Remarkable
a world-first
From the Stone Store to Stonehenge, remember your member benefits!
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Make the most of visiting unique heritage in Aotearoa this winter. Check Members Hub for opening hours. To access the Hub, simply scan the QR code on the back of your membership card. If you are heading overseas, remember to take your membership card to access a world of heritage during your travels. And if you need to renew before you go, please allow plenty of time for postage!
Ngā mihi | Thank you!
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Heritage New Zealand
Issue 174 Kōanga • Spring 2024
ISSN 1175-9615 (Print)
ISSN 2253-5330 (Online)
Cover image: Park life by Mike Heydon
Editor Anna Dunlop, 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 7717 as at 30 June 2024.
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 Tony Leggett, Advertising Sales Manager. Phone: 027 474 6093
Email: tony.leggett@nzfarmlife.co.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.
Tell us your views
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
Not so ordinary
The West Coast of Te Waipounamu is a special place; rugged, wild, remote and forbidding. Drive the 400 kilometres of untamed wilderness from Haast to Westport and you’ll see raging rivers, pristine rainforest, stunning glaciers and black sand beaches pounded by surf. It also has a rich history, from the deep-rooted connections of Ngāi Tahu to pounamu, to the ‘gold rush’ of 1864 and the coal mining that continues today.
The remoteness of the region means it isn’t an easy place to live in, even in these modern times, so what would it have been like for the miners of the 1800s? They must have been a hardy bunch, with indomitable drive and determination, and formidable spirit.
You don’t have to look far in this part of the world to see that this spirit continues today. While many of the West Coast’s mining towns faded into obscurity – some disappearing almost overnight when the mines shut – Blackball, a town of around 300, 30 kilometres south of Greymouth, is experiencing something of a renaissance, driven in part by an ambitious, community-led development programme. Let’s face it, you’d expect nothing less from the town that many view as the birthplace of the Labour Party.
Most of the 20-plus projects that comprise the programme focus on Blackball’s mining heritage: there’s the restoration of the Category 1 chimney on the Blackball mine site, and the reinstallation of one of the town’s aerial ropeway towers, which was part of a 5.5-kilometre network that carried coal across the Grey River. You can read more about it in this issue, and also hear from some of the residents who have poured their hearts and souls into their town’s revival.
Also explored in this issue is the restoration of Antrim House, the head office of Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, which reopened in June, after a major upgrade project.
Seismic consultants, carpenters, painters, and a roofer who had worked on the Palace of Versailles were just some of the myriad specialists who provided the heritage expertise needed to future-proof one of Wellington’s most recognisable buildings.
This is my first note as editor of Heritage New Zealand magazine, and I’m excited to be learning more about the heritage of Aotearoa New Zealand and sharing these stories.
Two years ago, as part of my first writing assignment for the magazine, I went on a tour of Dunedin’s Southern Cemetery with Gregor Campbell. Gregor is a taphophile – a lover of cemeteries –and sees them as “libraries of lives lived”. I came away utterly stunned, not just by the stories of some of Dunedin’s most famous faces but by the tales of the ‘ordinary’ people that Gregor had uncovered and brought vividly to life.
My work on that story showed me that heritage is about so much more than old buildings; it’s also about their social, cultural and historical significance. It’s about the people: the heritage specialists who offer their expertise; the communities that refuse to let their towns die; the ordinary citizens buried in unremarkable graves deep in urban and rural cemeteries and the people who are interested enough to research their stories, bringing them to life in the tales they share with us.
Ngā mihi nui
Anna
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, and manufactured from pulp from responsible sources under the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System. Please recycle.
LETTERS...
It was good to see the article on Waihohonu Hut in issue 173 of Heritage New Zealand magazine.
One aspect of the hut’s involvement in tourism in the years 1904-08 was, however, omitted.
It was one end of a horse trek for tourists from Lake Rotoaira via Ketetahi Hut on the northern slopes of Tongariro, up and past Blue Lake and across the Oturere Crater, to Waihohonu Hut. Then tourists rejoined the ‘grand tour’ described in the article.
A 1908 map available from Archives New Zealand shows the route. In the early 1970s, on a tramping trip that went across the head of Oturere Crater, I found the old cairns that marked the route.
Of course, Waihohonu Hut was not originally painted red, as it is now – see the photo [above] from 1911 with Jane Thomson at left, after a traverse of Ruapehu from Rangitaua to Waihohonu Hut via the peaks of Tahurangi and Te Heuheu. She was quite a mountaineer, whose exploits included the second Grand Traverse of Aoraki/Mt Cook in 1916 at the age of 57. Graham Langton PhD, mountaineering historian
I have been interested in the story of the Futuro home that Nick McQuoid has been restoring and now has heritage status. It will be an interesting place to stay, and I see it is already booked for two years ahead.
My interest in it is because my husband worked at the Futuro factory in 1976 for the year it was in production. He was the production manager and wrote about this time in his autobiography
He was very disappointed when the trust closed it down rather than put more money into it! The workers were too successful, it seemed.
I do remember when there was a truck strike in New Zealand and a house was ready to be delivered to Nelson and erected by a certain date. The three managers decided to hire trailers and take the parts up to Nelson themselves, and as it was school holidays their young families went with them for the three days. It was the most exciting time for us all.
Bryan and I have belonged to Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga for about 45 years and have always enjoyed our association with it and the number of places we could visit in Britain and New Zealand on our many visits!
Rosemary Beechey
SOCIAL HERITAGE… with Paul Veart, Web and Digital Advisor, Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga
Earlier this year we were lucky enough to be contacted by Janice Cheeseman in response to our ‘Auckland Gas Company Christmas Pudding’ interactive. Janice grew up in the shadow of the Franklin Road gasholders, which her father worked tirelessly to maintain.
Our conversation with Janice soon turned to Freemans Bay, and her experiences living there in the early 1950s. Janice has put many of her memories of this time into writing, capturing daily life in the inner-city suburb.
While there are a number of accounts of Tāmaki Makaurau in the 1950s, what makes Janice’s story unique is her perspective as a child. She notes the rag-and-bone man with his horse and cart, the glistening rainbow oil slicks on the tops of puddles and a copper money box in the shape of a windmill that was made by her neighbour.
Over a number of weeks, we worked with Janice to put together the interactive, as well as a series of social media posts based on her story.
Fortunately, from a social media perspective, Freemans Bay was heavily photographed during the 1950s and ’60s due to the radical changes that were taking place there. To see images of the suburb during this time is to see a world in flux: rows of workers cottages beside gaping holes; historic gasholders looming behind newly constructed flats.
The publication of Janice’s story with these photos inspired a number of comments from our Facebook followers – people who had their own memories of Freemans Bay.
Some remembered the suburb’s trade union history; others its celebrated parties in the ’70s. One Facebook follower even described experiencing the smell of bitumen in their nose just from looking at the images.
Thanks very much to Janice and everyone who shared their stories. You can view the related interactive here: https://bit.ly/FreemansBay
BEHIND THE STORY... with writer Claudia Babirat
For this issue you write about the restoration of Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga’s head office, Antrim House. What was something you were interested to discover during your work on the assignment?
I really enjoyed my conversation with Carl Bohnen, Project Director for Naylor Love, who told me about the ‘treasures’ he’d discovered when he was conducting an inspection underneath Antrim House. He found an area of discarded tins, indicating that this was where the tradies who originally built Antrim House may have sat while having their smoko breaks. It’s such a strong image in my head now, an almost tangible connection to the master craftsmen who created this beautiful structure from the ground up.
You previously worked as Marketing and Communications Manager for Tohu Whenua. What did you most love about that role?
I loved seeing some of the Tohu Whenua flourish in those six years, especially on Te Tai Poutini/the West Coast. Reefton has turned into a hip destination, with new attractions such as the Reefton Distilling Co. The beautifully revamped Fox Glacier viewpoint Te Kopikopiko o te Waka now tells the celestial story of how Te Waipounamu/the South Island came to be. And of course, all the recent buzz over the historic goldmining
Places we visit
town of Waiuta. Working alongside the passionate people who care for these places is something I will value forever.
What’s your favourite heritage place, and why?
I don’t have a favourite. What excites me most is exploring heritage places that are new to me. It’s like putting together the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. The more places I visit, the more stories I learn, and the richer my understanding becomes of the hugely varied people and industries that have created who I am – we are – today.
HERITAGE NEW ZEALAND POUHERE TAONGA DIRECTORY
National Office PO Box 2629, Wellington 6140 Antrim House 63 Boulcott Street Wellington 6011 (04) 472 4341
information@heritage.org.nz
Go to heritage.org.nz for details of offices and historic places around New Zealand that are cared for by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga.
MEMBER AND SUPPORTER UPDATE… with Brendon Veale
From the conversations I’ve had with many of you while you’ve renewed your membership or rejoined us as members, it appears you have been travelling widely – and in particular, overseas.
This is great, because one of your major membership benefits is the free access to hundreds of heritage sites in countries around the globe.
However, while you often share your travel plans with us over the phone, we rarely hear about how they went. And we’d love to know!
So if you are one of those globetrotters who has just returned from a heritage-soaked European summer vacation, why not get in touch and share your stories, photos and insights? That way we can let other interested members know the spots to make a beeline for when planning their trips.
It might be a place that really stood out as a heritage gem, which you feel others must experience. Or it could be a place that means a lot to you because of the connection you have with that site.
Let us know and we’ll share the news. You can email us at membership@heritage.org.nz or use the ‘Contact us’ form in the Members’ Hub.
A new set of items with a strong link to New Zealand suffragist Kate Sheppard has “deeply enriched” the display at Te Whare Waiutuutu Kate Sheppard House in Christchurch
The recently donated collection includes a Victorian chair and a locket with a book chain necklace that belonged to Sheppard. Other everyday objects, ranging from a canteen of fish knives and forks and a Chinese porcelain tea cup and saucer to books and other publications, were all either owned by Sheppard or closely associated with her.
Donated by Christchurch historian Margaret Lovell-Smith, whose greatgrandfather William Lovell-Smith married Sheppard in 1925, the pieces are a legacy of the long friendship between Sheppard and the Lovell-Smith family.
“The items were given to me in the 1990s by relatives who recognised their significance as having belonged to Kate, and thought I would eventually be able to find a permanent home for them,” says Margaret.
“I had hoped and believed that one day there would be a museum dedicated to Kate Sheppard and the women’s suffrage story, so I was delighted when this became a reality with Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga acquiring Kate Sheppard House in 2019.”
Today cared for by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, Sheppard’s Ilam house was where she lived when working on the New Zealand women’s suffrage campaign. It is here the contributions of Sheppard and women around the country are celebrated and their stories told, and the items newly donated to the collection convey further important information about her.
“Kate Sheppard and the Smith family (they later changed their name to Lovell-Smith) were working together in the New Zealand Women’s Christian Temperance Union (NZWCTU), which led the suffrage campaign, and singing together in the Riccarton choir from the mid-1880s,” says Margaret.
“My great-grandmother, Jennie Smith, was an enthusiastic collector of signatures for the suffrage petitions, and my greatgrandfather, William, was the conductor of the Riccarton Choral Society.”
One of the donated items is a copy of White Ribbon magazine – the official publication of the NZWCTU, which began in 1895 with Sheppard as editor. Here she continued to campaign for women’s rights while also promoting and reporting on the NZWCTU and other women’s groups affiliated with the National Council of Women of New Zealand. Topics covered by the magazine included social, political and legal issues relating to women, as well as general health subjects, dress reform, and home and family.
“The Smith family and Kate worked closely together on White Ribbon, which was printed at the family printing business where William Smith and four of his children worked. Jennie was the business
manager of the magazine, and William’s sister Lucy was an associate editor and later editor,” says Margaret. “Kate served as founding editor until 1903.”
