NORTHLAND

NORTHLAND Drone used to record heritage mill and shipyard

An important piece of Northland’s kauri and boat-building heritage has been surveyed in detail using electronic and digital technology.

WORDS: John O’Hare IMAGES: Aerial Vison

The former shipyard and sawmill at Totara North on the Whangaroa Harbour has been videoed and photographed using a drone, and its physical dimensions and sub-structures recorded.

Once the centre of a thriving kauri milling operation and boat construction enterprise, the mill and shipyard has stood silent for almost 20 years. Over the decades, the buildings and out-buildings of the 150-year-old mill have deteriorated to the point where it is no longer feasible to preserve them. “Options for restoration or rebuilding have been explored but at the end of the day it just wasn’t practical to preserve these structures. Because they were beyond the point of repair, we had to focus on the best way of recording them in detail,” says Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Northland Manager, Bill Edwards. “Given the dangerous condition of the mill and shipyard, recording the interiors and exteriors of the buildings presented some challenges, though it was important to record the structures so that people in the future will be able to see how the mill and shipyard functioned.” Technology provided the solution – in this case video and photographic imagery shot by a drone flying through the interior of both structures by Bay of Islands-based Aerial Vision. The ensuing images and video accurately recorded the many features of the structures.

“Lane and Brown Shipyard and Sawmill was established in the Whangaroa – close to a plentiful supply of kauri. Their shipyard was large for the time – the equivalent of just under 1400 square metres of floor space,” says Bill.

Aerial shot of the former sawmill and shipyard at Totara North.

“By any standards that was a sizeable operation, and the complex was an important part of the Far North economy.” The covered sheds were capable of handling 350-ton ships, and more than 50 ships were built here during its years of operation, including the 320-ton topsail schooner Rainbow in 1890 and the Government’s Pacific Island trader Countess of Ranfurly in 1901. Lane and Brown vessels were highly sought after with the builders taking great care to select and season the wood that went into them.

“The partnership ended in the early years of the 1900s, however, as there wasn’t sufficient work to keep the Lanes and the Browns employed. The Browns built a shipyard at Te Kōpuru on the Kaipara Harbour while the Lanes remained at Totara North,” Bill says. “Eventually they founded the Lane Motor Boat Company Ltd in Auckland, though the Totara North mill continued to operate, eventually being bought by Te Rūnanga o Whaingaroa in 2004. Prior to that point, however, it was being used to store timber rather than for milling.” Listed as a Category 2 historic place and understood to be the only remaining kauri mill in the world, the rarity of the mill and shipyard meant that it was important to record it.

“Given the physical danger posed by the unstable buildings, however, the use of drone technology was the most practical means of doing this,” he says. “The result is a permanent, visual and highly detailed record of this important part of New Zealand’s kauri industry and boat-building heritage.” n

The interior of the Totara North sawmill.