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| KŌANGA SPRING 2022 |
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Kia ora Garry
We’ve got a jam-packed edition for you this quarter.
The Auckland Heritage Festival is coming up next month (1-16 October). It is great to have this go ahead this year after last year’s cancellation. In this edition we have a few recommendations from Heritage Unit staff. Check out the wide array of events, tours and talks from the festival here.
Applications for Regional Historic Heritage Grants are open until 14 October. If you have or know of a heritage project that could benefit from a grant, make sure you apply! Check out the item below for more information.
You also may be aware that council has notified several plan changes to the Auckland Unitary Plan as required by the Government to implement the National Policy Statement on Urban Development and the Medium Density Residential Standards. Plan changes 78 (Intensification), 79 (Amendments to the transport provisions) and 80 (RPS Well-Functioning Urban Environment, Resilience to the Effects of Climate Change and Qualifying Matters) are open for submissions until 29 September.
Council has also notified two historic heritage plan changes. Plan Change 81 proposes to add seven historic heritage places and four historic heritage areas to the Auckland Unitary Plan. Plan Change 82 proposes amendments to 99 historic heritage places that are already identified in the historic heritage schedule. Information about these plan changes and how to make a submission can be found on council’s website here.
Hope you enjoy this edition!
Noho ora mai.
Noel Reardon
Heritage Manager, Auckland Council
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| Auckland Heritage Festival – Beth Maynard (Specialist – Historic heritage) recommendation |
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I’m keen to visit a unique event in our backyard, 50 years of heavy metal music at St Matthew's, in celebration of the St Matthew’s Society of Bellringers’ 50th anniversary. The bells arrived in Auckland in 1863 and moved to St Matthews in 1905; they were restored and re-blessed in 1972. The event includes talks on the bells’ history and the art of bellringing, a tour of the belfry, and most importantly, frequent demonstrations.
Date: Sunday 9 October, 12pm-3pm
Venue: St Matthew-in-the-City
132 Hobson Street, Auckland Central
Cost: Free
Link: http://www.heritagefestival.co.nz/events/detail.asp?ID=1072
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| Auckland Heritage Festival – Leo Gallager (Specialist – Archaeology) recommendation |
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My recommendation is the Kennedy Park World War II tunnels and displays. Auckland has extensive coastal fortifications built under the threat of Japanese invasion during World War II. Kennedy Park housed a significant coastal battery, which was unique in that great efforts were taken to disguise these gun emplacements as civilian buildings, such as state houses. This event provides a fantastic opportunity to learn about the ingenious ways in which these fortifications were disguised and constructed, and also learn about the larger coastal defence networks of Auckland during World War II.
Date: Sunday 9 October, 11am-2pm; Sunday 16 October, 11am-2pm
Venue: Battery Observation Post, Kennedy Park, 143 Beach Road, Castor Bay
Cost: Koha (any donation)
Link: http://www.heritagefestival.co.nz/events/detail.asp?ID=972
Image: Castor Bay gun emplacements (Kennedy Park) (David Bade, Auckland Council).
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| Auckland Heritage Festival – Rachel Ford (Heritage Information Advisor) |
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As a Westie who regularly visits Auckland's west coast beaches with camera in hand, I’m most looking forward to the Landscapes of Auckland’s west coast exhibit. It will be a great chance to see how the dynamic environment of our wild west coast and Waitakere Ranges has changed over time.
Date: Saturday 1 October - Sunday 16 October: Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm; Saturday and Sunday, 10am-4pm
Venue: J. T. Diamond Room, Level 2 Waitākere Library, 3 Ratanui Street, Henderson
Cost: Free
Link: http://www.heritagefestival.co.nz/events/detail.asp?ID=1064
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| Auckland Regional Heritage Grants open for applications! |
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Te Tukunga pūtea ā-takiwā taonga tuku iho / the Regional Historic Heritage Grant Programme (RHHG) opened for applications on 5 September and closes 14 October 2022. The grant aims to preserve and enhance historic heritage as a legacy to pass on to future generations. It is open to groups and individuals that contribute to the protection and improvement of regionally significant historic heritage places, sites or areas. If you are interested in applying but want to find out more contact grants@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz or attend the upcoming online workshop on Thursday 6 October at 5:30pm by rsvping to communitygrants@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz.
Last year, the George Courts Department Store building on Karangahape Road received RHHG funding towards the restoration of the building's clock. The clock is a prominent feature on the street and the only timepiece on Karangahape Road. It has been used since the 1920s by shoppers in the busy retail area. Over the years the clocks inner working has deteriorated and the clock was not keeping good time; now passers-by can be assured that it will be keeping good time for years to come.
Image: The George Courts building clock on Karangahape Road (Rachel Ford, Auckland Council).
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| Historic wallpaper saved |
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In 2019, the upper storey of the William T. Court building (216 Onehunga Mall, Onehunga), built in the 1890s, suffered a fire and the ground floor became water-damaged. During an inspection of the building, early samples of wallpaper were collected by Auckland Council archaeologist Myfanwy Eaves. Following a delay due to COVID, the samples are now being gifted to the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga wallpaper collection. Explore their collection here: https://collection.heritage.org.nz/explore.
The two-storey brick building was designed for retail use with residential accommodation above. It has historical significance as a comparatively early purpose-built drapery commissioned by retired draper Frederick Court. Court (who originally set up a drapery shop on Karangahape Road in 1886) had the Onehunga drapery constructed for his son, Thomas William Court’s, fledgling drapery business. Expressing a sense of the town’s growing prosperity, the two-storey William T. Court’s Building reflects elements of the late-Victorian Italianate architectural style favoured by the colony’s merchants for their commercial premises and private residences.
Image: A sample of historic wallpaper from the William T. Court building in Onehunga (Myfanwy Eaves, Auckland Council).
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| Our most loved social media post – Greer Twiss sculpture |
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Image: Greer Twiss sculpture, corner of Karangahape Road and Symonds Street (Rachel Ford, Auckland Council).
Our most popular social media post this quarter had an artistic angle, and featured the Karangahape Road Fountain on the corner of Karangahape Road and Symonds Street.
The work is by New Zealand sculptor, Greer Twiss, New Zealand’s longest continually producing sculptor. The Karangahape Road Fountain was Twiss’ first commissioned work, which he began in 1966, and was installed in 1969. He once said that he had a difficult relationship with this sculpture: it fell on him and broke his foot and some ribs.
The fountain comprises three abstract disc forms and two life-sized seated figures. The fountain is cast in bronze which has weathered to green. The sculpture is dynamic – walking around the sculpture allows for different views of the work and also through the work and into the landscape it sits in.
The sculpture is protected as a historic heritage place in the Auckland Unitary Plan.
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| More news and events... |
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A booklet has been prepared about researching the history of your house in Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland. It is located here.
The Zoo is celebrating 100 years this year and has put up an interactive timeline about their history https://aucklandzoo100.co.nz/timeline
As part of the Auckland Heritage Festival, one of our very own, Marguerite Hill (Heritage researcher), is hosting a talk about two Auckland models: a 1939 City of Auckland model and a modern, 3D printed model of central Auckland. The talk is free and spaces are still available. Check it out here.
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