Three books among the donated items owned by Sheppard hint at the breadth of her reading: The Sermon on the Mount, illustrated in the style of an illuminated manuscript; a study on evolution; and the works of William Shakespeare.
The donated items are a welcome and important addition to Te Whare Waiutuutu Kate Sheppard House, according to Property Lead Helen Osborne.
“Originally we only had about nine items associated with Kate Sheppard in the collection. Margaret’s donation –originally a loan for the opening displays at the house – has effectively doubled that number,” she says.
“These gifted items deeply enrich the house’s display and provide deep and tangible connections to Kate Sheppard and the campaign. We are so grateful for the generosity the Lovell-Smith family have shown to Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga to ‘bring them home’.”
Margaret’s book, Plain Living, High Thinking, tells the story of Will and Jennie Lovell-Smith and their 10 children, and touches on their relationship with Kate. It is available to buy from Te Whare Waiutuutu Kate Sheppard House.
Ngā Taonga i tēnei marama, Heritage this month – subscribe now
Keep up to date with heritage happenings with our free e-newsletter Ngā Taonga i tēnei marama, Heritage this month. Visit heritage.org.nz to subscribe.
Cultivating heritage
The pre-European Maaori garden of Te Parapara, in Hamilton Gardens, is the world’s only traditional productive Maaori garden and tells the story of the settlement and exploration of the Waikato Tainui iwi, the first inhabitants of Kirikiriroa (Hamilton).
The path into Te Parapara – Te Ara Whakataukii (the Path of Proverbs) – is where uncultivated food from the forest and grassland can be found, while the garden itself is the realm of cultivated food. Te Taupa (the garden) is cultivated according to the traditions of Maramataka, and plants include seven heritage varieties of kuumara some dating back to the arrival of the first waka in the 13th century – as well as taro, aute, hue and uwhi.
In accordance with Tainui spelling, this article uses double vowels instead of macrons.
For more on Te Parapara, see ‘Sweet celebrations’, Winter 2021, issue 161, or scan the QR code to see our ‘Matariki at Te Parapara’ video.
aute: paper mulberry hue: gourd
Maramataka: Maaori lunar calendar
uwhi: winged yam waka: canoe Te Parapara is open daily, and entry is free. Visit hamiltongardens.co.nz/ hamilton-gardens-visit-gardens/maori-te-parapara-garden for more information.
WORDS: ANNA DUNLOP / IMAGERY: DENNIS RADERMACHER
Ahead of their time
Once derided for their radical architecture, the Dorset Street Flats in central Christchurch paved the way for a new post-war style of modern urban living
Sometimes a building comes along that completely transforms the architectural landscape. The Dorset Street Flats complex, a Category 1 historic place comprising eight one-bedroom apartments divided over two buildings in Christchurch’s central city, was one of them. An early design of renowned New Zealand architect Sir Miles Warren, the flats have been recognised as one of the most
important examples of postwar modernist architecture in the country.
However, while critics and other architects lauded Sir Miles’s design, others weren’t so sure. When the flats were built between 1956 and 1957, their industrial materials and severe lines were in stark contrast to Christchurch’s old Edwardian and Victorian houses, and earned them the reputation of being one of the ugliest buildings in
the city. Busloads of bemused residents would drive past to view – and jeer at – ‘Fort Dorset’ and its radical, prisonblock-like appearance.
Sir Miles had worked in the UK in the early 1950s during the birth of New Brutalism, and was also influenced by Le Corbusier in France and Danish architects in Copenhagen. Since Sir Miles designed the flats for himself and his friends (he lived at number four from 1958 to 1965), he was free to explore his personal architectural style, and he merged the ideas he had picked up in the UK and Europe to create his own concept for modern, minimalist, purpose-designed residential living for young single professionals.
Listing:
The Brutalist influence is displayed in the flats’ axial planning, concrete beams, contrasting textures, negative detailing and 7804
LOCATION
Christchurch is located on the South Island’ s east coast, 363km north of Dunedin.
bold colours, while builtin fittings and furniture showcase the architect’s love of total design. Additionally, as Sir Miles considered masonry construction to be well suited to Christchurch’s climate, the flats demonstrate one of the earliest attempts to construct a New Zealand
He was the perfect choice, having earlier worked for both architects Warren & Mahoney and the building’s original engineers, Holmes Consulting.
“He was extremely passionate about mid-century modern architecture, so was the ideal person to lead the repair and project manage it,” says Craig.
The experts thought so too: the restoration project won a heritage award at the 2023 New Zealand Architecture Awards.
Campbell Johnson bought one of the restored Dorset Street Flats last year.
building from load-bearing concrete blocks.
Christine Whybrew, Director Southern Region at Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, says the flats set new architectural, social and aesthetic standards for domestic buildings in New Zealand.
“[Sir Miles] Warren pioneered a building type that influenced urban housing in post-war Christchurch, and references to this model continue in high-density dwellings today.”
Sir Miles's avant-garde design certainly appealed to Craig Garlick, who rented one of the flats for a few years as a young man just out of university in the mid-1980s.
“It was completely different from anything else I’d seen,” he says. Craig went on to buy another of the flats in 2007 (he now owns three, including Sir Miles's).
“By the time I bought the first one I knew about the history of the buildings, but I still didn’t really appreciate the flats’ significance.”
That appreciation came later when, following the devastating 2011 earthquake, Craig and the other owners came together to save the buildings from demolition.
“The flats didn’t fare well,” he says. “The concrete blockwork cracked and in parts collapsed, and the land under the buildings liquefied, causing them to slump in the middle. We were unanimous in our desire to repair and restore them, but we had no idea how long, difficult and expensive the process would be.”
Mired in insurance delays and red tape, the flats sat derelict until 2019, when architect Greg Young of Young Architects finalised a repair strategy and broke ground on the rebuild.
The project initially aimed to just repair the earthquake damage, but evolved into also upgrading the flats to modern living standards. Grouting was slowly injected underneath the buildings to bring them back into alignment, and new concrete pads were added to each block (along with underfloor heating). Thick structural walls were installed in each flat, providing vertical rigidity (the restoration and repair seismically strengthened the flats to 70 percent of the New Building Standards).
“We modernised the kitchens and bathrooms but kept as much of the original fabric of the building as possible,” says Craig.
The project took two years, and in April 2022 –11 years after the destructive Canterbury earthquakes –the flats were finally handed back to the owners.
“That was a great day,” says Craig. “We opened two of the flats to the public during Open Christchurch not long after. We thought they deserved to be seen.”
“I love the juxtaposition of materials – concrete block walls and timber batten ceilings with cork and ceramic tile flooring – which has been enhanced by an exposed shuttered concrete structural wall added during the repair.”
He says that much of the inbuilt furniture that had been removed before the construction was reinstated –with the addition of a few up-to-date kitchen appliances.
“My flat has many of its original features, such as an inbuilt living-room timber bookshelf, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom cabinetry and the terrazzo shower base, around which modern kitchen and bathroom conveniences like a dishwasher, microwave and induction hob have been cleverly integrated.”
Campbell says the flats’ heritage significance was a big factor in his decision to buy.
“Once I fully appreciated how important the flats are to New Zealand, as well as the extent of the earthquake repairs, I just knew I had to own one.”
Search the listing number at heritage.org.nz/places to read more.
Making connections
A Taranaki community pulled together to save a much-loved bridge from demolition
Bridges are built to span obstacles and provide unobstructed pathways that connect two or more points. But in the heart of Taranaki, a special bridge has also connected a community, which overcame every obstacle to save it.
The Bertrand Road Suspension Bridge (a Category 2 historic place) crosses the Waitara River near the small settlement of Huirangi and is testament to both its historical engineering and community spirit.
Peter Wilson, a local resident and member of Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, has been closely involved with the bridge for most of his life.
Living just 45 metres away from it, he has witnessed its history first-hand.
“My wife Lynda and I got married and lived on the farm downstream from the bridge in 1967. We’ve been in the area ever since.”
The bridge was built between 1926 and 1927, replacing an older one that had been constructed in 1897, and provided a vital link for local farmers and residents.
However, it was closed to vehicles by the Taranaki District Council in 1985 as its timber supports had deteriorated. For a time it remained open for pedestrian and recreational use but was then closed to all in 2004.
Aside from the loss of historical significance, the bridge’s closure meant an 18-kilometre round trip for Peter to visit his neighbour on the other side of the river. It also made popping to a friend’s house across the river to borrow farm equipment impossible.
The Taranaki District Council announced it had no budget for repairs and at that point the community faced a stark choice: raise funds to restore the bridge or watch it being demolished.
“It was an ultimatum that mobilised our community,” says Peter.
Peter and a handful of other community members set up the Bertrand Road Suspension Bridge Trust and began devising fundraising ideas. Paul Carrington, a lawyer and resident at that
time, offered his services, and a trust deed was drawn up, with Ross Allen, Allan Reed, Robert Mahy and Paul Carrington as the trustees. The number of community members soon swelled.
The trust's first initiative was to sell engraved bridge planks to donors. Peter and trust member the late Ian Vickers were responsible for etching donors' names onto each plank for the initiative, which raised nearly $30,000.
Using a small handheld router, Peter spent hours on the task, but it was a personal touch that cemented the bond between the bridge and the community members who supported its restoration.
“That initiative sparked a lot of interest and following it we were able to attract additional funding from organisations like TSB Bank, the Taranaki
IMAGERY: DAVE YOUNG, STUFF
WORDS: NICOLA MARTIN
Electricity Trust and the Lotteries Commission,” says Peter.
Taranaki District Council helped fund the restoration to the tune of the $70,000 it had earmarked to dismantle the bridge. Ultimately the $630,000 needed to save the bridge was raised.
The technical aspects of the restoration were overseen by Chris Cochran, a conservation architect, who ensured the bridge’s historical integrity was maintained.
The community was determined to preserve the original design, including the bridge's unique cable angle, which reduced wind sway –a crucial feature given the windy conditions in the area, says Peter.
“The trust was quite adamant. We didn't want a brand-new bridge, we wanted this one repaired. The cables are unique and there are not a lot of bridges in the country that are built with such an angle on the cables,” he says. The bridge's design, he adds, ensures it can withstand major floods and the strong winds that channel down the river, and is a testament to the ingenuity of its original builders.
The bridge was first built using 396 strands of 9-gauge fencing wire on each side, and
was reinforced with heavy steel cables when it was rebuilt in 1927. When Peter replaced farm fences on his property, he recognised some of the bridge’s original wire.
Peter says that the bridge's history is not just about its construction and closure but also about the part it plays in the identity of the community.
“It is a structure with very deep roots in our history,” he says. “When it was restored, Lynda and I used some of the discarded timber as a feature in our own home.”
Peter has also uncovered other stories in the bridge’s history, from an altercation on the bridge when a local resident ran into the back of the car of a couple who had stopped for a romantic interlude to the suggestion of a Tiger Moth flying under the bridge in the 1930s.
A weekly pastime of some of the local boys involved climbing up the ropes to the top of one of the supporting columns, walking across the beam, and going down the other side in a race to see who was the fastest.
Another local resident found he could set his whitebait net permanently under the bridge without being seen from the road.
However, one of the neighbour’s boys discovered
the net and at times helped himself to the catch.
The bridge’s reopening in 2006 not only restored a crucial transport link for the community but also rekindled the community spirit, says Peter.
“We had a party in 2022 when the bridge turned 125 years old,” he says. “About 300 people turned up.”
It was a celebration that underscored the bridge's place as a beloved landmark and its significance beyond its functional role.
