Painting of early Tauranga returns ‘home’

An artwork showing a historic Tauranga Harbour and Mauao in the 1940s – which was painted on e Elms lawn during World War II – has been repatriated to the historic building for all to see.

Marooned in Tauranga during the war, artist Airini Vane painted ‘ e Mission House Garden’ in 1942.

e painting, which ended up in an art gallery down south, has nally “come home” to Tauranga via long-term loan between e Elms Te Papa and Invercargill Public Art Gallery.

e Elms Foundation general manager Andrew Gregg says the arrangement has been facilitated by former Tauranga Art Gallery director Penelope Jackson.

“Kathleen Airini Vane was the daughter of Captain Gilbert Mair and Kate Sperrey, a noted portraitist and friend of the Maxwell family who inherited e Elms property in 1887.”

Penelope, who rst set eyes on the artwork in 2007, says it’s wonderful to nally see it on display in e Elms “and I just really hope people go and see it – because this an amazing piece of our history”.

Penelope says there are four key reasons that the painting’s repatriation to Tauranga is so important.

Painted in the gardens

“First, it was painted from the gardens of e Elms, the Mission Station, so it’s a local image. It looks across Tauranga Harbour and you can see the end of Matakana [island] and Mauao on the right.

“So it’s anchored in our region – but it’s also a record of an earlier Tauranga – today this whole area of our city is developed. So it’s a really signi cant visual history of part of our region.”

Penelope says the artist herself, Airini Vane, is also signi cant to Tauranga. “Her maiden name