Karen Astwood, Director Corporate Services for Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, has undertaken many heritage assessments for bridges and notes that suspension bridges were popular in rural areas because they were cheap for councils to build and maintain.
“The Bertrand Road bridge is one of New Zealand’s later bridges of this type and is significant because not many remain,” says Karen.
Today the bridge stands as a symbol of community pride and perseverance. The Bertrand Road Suspension Bridge Trust still meets annually to keep on top of any maintenance issues, and Peter’s wife, Lynda, visits the bridge daily to pick up litter
936Listing:
LOCATION
Taranaki is located halfway between Auckland and Wellington on the west coast of the North Island.
and ensure it remains clean. Peter himself regularly mows the grass around the bridge and keeps the area well maintained.
“It’s an example of the architecture of the day and the bridge construction of that era. It’s a very pretty location and an important part of our local heritage,” he says.
“Put simply, it’s a bridge that everybody loves.”
Search the listing number at heritage.org.nz/places to read more.
WORDS: NIKI PARTSCH / IMAGERY: MIKE HEYDON
Picture this
Award-winning photographer Grant Sheehan has had his images published worldwide, but it was his idyllic upbringing in small-town New Zealand that sparked his love of heritage
Growing up in small-town, heritage-rich Nelson during the late 1950s and ’60s, Grant Sheehan began snapping pictures with a small Kodak Brownie 127 camera, unaware that at the age of 10 his career pathway was already in motion. “I just always took photos,” he says.
Nelson was a wonderful place for his early formative years, with beaches, rivers, mountains, forests and sunshine in abundance, plus an enviable level of freedom.
Grant recalls a day when he and a friend, both aged about seven, were walking to school along the railway lines – something they usually did –when “a handcart came along the tracks checking the lines, and the operator stopped and gave us a lift to school”.
Later came the ‘hippie’ years, with a generation stepping away from conservative norms to embrace a freer lifestyle. This was reflected in clothes, music, and lifestyle choices.
“There was lots going on, and to be a young person in that era was just fabulous,” says Grant.
Through it all, Grant’s love of photography grew, and he became part of a new and growing cohort of New Zealand photographers –although few others would travel as extensively or achieve his level of expertise.
He has had a decades-long relationship with Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga and says his early interest in heritage was probably sparked by his environment. “I always loved Nelson’s heritage buildings, even as a teenager.”
Grant remembers Fairfield House (a Category 1 historic place built in 1849) as “a beautiful old mansion”.
“It was a superb example of that colonial, slightly gothic excess we had at the time it was built.”
In 1979 Grant heard that the house was due to be demolished. “I got really
angry and wrote a letter to the paper about heritage and how we should be treasuring these buildings.”
He was not alone. “A whole raft of people complained and then the city council saved it. That was the first time I’d felt so passionate about something, and my interest in buildings escalated from there.”
After leaving Waimea College, Grant began working at Baigents, a well-known local timber company with substantial plantation forests.
“I was a photogrammetrist – my job was to make maps of the area. Every few weeks we would fly over the forests in an old twin-engine plane with a camera built in to the floor. The guy who operated the camera had been a Mosquito co-pilot during the war; it was very exciting.”
Grant later studied at the University of Canterbury and fell in love with Christchurch.
“The city was just packed with heritage buildings and there was an arts centre. It was wonderful, and I loved it,” he says.
When he shifted to Wellington in early 1981 to set up his photography business, he was captivated by the architecture of the old buildings.
“There was so much extraordinary stuff from various eras.”
It was around this time that many buildings were being destroyed, so Grant set about documenting as many as he could. When the iconic St James Theatre in Courtenay Place (a Category 1 historic place) came under threat of demolition in the early ’80s, Grant became a founding member of the Save the St James campaign.
“Seven or eight of us fought to prevent its demolition and the building of a carpark. We made a huge fuss and received a lot of support from Wellingtonians. Eventually the council bought it.”
He began working as a photographer for Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga in the 1980s, when John Wilson was the editor of Heritage New Zealand magazine.
John had a long list of properties he wanted to write about, but few photographs, so he and Grant came to an arrangement.
“Every year I would take my car across on the ferry to Nelson and travel around the South Island, so I told him I would take photos while I was there and would be quite happy with whatever his budget was.”
Over many years, Grant built up a collection of images from across New Zealand for John to use in upcoming issues. “It worked out really well for both of us.”
A self-confessed technology junkie, Grant says that he plans his photography shoots
“If there are people in [my photographs], the viewer can’t step into the room”
“like a military operation”, sometimes walking for miles carrying heavy equipment, and then waiting in often cold, dark and exposed places for the light to be right.
Grant has also travelled abroad, seeking out places and people and taking interesting and beautiful images into homes through books and magazines.
Grant likes to photograph empty interiors because “if there are people in them, the viewer can’t step into the room”.
His photographs have been published around the globe, including in The New York Times, in which a drone shot of a flock of sheep was used for its 2015 drone story ‘The Overlord’.
In 1996 Grant set up Phantom House Books and began publishing his own books, including Eye in the Sky, which features drone images.
He took all the photographs for his latest publication, The Time Traveller’s Guide to Hamilton Gardens, by Peter Sergel. Released in April, it describes Peter’s design of each magnificent garden and its hidden meanings (Hamilton Gardens covers 54 hectares of land and is an extremely popular national and international destination, receiving more than a million visitors every year).
“Peter was amazing to work with,” says Grant, who describes the gardens as being historical documents with a sense of historical place.
“There is a sense not just of being in a different place, but of being in a different time. That’s its magic really. It’s a work of brilliance.”
Top: Grant Sheehan became a penguin fan on a recent first visit to Antarctica. Above: Grant’s drone shots have been published internationally.
LANDMARKS OF NEW ZEALAND
Last year a documentary on Grant screened as part of the New Zealand International Film Festival, profiling his decadeslong career and the diverse subject matters covered in his work. This has included capturing many of New Zealand’s most iconic heritage sites, including for his 1997 book Landmarks: Notable Historic Buildings of New Zealand
Following the sale of the original publishing house Godwit Press, Grant bought the rights to Landmarks and he and writer David McGill, in partnership with the Historic Places Trust (as Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga was then known), republished it under Phantom House
Books in 2005. “We used most of the material from the previous book, but we put in all the images we felt had been missed out, like the Rātana Temple, which is an astounding building.”
Grant has many favourite heritage places in Aotearoa, and when pressed to pick only one decided that he could not possibly choose fewer than two – both of which appear in Landmarks
His favourite heritage place was the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Christchurch (popularly known as the Christchurch Basilica), a building he photographed many times before and after the Christchurch earthquake before its 2021 demolition.
His other favourite is still very much standing. “The Rātana
Temple [Te Temepara o te Haahi Rātana] near Whanganui is one of my favourite buildings of all time because it is so interesting visually, with fabulous colours and the capture of symbolism.”
Grant dislikes having people in his pictures of buildings, but he made a rare exception for the Rātana Temple. When he spied a small boy on a red bike with yellow wheels cycling towards the temple, Grant waited until he was in frame, capturing an unusual but lovely image to include in a book full of buildings, but empty of people. n
Landmarks: Notable Historic Buildings of New Zealand is available to buy from the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga online shop shop.heritage.org.nz
Antrim House, a Wellington icon that has served as a luxury home, private hotel, government hostel and the national office of Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, has been future-proofed by a team of specialists
WORDS: CLAUDIA BABIRAT
PREMIER property
If you’ve ever bought footwear from Hannahs shoe store, you have a connection with Antrim House, a sumptuous 119-year-old landmark located in Boulcott Street, in Wellington’s inner city.
It was built in 1905 for the company’s founder, Robert Hannah, his wife Hannah, and their family.
“It was named after Robert Hannah’s home county in Northern Ireland,” says Jamie Jacobs, Director Central Region for Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga. “Antrim House was the definitive statement of a self-made man.”
After modest beginnings as a cobbler’s apprentice, Robert Hannah became one of the richest men in New Zealand at the time. He hit the market at the perfect moment, capitalising on the government’s imposition of a duty on imported footwear aimed at nurturing a domestic industry. By 1893 he had 10 stores and a factory that employed 250 people.
Today Antrim House is encircled by high-rise apartments and office blocks, a stone’s throw from the CBD. But when the house was first built, Jamie explains, Boulcott Street was one of inner Wellington’s fashionable residential streets, the house prominently overlooking the harbour.
Designed by notable Wellington architect William Turnbull, the 18-room, two-storey residence was designed in an eclectic Italianate style, with imported pressed-metal ceilings, exquisitely crafted kauri panelling and staircase, stained-glass and leadlight windows, elegant verandahs and a central
tower originally topped with an ornate ironwork crown. Hannah spared no expense on mod cons like piped gas, electric lights, and bathrooms.
Following the elder Hannahs’ deaths, Antrim House was run as a private hotel by a succession of owners from 1931 to 1949, then bought by the government for use as a hostel for young male civil servants.
The residence received two major renovations. One was in 1940, following a fire that severely damaged the first floor, roof and tower, and almost resulted in the loss of the house. Because of the war and the sensibilities of the time, the owners rebuilt the damaged interiors using the popular Art Deco style and simpler roof lines and tower.
In 1978 there was another round of extensive repairs to ready the building as the new national office for the Historic Places Trust (now Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga). “We’ve been conscientious stewards ever since,” Jamie says proudly. “Listed as a Category 1
“We spent countless hours on investigation, removing small sections of lining with surgical precision. It was like deciphering a big jigsaw puzzle”
historic place of outstanding historical or cultural significance, Antrim House is considered among the premier houses of its age in Wellington.”
Despite regular maintenance and the very high quality of craftsmanship and materials, the need for another major upgrade was recently recognised by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga. Conservation architect Russell Murray of R & D Architects was brought on board to write a detailed conservation plan and act as on-site advisor. He identified three immediate priorities: seismic strengthening, roof replacement and exterior painting.
1. A fresh look for Antrim House after its major upgrade.
Image: MediaSol
2. Roof strengthening in progress.
Image: Supplied
Structural engineers began a detailed assessment of the building in 2021 to determine how it would behave in an earthquake. Dizhur Consulting undertook modelling to capture the building’s key elements.
“In normal circumstances you can remove sections of wall linings to expose the structure,” says Dmytro Dizhur, “but because of the building’s significant heritage value and many undocumented alterations, we took extra time in the investigation work to open up the most critical areas with surgical precision. It was a bit like deciphering a jigsaw puzzle, while also trying to find missing pieces.”
For the first stage of the project, the focus was on strengthening the roof structure and adding support to the large chimneys in the middle of the building.
To replace the roof dating from 1969-70, the entire building was scaffolded and shrink-wrapped.
“We lifted all the iron on the roof and replaced it with new iron and flashings,” says Carl Bohnen, Project Director of Naylor Love, which was the main contractor for the job.
“We removed damaged or rotten sarking, reusing as much of the old tōtara as possible. The balance was replaced with recycled tōtara, and the attic space was overlaid with plywood for structure and safer accessibility.”
New insulation was added. Roof drainage was also improved and new guttering and downpipes installed to better handle rainwater in anticipation of climate change.
“Logistically for us it was quite a big challenge,” says Carl. “It’s not every day that we get to work on a heritage project, so it was great to be able to work alongside Russell to develop a methodology, make sure all our plans were checked and approved, and ensure that everything we did was documented.”
Where possible, heritage experts were brought on board for specialist tasks. They included roofer Anthony Boiron of Classic Metals, whose resumé includes work on the Palace of Versailles.
“The old lead dome at the top of the tower was paper thin at the top and fat at the bottom. That’s because lead will stretch under its own weight and move downwards with gravity over time,” explains Anthony.
“We tried to source tiles of similar style but found nothing suitable. So we had to recreate each damaged tile, maintaining its historic look”
1. The new dome was crafted from scratch by a specialist roofer from France.
2. Unreinforced fireplaces were strengthened with roof-tofoundation compression rods.
3. A new generation of master craftspeople leaves its mark.
4. Restoration work on exterior timbers.
Imagery: Supplied
Constructing the redesigned panels was relatively straightforward but fixing them in place less so. “The heritage nature of the building made the job more challenging.”
Each of the 50-kilogram pieces had to be carried up several flights of stairs. There were restrictions such as working without flame due to the risk to the timber. “You see what happened to Notre-Dame in Paris,” Anthony points out.
But it was the chimney-strengthening project that had the highest level of risk. To be able to anchor three unreinforced brick chimneys into the ground with long compression rods, 14-metre-long vertical cores had to be drilled from the top of the building into the foundations of each chimney, keeping a straight line and missing the fireplaces.
“It was a big, complicated job,” says Carl. “You don’t know the stability, so you have to make sure you don’t cause too much vibration.”
There were other challenges. “Usually water is used for cooling the drill, but in this case we had to use air, controlling the dust as we went.”
The drilling crew also made an unexpected discovery. “We came across a hard material that we had difficulty drilling through,” says Carl. “When we stuck a camera down, we realised there were undocumented metal plates inside the chimney.”
Despite all care, some of the historic fireplace tiles were penetrated, requiring the specialist skills of Heritage Preservation and Field Support Solutions, directed by Dr Susanne Rawson, whose team is often called on to tackle the ‘too-hard basket’ in heritage conservation.
“We tried to source tiles of similar style but found nothing suitable. So we had to recreate each damaged tile, maintaining its historic look,” says Suzanne. She adds that it was particularly difficult to match the turquoise and peach colours, mimick the original ceramic glaze, and recreate the repeating designs.
Restoration work undertaken on the exterior timber walls and architectural features of Antrim House started with four months of scraping and chemical stripping by JBP Painting Contractors to remove, in some places, 80–120 years of paint layers. It was the result of this that had the greatest impact on Jamie.
“I loved seeing the raw native timbers. They were obviously used for their strength but were also things of beauty. It was the highlight of my 25-year career,” he says.
Before the house could be repainted, carpenter/ builder Grant Brown of LT McGuinness had to make considerable but expected repairs to the tōtara weatherboard cladding. Working to a brief that the original timbers were to be conserved wherever possible, Grant suggested a novel solution to deal with split and cracked weatherboards and trims: bow ties, also known as butterfly joints.
“It’s a type of joint or inlay that’s been around for a long time, used to hold two or more pieces of wood together,” he explains, “but usually on tabletops, things you fix in a workshop. They’ve probably never been used in this context before, on the exterior of a building.”
Grant made around 600 bow ties in total. “They allowed us to keep the house’s integrity and strength while conserving the original tōtara timbers,” he explains, an effect that was further enhanced with 8000 additional stainless steel fixings used to re-fix the cladding, which will also help to increase the building’s seismic resilience.
Jamie is pleased as much with the results as he is with the overall price tag of the work.
“The roof replacement and chimney strengthening portion of the project came to about $3.3 million and the strip/scrape of old paint, timber repair, and full exterior repaint came to $1.8 million.”
Of these totals, Jamie explains, $2 million was sourced from grants and public donations, including one large single bequest of $700,000, and $3 million came from Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga’s operating budget over two years.
Brendon Veale, Manager Supporter Development for Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, says many hundreds of wonderful New Zealanders got behind the project by donating. “We would like to express our heartfelt appreciation for this support. It really does highlight how the organisation and our supporters can make such a difference for heritage in New Zealand.”
Jamie adds: “I think, given how much better the building is now in terms of safety, livability, its overall appearance and condition, and the reduced maintenance costs, the project total can be considered a bargain. The building’s exterior condition is now of a standard not seen since 1905.
Image: Supplied
“With each project we’re getting smarter at running capital projects – this is, after all, one of our core areas of business. Antrim House will be enjoyed and appreciated by New Zealanders for another 120 years.”
5. Butterfly joints used to conserve the original tōtara wall timbers.
At the COALFACE
The West Coast mining town of Blackball is experiencing a renaissance thanks to a community-led programme with a strong heritage focus
WORDS: ANNA DUNLOP / IMAGERY: MIKE HEYDON
The Workers Memorial Wheel commemorates those killed in West Coast mines since 1990.
Perched on a rocky outcrop, high above the dense bush of the South Island’s rugged West Coast, Blackball’s tallest coal mine chimney is an impressive reminder of the importance of mining in this remote part of New Zealand.
Built sometime between 1902 and 1909, the 18-metre chimney (one of four on the Blackball mine site with New Zealand Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero Category 1 status) has recently undergone a long-awaited restoration – and that’s just one part of an ambitious community-led programme that has received $1.9 million in community development funding from Te Tari Taiwhenua Department of Internal Affairs.
Of the 20-plus other projects transforming this small yet resilient town, two-thirds have been completed, with many of them focusing on Blackball’s mining past. They include the reinstallation of an aerial ropeway tower, heritage tracks and trails, town-wide interpretation panels, and the addition of five replica miners’ huts to the Blackball Museum.
“I always knew that a great many projects would have a heritage focus,” says Zane Smith, CommunityLed Development Programme Partnership Manager.
“However, once we looked at the final list, it turned out to be a massive 80 percent.”
That’s not surprising, considering the town’s rich industrial and social history. It was founded in 1893 following the construction of the mine in the previous year, and was named after the Blackball Shipping Line, a transatlantic passenger service that had established the Blackball Coal Company to supply fuel for its fleet of steam clippers.
1. Programme Partnership Manager Zane Smith
2. Blackball’s main street.
3. The mine site’s 18-metre chimney has been restored.
The early 1900s saw growing discontent among the miners, who were at the forefront of the development of New Zealand’s trade union movement. This escalated in 1908, when a ‘crib’ strike was called after seven miners were fired for refusing to eat their lunch , or ‘crib’, in the 15 minutes they were allocated. Illegally at the time, the rest of the Blackball Miners Union went on strike for 11 weeks – an event seen as a defining moment in union history. It’s also why Blackball is viewed by some as the birthplace of the Labour Party (some of the union leaders were involved in forming the party in 1916).
The coal mine was nationalised in 1941 and eventually closed in 1964. However, while other mining towns have faded into obscurity, Blackball has defied the odds, thanks to the drive and determination of its 300 or so residents.
“For a lot of the coal mining towns, such as Denniston and Brunnerton, once the mines shut, the towns disappeared almost overnight,” says Mike Gillies, Conservation Advisor for Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, who worked closely with Zane and the community on the various projects.
“That hasn’t happened with Blackball, and it’s unique in that so much of the town’s industrial heritage remains.” (Blackball has four other sites on the List: Formerly The Blackball Hilton, a Category 2 historic place that had to change its name from The Blackball Hilton after the multinational Hilton Hotels and Resorts chain threatened legal action; the Blackball Community Centre and the Miners Bath House, both Category 2; and the mine’s return air vent and fan chamber, Category 1.)
Mike adds: “There’s a lot of civic pride, which is fantastic to see. Some of these projects are likely to have been on the community’s wish list for decades, but they’ve never had the resources required. Now, with the funding, they’ve all come to fruition.”
According to Zane, the catalyst for the programme was the development of the Paparoa Track, New Zealand’s 10th Great Walk (the town has seen an influx of visitors since the track opened in 2020).
“In 2018 the community got together and asked themselves, ‘How can we showcase who we are and where we’ve come from to all these new domestic and international visitors – and how can we get them to stay for longer?’”
Blackball resident Lynne McKenzie says that heritage quickly became the focus of the programme. “We came up with the idea of ‘our future is in our past’, and everything just branched out from there.”
To see more of Blackball, view our video story here: youtube.com/HeritageNewZealandPouhereTaonga
The Blackball mine site, which encompasses the chimneys, the former mine entrance, the return air vent and fan house structures, drainage tunnels and the remains of a dam, was a key priority. Particularly important was the repointing of the remaining boiler house chimney (a second one collapsed in 2014, but its footprint remains included in the List entry).
Work was started in 2019 by local refractory bricklayer Carl Sheehan and completed a year later by Wainwright & Co Stonemasons from Dunedin.
“There was a sense of endurance, and the fact that the town is still thriving now – in fact, it’s busier with tourists than ever –just shows that that formidable spirit lives on”
1. Formerly The Blackball Hilton, a Category 2 historic place.
2. Community members Pat Kennedy and Jane Wells in one of the replica miners’ huts.
3. The Blackball hedge at Pat and Jane’s café.
4. Frank (Tubby) McGuire was integral to the reinstallation of the aerial ropeway tower.
5. The Workers Memorial Wheel in front of the five replica miners’ huts at Blackball Museum.
“Most of the chimney was solid, but it had been reinforced towards the top with a steel ring that had corroded, so the top five metres had to be pulled down and rebuilt,” says Marcus Wainwright.
“Our engineer used high-tension stainless-steel wires to replace the ring, and we reused as many of the original bricks as possible.”
Another project that has more recently finished is the reinstallation of the last intact tower of Blackball’s 5.5-kilometre aerial ropeway, which opened in 1893 and transported coal across the Grey River to Ngahere before being shut down in 1909 when the railway line finally arrived. At its peak, the aerial ropeway had the capacity to transport 400 tons of coal in eight hours.
“The tower had been moved from its original location to the bottom of Blackball Hill and left to deteriorate,” says Frank (Tubby) McGuire, long-time Blackball resident and part of the community team that took on the aerial ropeway restoration project.
“So we shipped it off to Greymouth to be restored.”
Lee Swinburn of E- Quip Engineering took charge of the restoration, and says the team focused on keeping the original components where possible.
“We viewed two of the few remaining aerial ropeway towers along the coast, and also studied historical photographs supplied by Tubby,” he says.
“While a lot of the main structure was in quite good condition, the pulley sets were missing.
Someone found one set in a blackberry bush in a backyard in Blackball, but we needed two, so we made a replica. The buckets that carried the coal had not survived, so we also fabricated those out of steel. We’ve worked on similar heritage projects on the West Coast in the past, but this was our first coal tower, and we wanted to make sure it stood the test of time.”
Tubby is delighted with the result and hopes it provides visitors with a glimpse into Blackball’s past.
“I want people to appreciate the hard work that the old fellows had to do to get the coal out of the ground and into the market.”
Lynne agrees. “A lot of blood, sweat and tears went into keeping Blackball going – they had a rough life,” she says.
“But there was a sense of endurance, and the fact that the town is still thriving now – in fact, it’s busier with tourists than ever – just shows that that formidable spirit lives on.”
WORDS AND IMAGE: ROB SUISTED
Shoot for the moon
North Otago is a special spot for me. My ancestors were the first European settlers here in 1848, establishing Goodwood Estate on the coast (see ‘A Swedish connection’, Spring 2020, issue 158).
The most prominent landmark in the district is the memorial monument to Sir John McKenzie, perched atop the 343-metre Puketapu Hill at Palmerston. From the summit walkway, I can gaze out over the land and coast that my ancestors farmed more than 150 years ago.
One morning, leaving Dunedin pre-dawn on a photo shoot, I had enough time to enjoy driving a circuit around Mount Royal on the Goodwood Road, to ‘thread’ the whenua of my forebears. A thin moon hung in the awakening blue sky. As I approached Palmerston it transected the summit of Puketapu, and the shot became obvious as the moon passed into the position of the memorial.
Built in 1929, the cairn is 13 metres high, a memorial to McKenzie, the Minister of Lands, in the 1890s. The McKenzies and Suisteds have links back to the district’s early days, and Dorothy McKenzie’s untiring heritage work in the area will be well known to many readers.
Technical data
• Camera: Canon R5
• Lens: 400mm
• ISO: 100
• Aperture: f/9.5
• Exposure: 1/15
WORDS: MYJANNE JENSEN / IMAGERY: MIKE HEYDON
A SAFE HAVEN
For many Pasifika, Maota Samoa on Auckland’s K’ Road was a place of refuge during the turbulent 1970s and ’80s. Now, passionate members of the Samoan community are working to bring the building back to life
Having a place to practise and experience one’s culture and traditions away from home is often key to thriving in a new country.
That place for the Samoan and wider Pasifika communities living in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland from the late 1970s to the early 2000s was Maota Samoa (Samoa House).
The building was opened in 1978 on Karangahape Road and was the first formal Samoan meeting house built outside of Samoa. It also represented a symbol of hope and resistance for the Pasifika community, who at the time, were living through what Pacific leader and scholar Dr Melani Anae described as “the most blatantly racist attack on Pacific peoples by the New Zealand Government in New Zealand’s history”.
The vision for Maota Samoa came from a passionate group of Samoan New Zealanders, keen to maintain connections to their homeland while providing a space in New Zealand for the wider Pasifika community to utilise and enjoy.
The building was one of the first collaborative projects between New Zealand architects and Samoan/Pacific
craftspeople that references the culturally important concepts of shelter and va’a and the relationship between fale, chiefly systems and the environment.
Renowned Samoan Presbyterian minister, author, poet, music producer, exhibited Lavalava artist and Pasifika urban street historian, Reverend Muamua Sofi Strickson-Pua (Mua) says his connection to Maota Samoa was through his parents, who had been instrumental in the establishment of the building.
Like many Samoans at the time, Sofi Pua (a Pua from Papa Sataua Savai’i Samoa) and Vaitulu Purcell (a Purcell from Malaela Upolu Samoa), moved to Aotearoa New Zealand in the 1950s in search of education and work opportunities. The couple met in Auckland and settled in Grey Lynn, raising their āiga alongside many other inner-city, working-class ethnic communities.
Mua says his parents also attended the country’s first Pasifika church, the Pacific Island Presbyterian Church in Newton, the epicentre of the Pacific community and birthplace of Maota Samoa.
“The church was strong, but they soon realised the need for a bigger, multi-purpose, multi-denominational building,” Mua says.
“This was supported by a range of communities, not just Samoan but Croatian, Tongan, Māori and Pākehā too.”
Despite the harmony within the church, the socio-political unrest on the outside was beginning to grow, coming to a head in the 1970s when the Muldoon government ordered police to target alleged visa ‘overstayers’ in the Pacific community.
As a result, many people were sent back to the Pacific Islands, and the irony of Maota Samoa opening during these ‘dawn raids’, Mua says, was not lost on the Pacific community.
“My dad was the chair of the Samoan Advisory Council, and our parents would laugh about Rob Muldoon cutting the tape at the opening, which they thought was the best joke out,” he says.
“Here was this guy who had been horrible to people from Pacific Island nations, now opening the most contemporary, contextually advanced style of building on K’ Road.
“Mum and Dad also loved the fact that this guy who was trying to oppress us was having to acknowledge our people, which to them was like saying, ‘the Pacific Island people are here, bro, and we’re here to stay’.”
Maota Samoa grew to become a focal point for the Pasifika community, receiving everyone from dignitaries to international music stars.
It also housed the first Samoan consulate, as well as consulates for Niue and the Republic of Nauru.
āiga: family alofa: love fale: house kaupapa: cause komiti: committee taonga: treasure
va’a: canoe whakapapa: genealogy
1. A sculpture by Penehuro Papali’i in the Maota Samoa foyer.
2. Tapa cloth inside the Samoa House Library.
3. The library is the only remaining public space still within the building.
4. Maota Samoa is on K’ Road in central Auckland.
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Esteemed Samoan musician, composer and choral director, Dr Opeloge Ah Sam and his āiga moved to Aotearoa in 1987 from Apia. He says he would regularly go to Maota Samoa as a child to visit the Polynesian bookshop and the consulate office and to attend piano lessons.
“I remember just sitting around after my lessons on a random day with my dad and talking to people passing through.
“It was a great place to socialise and our dentist, who was Samoan, was there, plus it was somewhere to get important papers and documents signed and organised.
“I think it’s sad to see it slowly wasting away and to see how, as K’ Road grew, it became neglected.”
For the past decade, the connection between the Pasifika community and Maota Samoa has been in steady decline, due to the area’s gentrification and the Samoan consulate moving to Māngere in 2016.
While the building is still owned by the Samoan Government, it is managed by an overseas property agency, with several long-term commercial licences in the hands of non-Pasifika businesses. Access to the fale can therefore now only be obtained via permission from the Pālagi (non-Samoan) lease owner.
The only remaining public space in the building is the Samoa House Library, which is located in the former Samoan consulate.
Samoa House Library Operations Manager Bonni Tamati (who has whakapapa to Satalo, Sale’imoa, Aleipata, Lepā, Vailuuta, Sasatele and Maleimalu ma Poutasi – Falealili) says the library supported the original intentions of Maota Samoa in recognising the early Pacific migrant communities who raised their voices (and funds) to create a social, educational, spiritual and culturally safe space for Pacific communities.
“This building is a taonga, a marker in time and offers a generous perspective of early Pacific migrants in Aotearoa,” says Bonni.
“My fondest experience of Maota Samoa is sitting at the windows with the elders, hearing nostalgic stories about what our city looked like before the motorway, and when Pacific people had more visibility in central Auckland and neighbourhoods were linked through familial connections, the air was enriched with tropical fragrance and song, and streets were bursting with colour and brown-skinned people.”
A komiti dedicated to revitalising the fale, the Friends of Maota Samoa, is now spearheading a kaupapa to support the building’s repair and renewed access to the community.
Komiti member Olivia Taouma says that, like others, her connection to Maota Samoa was through her parents and times during her childhood spent inside the building’s “warm wood and mat-lined walls”.
She says the present state of Maota Samoa is a sad sight and the personal histories and stories retained within its walls made Maota Samoa historically significant and important to care for.
“One of our members has said she is like a forgotten aunty just waiting for our people to remember her, to come back and take care of her again so she can smile and have a renewed beating heart through our alofa.”
Antony Phillips, Senior Outreach Advisor for Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, says the organisation appreciates Maota Samoa’s importance to the community.
“We understand Maota Samoa to be the first fale built in Aotearoa New Zealand and that it performed an important
Antony Phillips, Senior Outreach Advisor for Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga.
Inside Maota Samoa.
L–R: Feeonaa Clifton (artist and member of Pacific Sisters), Olivia Taouma (Manager of Teu le Va, Tāmaki Paenga Hira – War Memorial Museum), and Bonni Tamati, Library Operations Manager.
Inside the fale, which provided a safe haven for the Pasifika community during the 1970s and ’80s.
The fale viewed from Samoa House Lane.
function for the Pacific communities of Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland,” says Antony. “It was designed by the late preeminent architect Ivan Mercep [who was known for his involvement in other nationally significant cultural landmarks such as Te Papa Tongarewa and Hoani Waititi Marae] with significant input from Samoan craftsmen.
“It is important that the stories and histories of a place are recorded and preserved, as they connect our past to our communities today.”
Olivia says the komiti is working closely with the Samoan consulate on a strategy to bring the building back to life.
Mua has also been involved in conversations with the Samoan Government and says he is heartened by the younger
generation’s push to ensure the building is kept safe for future generations.
“I would like to see clear guidelines from our Samoan Government pertaining to Maota Samoa and how it can be utilised to assist Samoan communities overseas, as well as to open the door for other Pacific Island and ethnic groups to use.”
To learn more about Maota Samoa, view our video story here: youtube.com/ HeritageNewZealandPouhereTaonga
WORDS: MATT PHILP
A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN
New Zealand is known as a rugby union nation, but league has also put down deep social and cultural roots in our society
There was no such thing as a private team talk at Carlaw Park. At half-time, spectators would gather under the open louvre windows of the changing rooms, hanging onto the coach’s words. If it was a significant match, perhaps a test, they’d be three deep, pressing against each other to hear. They called it the ‘Carlaw Park lean’.
Carlaw Park, home of Auckland rugby league since 1921, closed in 2002 and is now home to student accommodation and commercial offices. Its final international test, a walloping of Tonga by the Kiwis in 1999, played out to a desultory crowd of 4528, a far cry from the 28,000 spectators who witnessed New Zealand defeat England in 1928, or even the 19,000-odd who watched Australia’s John Ribot kill Kiwi hopes in 1985’s three-test series with a last-minute try.
Rugby league folklore has enshrined Carlaw, but fewer artefacts have been preserved than you’d hope. Happily, other historic league grounds – smaller but storied – as well as foundational clubs survive. They’re heritage sites in a sense, places that speak of league’s beginnings in Aotearoa and its changing role over time.
Wingham Park is an unlikely test venue. Set among paddocks beside State Highway 6 between Rūnanga and Greymouth, it was the venue for a single league test that delivered a 20-14 win for New Zealand against Great Britain in July 1954, to a capacity crowd of 4240.
Other international teams have appeared there – the Aussies and French took on the West Coast during tours, and the Kiwis once honed their edge between tests by playing a Residents side at Wingham Park. But while those one-off matches are part of the ground’s story, it’s the Coast club scene with its tribal rivalries that animates the Wingham legend.
“Rūnanga supporters would always be at one end and no one from Marist or Greymouth would sit there; likewise, Rūnanga people wouldn’t be seen dead at the town end,” says former West Coast Rugby League chair and league historian Peter Kerridge.
Following a false start in 1915, league kicked off on the Coast in 1919, a dozen years after the code was first played in New Zealand. It was a working man’s game, which on the Coast meant the mining and milling communities of the Grey District. As elsewhere, Rugby Union was antagonistic, although that didn’t prevent the early leaguies playing at Victoria Park, the Greymouth racecourse that was also used by union. Finally, the sport got its own home when Wingham Park opened in 1928.
Peter, 82, says the park’s golden years were the 1950s and ’60s when the West Coast was a force in league.
“You’d watch Rūnanga playing Marist or Blackball or whoever, and you’d see current Kiwis running around. In the 1970s, Tony Coll would play a test in Auckland on Saturday and on Sunday get the plane back to Hokitika and run out for a club game at Wingham Park.”
The park lost its rooftop broadcasting box to high winds years ago, and its collection of photos, team jerseys and memorabilia is now housed in a new administration facility. But otherwise, “She’s fairly original, let’s put it that way,” says Peter.
Wingham’s degraded state reflects the fortunes of league on the Coast, where mine closures and economic forces have hit playing stocks hard.
“We live on our memories a bit,” Peter says, but he adds that there’s still plenty of resolve to keep the game – and Wingham Park – going. “People are determined that we won’t fall over.”
Wingham’s narrative arc is a familiar one to grassroots league. In the recently published Rugby League in New Zealand: A People’s History, Ryan Bodman details the rise of the code in the interwar years and especially after World War II, when league’s infrastructure expanded significantly.
New clubs sprang up and existing ones invested in upgrading rooms and facilities, often driven by their ‘ladies committees’. Where league was the dominant code, he writes, these clubs were “often a key expression of local identity”, as in the case of Petone, where a sheep-and-sow coat of arms referenced the important role of the local freezing works in its history.
But the story after the 1980s was of the gutting of small-town league by economic forces and professionalisation. Some clubs closed, some survived but were diminished, no longer a pipeline to the elite level and fielding fewer teams. Grounds were abandoned, including the beloved Jubilee Park at Whangārei, shuttered in 2011.
1. Peter Kerridge, the former chair and secretary of West Coast Rugby League, at the Wingham Park HQ in Greymouth.
2. Wingham Park opened in 1928.
3. Peter Kerridge in the stands.
4. Memorabilia at West Coast Rugby League HQ, Wingham Park. Imagery: Mike Heydon
5. Huntly’s Davies Park opened in 1937.
6. The Arthur Harlock Stand replaced the old Davies Park stand in 1979. Imagery: Karl Drury
Six years ago, Huntly’s Davies Park, which had been the home of Waikato league since 1937, faced a similar fate. Like Wingham, the park had hosted international matches, including Great Britain versus Waikato in 1962. Local league stalwart Rex Hohaia saw the match, which featured his childhood hero Billy Boston on the wing for the visitors.
“I was at primary school in Huntly, and we walked all the way to the park – our school was three or four kilometres out of town,” Rex recalls, adding that in the 1960s and ’70s Davies Park was the entertainment centre of Huntly. “Coalminers, freezing workers, Ministry of Works guys, they all went there to cheer on their team.”
But Huntly’s club scene has been decimated, with just one club surviving, and in 2018 Davies Park was closed – seemingly for good. “The power and water were turned off, and the place was locked and turned into a hay paddock,” Rex says.
Thankfully that wasn’t the end. Driven by Rex, and now under the auspices of the Davies Park Heritage Trust, the place has been restored and is once again hosting club and rep games. The surface still requires work and the posts need replacing, “but it’s functional for grassroots football,” he says. “All I’m trying to do is keep the place running so that people can have those memories and that history.”
What of league’s historic clubrooms? In some you find “incredible heritage”, says Ryan Bodman. “You find things on the walls that wouldn’t be out of place in museums. In Tūrangawaewae, for example, the carvings are something else, and it’s the same at Ngāruawāhia where they have big carvings with tukutuku patterns, and historic photos that date back to the club’s formation in 1911.”
Readers who want to support the efforts of the Davies Park Heritage Trust can contact Rex Hohaia at rexhoho@gmail.com
“You
get these multi-generational social events, with the oldest person in the community and a newborn baby and everyone in between. These are places where community connections are still nurtured”
Clubs proudly display photographs of their international players – or, as in the case of the Upper Hutt Tigers, a wall-of-fame mural. Some have collections of old jerseys, trophies and shields. Grey Lynn’s Richmond Rovers club keeps an honours board of members who fought in World War II.
“And the buildings themselves have stories because they were generally built and developed by volunteers over years. It’s also about what happened in those places. In Tūrangawaewae, say, you get these multigenerational social events, with the oldest person in the community and a newborn baby and everyone in between. These are places where community connections are still nurtured.”
Heritage is fragile, however. In 2023 one of Auckland’s pioneering league clubs, Marist Saints, lost its 100-year-old clubrooms in Mt Albert to fire. “It sent a shockwave through the sport,” says Todd Price, whose family has deep roots in the city’s league community. “All that heritage, lost.”
Todd’s father Doug was deputy chair of the Auckland Rugby League and his brother Shane is the current chair. Todd began playing in the 1970s as a five-yearold in the Ellerslie Eagles – formed in 1912 – and now has a coaching co-ordination role at the foundation club. Recently he’s begun collating Ellerslie’s historic photos, as well as working through its trophies, jerseys and other memorabilia. Shane, meanwhile, in addition to digitising records, is putting together something of an unofficial Auckland league museum.
During the relatively heady years of the 1970s, the Eagles’ original modest clubrooms – an army surplus Nissen hut – were subsumed within a new double-storey building. The club has had its ups and downs since then. This winter, 50 years after it last won the championship, it couldn’t put out a senior team, although things are much healthier in the junior grades. But talented juniors today are fixated on the NRL, and having young players now doesn’t guarantee a senior team in the future.
“That’s the nature of where clubland is at,” says Todd. “Clubs are having to define the roles they play: ‘Do we just become a junior club?’”
Doubtless some will fold, but others will find ways to continue. With luck, so will Wingham and Davies Park and other historic grounds. Ryan Bodman highlights league clubs such as Huntly’s Taniwharau that have hung on, despite economic decline and player drain, and kept league alive.
“Here were places where they could show their excellence and achievements on their own terms,” he says. “They can’t die because, for clubs like those, it’s who they are.”
1. L-R: Tawera Nikau, Rex Hohaia and Kevin Healey. 2. The changing rooms of the Huntly United Rugby League Club. 3. The T. Winikerei Open Provincial Challenge Shield. Imagery: Karl Drury 4. A wall-offame mural at the clubrooms of the Upper Hutt Tigers features the club’s former Kiwis. Image: Mike Heydon 5. A pre-match pep talk for the under-13 Ellerslie Eagles. 6. Shane Price’s unofficial Auckland league museum includes international and club jerseys. 7. The under-13 Eagles playing traditional rivals Ōtāhuhu. 8. Todd (in cap) and Shane Price at the Ellerslie Domain. Imagery: Marcel Tromp
Rugby League in New Zealand: A People’s History is published by Bridget Williams Books.
PARK LIFE
Our perspective on heritage is constantly evolving –so how do New Zealand’s heritage parks stay relevant?
WORDS : MATT PHILP / IMAGERY : MIKE HEYDON
New Zealand isn’t big on amusement parks, but we bow to no one when it comes to our heritage parks.
If not quite from North Cape to Bluff, then at least from Kaikohe to Strath Taieri, you will find that a piece of local land has been made into a kind of time capsule village, home to a handful of colonial-era buildings, with a blacksmith’s forge or an early railway station or an apothecary’s shop – perhaps all three. They’re theme parks of a sort, where the theme is the past – often a European-centric and bowdlerised past, not always presented cogently, but tangible and inhabitable in ways that museums are not.
You can thank the King of Norway for the concept. In 1881 King Oscar II had five historic rural buildings relocated to his summer residence at Bygdøy, Oslo. The complex, which opened to the public the following year, was the world’s first ‘open-air museum’ and set the template for today’s heritage parks, with all their successes and failings. The buildings were transplants from unrelated locations and diverse centuries (they ranged from a medieval storehouse to a 1770s farmhouse), stripped of context but offering at least some insights into the lives of ‘ordinary people’ – not exactly a preoccupation of museums and cultural institutions of that time.
Mike Gillies, a West Coast-based Conservation Advisor for Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, is a fan of heritage parks. But he gets why they may provoke scepticism.
“Often they are weird but really fascinating groups of buildings that have been moved from different locations. The architecture is often super mismatched – you might have everything from an early slab building to a villa, placed side by side in a village arrangement. It can be confusing, but it also gives visitors unique opportunities to experience these buildings. And there’s also something very tactile and human about experiencing a place by touching and smelling it.
“Modern construction is very sterile, whereas buildings 120 years ago were made from natural materials and feel and smell different; the proportions
1. Shantytown Heritage Park’s Main Street.
2. Charlie Greer, train driver and gold claim manager at Shantytown Heritage Park.
3. Shantytown opened in 1971 as a recreation of a Victorian-era West Coast gold rush town.
are different, the doorways are small, the stairs are steep. Without being able to experience that, people would have no idea what they were like.”
What’s more, a heritage park can be a sanctuary for an historic building that would otherwise be bowled.
“Yes, it wouldn’t be ideal to move it from its location, because a lot of significance is tied to context and landscape, but it would be far better than demolishing it,” he says, adding, “One reason these parks are quite successful here is that we built from light materials like timber – moving buildings is a lot easier here than in some other parts of the world.”
Often it’s the fate of a single building that acts as a catalyst. Pioneer Village, Kaikohe, for instance, was founded on the 1862 Waimate North Courthouse, a significant building from Northland’s past that had ended up as a hay barn and was slated for demolition.
Coming soon after a 1967 centennial celebration that had awakened interest in the area’s pioneer history, the mooted demolition caused a local storm, and the courthouse was relocated to vacant council land. The village that grew around it includes a colonial-era cottage, a jail, a school, a church and a sawmill, and other buildings, machinery and artefacts donated by local families and organisations.
“It made sense to have all these things in one place – so people can know what came before,” says Shaun Riley, one of the group that established the village.
You might say heritage parks such as the one at Kaikohe grow ‘organically’. But it’s also fair to say they can evolve haphazardly, acting as indiscriminate heritage safety nets. In many cases, too, the initial visions get modified by other demands.
Launched in 1977 on the site of the city’s former rubbish tip, Nelson’s Founders Heritage Park initially aimed to present itself as a working historical village.
But in 2007 a new five-year strategic plan acknowledged that its operators had ended up juggling too many roles.
Several buildings were then tenanted by commercial businesses, and the place was regularly used for community events that “had no place in a true heritage park”. The collections had grown reactively, and included everything from a fake medieval pillory to a 1950s Bristol Freighter, while many buildings were replicas “of no true historic value”. The new plan was for Founders to be a community park hosting regular events and using its “heritage ambience” to attract locals.
Another example of heritage mission creep is Ferrymead Heritage Park in Christchurch’s Heathcote Valley. It began in 1965 as the Museum of Science & Industry, heavily focused on rail (the valley was the site of New Zealand’s first public railway line).
Driven by the interests of individual historical societies, however, it developed into something more scattershot. Within the framework of an early Edwardian township, exhibits run the gamut
1. Students from Oxford, North Canterbury, get a demonstration of teaching Edwardian-style.
2. The park includes an operating tramway, heritage omnibuses, trolley buses, steam trains and the Southern Hemisphere’s largest collection of old fire engines.
3. Ferrymead Heritage Park was founded in 1964 as a recreation of an early Edwardian township.
4. Ferrymead General Manager Operations Jarrod Coburn in the general store.
from a blacksmith’s forge to early televisions to the hemisphere’s largest collection of fire engines. As well as trains and trams, the forge, a stonemason’s workshop and a printing press are all operational.
The park’s newly appointed General Manager Operations Jarrod Coburn says the passions of the historical societies’ volunteers give Ferrymead purpose. “The park is an incredible midden of Christchurch’s past – and also of the knowledge that goes with that. So it’s not just ‘here’s a historical item’,
“The externals have to be functional … but it’s what’s inside that’s important. Visitors can read, touch and smell, and that’s where their learning comes from”
1. A Morris Minor emerges from a Safe Air Bristol 170 Freighter Mk31E at Ferrymead.
2. The small hospital at Shantytown Heritage Park, featuring an old anatomy poster.
3. Shantytown Heritage Park CEO Andrea Forrest.
but ‘here are five people who know how to pull it apart and put it together again’.”
That said, one of Ferrymead’s shortcomings is that it’s too static. The plan is to inject life into some of the buildings – turn the bakery into a tearooms, for example, and the general store into a souvenir shop selling items produced on site.
Another issue is there’s just too much stuff. “You walk in and you’re overwhelmed; it’s almost impossible to make sense of it,” says Jarrod, who reckons a visitor app rather than interpretative panels is the answer.
The other goal is to make Ferrymead more representative. “I’d challenge anyone to go into the park and find a single thing that has any relevance to Māori,” he says, citing also the Chinese and disabled communities as having been largely ignored.
Ferrymead is no outlier: New Zealand’s heritage parks generally have little to say about Māori. Another common criticism is that they are effectively heritage without history, full of buildings stripped of their stories.
Bill Edwards, Area Manager Northland for Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, says that’s not necessarily the case, but it’s vital that visitors are provided with contextual information. “That way you can get a much more interesting story from these buildings.”
What of replicas? Shantytown near Greymouth has a handful of originals among its 45 buildings, but most were built from scratch and aged to recreate a Victorian-era gold rush town. Does it matter? CEO Andrea Forrest doesn’t think so, noting that the artefacts displayed are genuine.
hapū: sub-tribe rongoā: traditional Māori medicine
tupuna: ancestor
3
“The externals have to be functional for the longevity of Shantytown, but it’s what’s inside that’s important. Visitors can read, touch and smell, and that’s where their learning comes from.”
All of Shantytown’s structures are businesses you’d have likely seen in a West Coast town towards the end of the gold rush – a carpenter’s workshop, a saloon, a bank, a butchery and so on. Some are specific, including a shop modelled on the first shoe store that Robert Hannah opened in 1860s Charleston, on the West Coast of the South Island.
“Often we pull it back to a family or individuals who existed, so we can provide stories about them or like types,” says Andrea, who believes heritage villages have “an incredibly important” role. “They tell you the story of a place or an era and you can see it in a snapshot.”
Can they stay relevant? Andrea fears the “gentle amble” through history they offer will be an increasingly tough sell in our impatient, devicedominated age. Mike reckons they can if they’re prepared to refresh their collections regularly –
“What I find fascinating from a historical perspective isn’t necessarily what my children will.”
Jarrod, who is committed to broadening Ferrymead’s appeal, points out that 8000 school children visit every year.
“I think relevance comes through that connectivity to the community and from building up good practices around volunteerism,” he says.
“And it comes from telling stories in which people recognise themselves.”
TE AHUREA: A LIVING CULTURAL CENTRE
Te Ahurea forms part of the Kororipo Heritage Park that features the Stone Store, Mission House and Kororipo Pā in the Kerikeri Basin, although it isn’t your typical heritage park.
“Te Ahurea is different in that it’s not a park of relocated heritage buildings, making it more cohesively presented and interpreted,” says Bill Edwards.
A Māori-run enterprise and Tohu Whenua, Te Ahurea recently replaced a replica fishing settlement called Rewa’s Village, created in the 1970s as a money earner to fight plans for a subdivision in the historic precinct. Using Provincial Growth Fund money, local hapū Ngāti Rēhia has transformed the village into a ‘living cultural centre’, with recreated whare and rongoā gardens, plus guided tours, waka tours and workshops in weaving, carving and traditional Māori medicine.
“Te Ahurea is bringing back a lot of the activities that would have been around at the time, like waka going up the river and carvers at work. It’s a time capsule where you arrive around 1790 and leave around 1835,” says Project Leader Kipa Munro, adding, “This is huge for our hapū. We employ our own people as guides and when they are talking, they can say ‘this is my tupuna’.”
For further information, see ‘Back in balance’ by Jenny Ling (issue 161, Winter 2021) and ‘A place in perpetuity’ by Myjanne Jensen (issue 173, Winter 2023).
On the radar
WORDS AND IMAGERY: JACQUI GIBSON
Supported by a Christchurch-based tourism company, Ngāi Tahu has embarked on the world’s first indigenous-led research programme in the sub-Antarctic islands
Riki Nicholas hoped for the best as he boarded the Heritage Adventurer for the Ross Sea in the summer of 2023.
A lifelong seafarer, muttonbirder and fisher, Riki had been appointed Ngāi Tahu director of the Murihiku ki te Tonga programme a year before.
Set up by four Ngāi Tahu rūnanga, the programme would boost the protection and management of the wildlife, islands and waters between Fiordland and Antarctica by increasing iwi-led research and monitoring in the region.
“Voyaging to the sub-Antarctic islands isn’t a trivial undertaking in terms of cost and risk,” Riki told me recently on a video call from his home in Murihiku/Southland.
“Getting all the way down to the Ross Sea, another 2000 kilometres south of New Zealand’s sub-Antarctic islands, across some of the roughest seas on the planet, is another challenge altogether.”
Even when the ocean played ball, unforeseen circumstances could scupper the best laid plans.
A research trip to the sub-Antarctic islands on HMS Canterbury, for example, had been cut short after the navy was recalled for cyclone duties.
The result was months of preparation down the drain.
So Riki was understandably pleased when Christchurch expedition cruise company Heritage Expeditions agreed to take his team to the Southern Ocean on three separate voyages that summer.
POLYNESIAN VOYAGING AND MĀORI OCCUPATION IN THE SUBANTARCTIC ISLANDS
1200s
Polynesian Pacific voyaging and occupation in the subAntarctic islands.
1800s
Māori are among the sealers and whalers who base themselves in and around the sub-Antarctic islands.
1840s
Chief Matiora (Ngāti Mutunga, Taranaki) leads a settlement of Māori and Mōriori on Enderby Island, a few years before the British Government sets up a land-based whaling station and short-lived colony at Port Ross on Enderby Island.
1895
William Timaru Joss (Ngāi Tahu) reaches Cape Adare as a crewman on the Norwegian Whaler Antarctic in one of the first landings of the so-called Heroic Age of Polar Exploration.
A penguin colony at Cape Adare and Borchgrevink’s historic hut, shot with a survey drone. Carsten Borchgrevink was a Norwegian polar explorer and the leader of the British Antarctic Expedition 1898–1900. Image: Colin Aitchison/SkyWorks
ENDERBY ISLAND, THE SOUTHERNMOST POINT OF HISTORIC POLYNESIAN VOYAGING
More than 460 kilometres off the southern coast of mainland New Zealand lies Enderby Island, a seven-square-kilometre, DOC-protected island that is part of the uninhabited Maungahuka/ Auckland Islands archipelago in the sub-Antarctic region.
In 1997 Ngāi Tahu archaeologists Professor Atholl Anderson CNZM and Dr Gerard O’Regan excavated a site at Sandy Bay on Enderby Island as part of an examination of prehistoric settlements at Rakiura/ Stewart Island, Tini Heke/The Snares and Enderby Island.
Radiocarbon dating and data analysis showed a group of Polynesians and their dogs lived at Enderby Island for one or two summers about 700 years ago, making the sub-Antarctic site the southernmost record of prehistoric Polynesian voyaging to date.
Set up in 1984 by Rodney Russ, a now retired Wildlife Service biologist, and his then-wife Shirley, Heritage Expeditions specialised in small ship expedition voyages to some of the world’s most remote and ecologically important places.
“I didn’t know the Russ family personally,” said Riki. “But I knew they’d been taking tourists and scientists, among others, to the Southern Ocean for a long time. After we met, I could see our values aligned and, of course, I understood our chances of getting there and carrying out our work were very good.”
Under the management of Aaron and Nathan Russ (Rodney and Shirley’s adult sons) since 2018, the company regarded its sub-Antarctic and Ross Sea voyages as its flagship itineraries.
“We’ve been there since the start of modern tourism in the sub-Antarctic islands,” explained Aaron as we sailed from Enderby Island to Motu Ihupuku/Campbell Island (an historic area on the Heritage New Zealand List/Rārangi Kōrero) on the 124-metre Heritage Adventurer in December last year.
I’d joined Heritage Expeditions on a sub-Antarctic voyage, in part to talk to Aaron about his family’s relationship with Ngāi Tahu and to visit some of the heritage sites central to the new partnership.
1. Colourful megaherbs on Enderby Island.
2. Heritage Expeditions owner and expedition leader Aaron Russ and guest.
3. Historic machinery on Macquarie Island.
4. Southern rātā and the megaherb forest of Enderby Island.
5. A Buller’s albatross off Antipodes Island.
rūnanga: councils
“These islands are some of the most remarkable places on Earth and yet your average New Zealander has never heard of them – let alone visited them”
“After 35 years of exploring this region, of course, it’s very important to us,” he told me as we tracked further south into the Furious Fifties, the winds that pummel the Southern Ocean. “That’s why we’re excited to partner with Ngāi Tahu on this world-first indigenousled research and monitoring programme down here. These islands are some of the most remarkable places on Earth and yet your average New Zealander has never heard of them – let alone visited them.”
Scattered over 30 degrees of latitude, from 47 to 77 degrees south, the uninhabited islands of New Zealand’s sub-Antarctic and Ross Sea regions are some of the wildest and most isolated in the world. More than 40 seabird species, including 10 of the world’s albatross species, breed there.
The region’s islands and southern ocean waters are also home to rare and endemic penguins, the world’s rarest cormorant (the Bounty Island shag), the critically rare New Zealand sea lion, and a variety of marine mammals.
Its remarkable human history began in the 13th century with Polynesian exploration, and spanned whaling, sealing and attempted settlement by both Māori and the British, as well as the so-called Heroic Age of Polar Exploration.
“This incredible region should be on everyone’s radar,” said Aaron.
Aaron, now 43, was eight years old when he first visited the sub-Antarctic islands, and he has returned every summer since 1992.
Aged 20, and soon to graduate from university with an honours degree in zoology and geology, he led his first voyage to the Ross Sea as expedition leader.
To Aaron and his similarly experienced brother Nathan, Ngāi Tahu’s partnership offer made good sense. Ngāi Tahu would lock in regular passage and, as a result, provide ongoing backing for them to carry out important research in the region.
Heritage Expeditions, for its part, had found a partner with whom the Russ family shared common goals.
“There’s not enough scientific research or conservation work being done down here. Yet the challenges are enormous,” Aaron explained, picking up our conversation a day later as we hiked the tussocky, wind-bitten hills of Motu Ihupuku/ Campbell Island.
The Department of Conservation (DOC) had achieved some important pest eradication and conservation wins with limited government funding over the years, he said.
But species such as the Antipodean and Gibson’s albatrosses, which bred on the sub-Antarctic islands and nowhere else on Earth, were in serious decline.
“Travelling to Antarctica by ship, in contrast to the usual fly-in-fly-out approach, worked really well,” Murihiku ki te Tonga Science Manager Dr Regina Eisert told me following my return home after 16 days at sea.
1. Hiking and bird watching on Moto Ihupuku/Campbell Island are highlights of Heritage Expeditions’ summer voyages to the sub-Antarctic islands.
2. A Snares crested penguin colony on Tini Heke/The Snares.
3. Riki Nicholas and Regina Eisert aboard the Heritage Adventurer, February 2023. Image: Colin Aitchison/SkyWorks
4. Seal pups on Macquarie Island.
Regina, a German-born researcher specialising in marine mammals and one of Ngāi Tahu’s clean energy advisors, joined Murihiku ki te Tonga in 2023 with 10 Antarctic expeditions under her belt – nine in a leadership capacity.
Travelling by ship, she said, gave the team access to a good range of wildlife species including tītī, penguins and whales. Scientists, like tourists, couldn’t access the sub-Antarctic and Ross Sea islands and their inhabitants any other way.
Opportunities to leave the ship and explore the water by Zodiac meant they were able to capture sufficient video, photography and drone footage and continue vital research in the Ross Sea, the world’s largest marine protected area.
“And sailing the ocean seasonally as, say, an albatross or a killer whale does, reinforced the cultural view of the Southern Ocean as a highway and ‘connector’,” she explained.
“We enjoyed mixing with Heritage Expeditions guests. Riki and I gave talks about our programme and answered questions.
“Down the track, it might work out to involve tourists in our research as citizen scientists, like Heritage Expeditions sometimes does with other scientific projects,” said Regina.
With last year’s research voyages completed, Riki and Regina both felt confident their work was on track to serve as the basis for managing the region in a more sustainable way.
“Ngāi Tahu needs a scientific evidence base to inform future decisions, as well as any conversations they want to have with the various agencies responsible for New Zealand’s interests in the region.
“Yes, they have a Treaty [of Waitangi] mandate, but this evidence will further bolster Ngāi Tahu’s case for being a strong voice in the region.”
This coming summer, Regina’s team will continue studying key indicator species such as penguins, killer and sperm whales and Weddell seals, while Riki will work with DOC on heritage preservation and pest eradication.
The archaeological site on Enderby Island urgently needs protection from rāpoka (endangered New Zealand sea lions) and Riki is keen to kickstart a stalled plan to remove pigs from Maungahuka/the Auckland Islands.
“I was just bloody excited to follow in the footsteps of my ancestors on that first trip,” Riki told me during our video call.
Riki’s forebears were sealers and whalers, and he is a direct descendant of William Timaru Joss, the Ngāi Tahu crewman who reached Antarctica in 1895 on board a Norwegian whaler.
“This year we know a lot more about what to expect, as well as what’s possible down there.
“Now that we’ve solved the problem of how to get there, we can work with the Russ family and others like DOC and get stuck in.”
EXPLORE THE HERITAGE OF THE SUB-ANTARCTIC AND ROSS SEA REGIONS THIS SUMMER
Starting in late November, Heritage Expeditions will travel to the sub-Antarctic islands on six separate multi-day expeditions. Meanwhile, the company’s two 28-day Ross Sea voyages will depart Bluff in January and February.
Highlights of the expeditions include onboard lectures and guided walks to heritage sites, including shipwreck, whaling and early settlement sites, as well as the historic huts of early polar explorers.
Wildlife and natural heritage typically seen on the summer tours include rare sea lions, whales, penguins, albatrosses and other seabirds, as well as southern rata, kelp forests and megaherbs. Find out more at heritage-expeditions.com
The writer travelled to the sub-Antarctic islands courtesy of Heritage Expeditions.
WORDS: ANNA KNOX
The Space Between
Lauren Keenan
RRP $37 (Penguin)
There’s a moment towards the end of The Space Between where author Lauren Keenan (Te Atiawa ki Taranaki) really complicates things.
It’s 1860 and war is coming to Taranaki. The settlers have been advised to abandon their farms and go into the protection of the township, Frances Farrington and her family among them. But when Frances asks her kind neighbour when she will evacuate, Mrs Archer replies: “Mr Archer and I built that house with our own hands ... I can see my late husband in every beam and board ... I’m not leaving.”
This is also, of course, what local iwi and Māori throughout Aotearoa are insisting, and partly why there is going to be a war. As readers, we know how the story will unfold over the coming century and more, and the vast injustices that will be served. And yet, Mrs Archer is a heroine, a good woman, and we, albeit awkwardly, sympathise with her pride in her home and her defiance in staying there.
Lauren’s great offering here, and throughout the novel, is to bring a human complexity to what could too easily be reduced to a moralising tale, and to remind us that the past is made up of individuals, none defined solely by their position in society or their role on the right or wrong side of history.
Mātaria/Minnie, the Māori protagonist whose chapters alternate with Frances’s, is the character who most clearly embodies this complexity. A slave, captured by a rival iwi in a devastating raid that killed her parents, she has finally returned after many years to her papakāinga, but with a white husband and two children. Her whānau tolerate her but won’t accept her. She lives in ‘the space between’ the Māori and Pākehā worlds. Frances also inhabits an in-between space. A ‘spinster’ after her supposed abandonment by her beau in London, Henry White, she is bullied by her embittered mother and brother George, a scoundrel who we begin to suspect is the reason for Henry’s disappearance.
Following Mr Farrington’s death and shocking revelations of his debts, the disgraced and much-reduced family emigrated to New Plymouth, New Zealand, where, incredibly, Frances runs into Henry at the local store. Henry is now married to Mātaria.
While at times the characters threaten to become Disneyfied caricatures, the work Lauren does through them keeps complexity and interest alive. In pinholing this epic period in Aotearoa history to two close, female viewpoints, the trauma of powerlessness, injustice and loss becomes intimate and recognisable.
Still Standing: A Memoir
Anna Crighton
RRP $39.99 (Canterbury University Press)
Dame Anna Crighton’s memoir has many different modes. What starts out as a predictable first-person account of middle-class beginnings quickly – but without losing its eventempered gait – becomes an extraordinary account of survival. The loneliness of an unaffectionate family haunts Dame Anna’s trajectory from a correction home for young girls to a wild affair in Italy en route to her (second) fiancé in England at 20, to a solo pregnancy at 21, and – after returning to New Zealand – a truly shocking hell of domestic violence.
There is a necessary numbness to this retelling, and zero self-pity, which is admirable. The emotional dam thankfully breaks, however, when it comes to Dame Anna’s love for her infant son, Dorian, a love that ultimately propels her out of a situation she may very well not have survived.
As the young Anna finds her feet and begins to ground herself through work, family and a passion for history, heritage and art, we are grateful for her brave retelling of the difficult years that allows us to see the private person in the public persona, on which the second half of the book is largely focused.
While highly informative about her time on the Christchurch City Council, the many heritage buildings she was involved in preserving, and her extensive travels, the chapters in this section of the book lack the first’s vitality. Dame Anna’s dedication to heritage preservation is primed early on, with the restoration of her 1879 worker’s cottage home, and this builds over time, particularly in the wake of the Christchurch quakes. The book details her dedicated efforts and successes, although the omission of any mention of the Christchurch Cathedral is curious. Dame Anna’s version of heritage is one focused uncompromisingly on building preservation, which some will find narrow. Nonetheless, it is because of it that several of Christchurch’s valuable heritage buildings are, indeed, still standing.
papakāinga: home base; village
A Different Light: First Photographs of Aotearoa
Catherine Hammond, Shaun Higgins (Editors)
RRP $65 HB (Auckland University Press)
This latest addition to a number of recent books about the history of photography in New Zealand brings together images from three major research libraries, Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum, Alexander Turnbull Library and Hocken Collections Uare Taoka o Hākena – and accompanies a touring exhibition.
Four themed essays are alternated with sections of plates, each containing brilliant highlights, such as the stunning Winkelman silver print from 1896 of a moving boat at sea and Paul Diamond’s astute analysis of the history of images in the Urquhart Album. Yet the effect of the whole is scattergun, and difficult to take in. This is perhaps an intentional reflection of the oblique nature of photo albums –their ultimate silence and duplicity – but the jumbled design and piecemeal observations may also simply be the result of a highly collaborative project.
There’s an argument put forward in the introduction that photography is about control. As William Kemp and Hēnare Taratoa stare out from the pages, it becomes clear that the power now lies with us to interpret the men’s gazes and imagine what they were thinking and how they lived.
“In both Pākehā and Māori societies, photographs embody a tangible trace and essence of subject that are as integral to their cultural meaning as that of photographs as status in Victorian society,” writes Shaun Higgins in his essay on photography in the Auckland province. The question, though, is how we now understand that essence.
Other titles of interest
The Trials of Nurse Kerr: The Anatomy of a Secret Poisoner
Scott Bainbridge
RRP $37.99 (Bateman)
The true crime story of Elspeth Kerr, possibly New Zealand’s most prolific poisoner, in the 1930s, following the discovery of a possible victim’s skeleton in 1992.
Nailed Boots and Crinoline Gowns: Women on the Rural Frontier in Nineteenth Century New Zealand
Robert Peden
RRP $40 (Fraser Books)
An exploration of the lives of rural women in Aotearoa in the 19th century, through diaries and memoirs.
Bob Crowder: A New Zealand Organics Pioneer
Matt Morris
RRP $45
(Otago University Press)
A leading garden historian tells the story of Bob Crowder’s life and his role in the birth of the organics movement in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Ans Westra: A Life in Photography
Paul Moon
RRP $49.99 HB (Massey University Press)
A richly illustrated biography covering the career of the Dutch-Kiwi photographer Ans Westra (1936–2023).
The Team That Hit the Rocks: The Inside Story of the Wahine Disaster
Peter Jerram
RRP $39.99 (Bateman)
A powerful account of our nation’s worst modern maritime disaster and the unbreakable bonds formed by those who survived.
Hine Toa: A Story of Bravery Ngahuia te Awekotuku
RRP $39.99 (Harper Collins)
An extraordinary memoir by a trailblazing voice in women’s, queer and Māori liberation movements.
Build for Eternity: A History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in New Zealand
Selwyn Katene, A. Keith Thompson
RRP $68 (Huia)
A comprehensive account of the history of Mormonism in New Zealand from 1854, when its first missionaries arrived, to the present day.
Those Who Have the Courage: The History of the Royal New Zealand Armoured Corps
Matthew Wright
RRP $95 HB (Oratia)
A richly illustrated history of 160 years.
Frontline Surgeon
Mark Derby
RRP $45
(Massey University Press)
A story of overlooked New Zealand medical pioneer and war surgeon, Doug Jolly. n
BOOK GIVEAWAY
We have one copy of A Different Light: First Photographs of Aotearoa 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 September 2024. The winner of last issue’s book giveaway (Te Ata o Tū, The Shadow of Tūmatauenga: The New Zealand Wars Collections of Te Papa) was K Allen of Wellsford, Auckland.
My heritage place
For The Hon Paul Goldsmith, Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, a childhood visit to St Mary’s Church, a Category 1 historic place in Parnell, was the start of a lifelong fascination with both the building and the man who inspired it
AS TOLD TO ANNA DUNLOP/ IMAGERY: MARCEL TROMP
My earliest memory of St Mary’s Church in Parnell is going to see a play there when I was nine or 10 years old. All the pews had been removed for the performance, and the cavernous open space and striking architecture, together with the fantastic acoustics, made quite an impression on me. The church was on the other side of Parnell Road at that time, and I remember later watching them move it across the road to its current location in 1982.
I grew up in the Anglican tradition, and I’ve always loved St Mary’s and the other early [Bishop George] Selwyn-inspired churches of Auckland. Anglicanism was especially important to me during my university years, and my fascination with Selwyn grew while I was undertaking my MA in history at the University of Auckland.
I did my thesis on the life of William Colenso, an early missionary to New Zealand, and during my research discovered the fractured relationship between Colenso and Bishop Selwyn. It intrigued me, and consequently I spent a lot of time reading
about Selwyn and the challenges he faced in his life. That’s why I became more interested in his influence on the architecture of the churches that were built for him.
Coincidentally, in April I was at Westminster Abbey in London for the Anzac Day service, and I was surprised – not for the first time –by the prominence of the memorial to Bishop Selwyn in the abbey. It served to remind me that he was a man of quite some consequence.
Most of Auckland’s Selwyn churches were built in wood in a neo-gothic style, and I particularly admire the beautiful internal timber frames, which are usually kauri.
St Mary’s was built later in the 1880s, but it built on that tradition. The thick internal wooden buttresses have such a simple yet effective design, and I never stop being amazed by the timberwork. I believe it’s one of the greatest examples of the city’s early wooden churches, in terms of both its size and its grandeur.
Over the years I’ve attended many services at the church, as well as funerals of great New Zealanders, so St Mary’s continues to have a lot of meaning for me.
Show your pride
Are you the owner of a place recognised on the New Zealand Heritage List Rārangi Kōrero?
These bronze plaques, with the List number of the place engraved in the centre, add an elegant and timeless feature for appreciating our rich and diverse place-based heritage.
A plaque (width 194mm, height 110mm) costs $250 including two screws for mounting and courier delivery.
Order online or by contacting our Otago Southland Office www.heritage.org.nz/places
p. (03) 477 9871 e. infodeepsouth@heritage.org.nz
Give the Past A Future
Consider leaving a gift that will last forever
A gift in your will could provide a lasting legacy for our nation’s heritage and help preserve our history for future generations. Would you like you know more?
Contact Brendon Veale for further details: 0800 802 010 | bveale@heritage.org.nz PO Box 2629, Wellington 6140 www.heritage.org.nz
