August 2014 Heritage Matters occasional newsletter of Historic Places Tairawhiti Incorporated ECT’s $5M grant great news for heritage It’s great to see our heritage receiving a connecting the slipway to the mainland and ki Turanga, the oldest whare in , $5 million grant from Eastland Community providing a circular walking route. and a walkway from Lowe Street to the railway Trust – the largest single donation in the Mayor Meng Foon says the rail yard area yard and paths leading to Tairawhiti Museum. trust’s history. could be enhanced with the return of Te Hau Continued bottom of next page The trust in July made the grant to kick- start the $12.55 million Council-led Tairawhiti Navigations Project and inner harbour Learn about Te Ha at our AGM redevelopment. Have you heard about the 2019 Te Ha behind the scenes and discuss the legacy the trust HPT Inc chairman James Blackburne says commemorations being planned for the 250th hopes to leave for the future. the project will be a tremedous opportunity anniversary of the first formal meeting between The AGM will be held in the Poverty Bay Club to celebrate Gisborne’s unique heritage in Maori and Europeans in 1769? library on Tuesday, 12 August 2014. a meaningful, authentic and bicultural way. If you would like to be updated on progress, Complimentary nibbles will be provided from This will see a 600-metre walkway built Historic Places Tairawhiti Inc’s 2014 Annual General 5.15pm with drinks at participants’ own expense. as part of a cultural heritage trail through Meeting will provide the perfect opportunity. The AGM starts at 6pm, followed by Te Aturangi Gisborne’s inner harbour, Reserve Te Ha trustee and HPT Inc committee member Te Nepia-Clamp on Te Ha Meanwhile, HPT Inc chairman and other key sites. A walkway will be Aturangi Nepia-Clamp will explain what’s planned James Blackburne reports Governor General Sir Jerry built on top of the training wall and a for October 2019, talk about the work going on Mateparae has agreed to be Te Ha’s patron. pedestrian bridge across the Turanganui River, Hidden and significant sites a bus tour drawcard Have you ever wondered about the early The Matawhero Church hall will provide a The itinerary is still being developed and contact between Christians and Maori in grand stopping place for a well-deserved may change. Turanganui a Kiwa? Who did what and cup of tea and toilet stop. Please bring your The cost is $10 for members, $20 for non- where? own lunch. members and $15 each from the same In late September, a bus tour organised “At Matawhero, we will have the finds from household. However, it is possible to join by Historic Places Tairawhiti Inc (HPT Inc) an archaeological dig which shows the site on the day to become a paid member and will go a long way towards answering your was used as a school. Among the finds were receive a discount for any future tours. questions... and more. slate pencils and broken pieces of slate – the Marie Burgess advises those interested to Hidden and Significant Sites of Christian early version of the tablet perhaps – as well as book early as seats will be limited. Contact in Turanganui a Kiwa is HPT Inc’s money, broken crockery and pipes.” “As an incentive, we suggest booking by first bus tour of the season. It will be led by The afternoon will take in a visit to Waerenga 17 September and you will go into a draw the Rev Stephen Donald – the personable a Hika and St Luke’s Church, opposite the for a bottle of Gisborne wine or a copy of historian, minister and cycling site of the inland mission station and battle either of HPT Inc’s history books – Historic enthusiast – on 27 September. The Rev in 1865, Valley including All Saint’s Journeys or Small City Big Heart. “ Donald is also regional dean in Eastland for Church. Phone Marie on 862 7505 or email meb@ the Anglican Diocese of Waiapu. “All Saint’s, built in 1906, was the chapel clear.net.nz Tour organiser Marie Burgess says the associated with Te bus tour will leave from the Information Rau College in town.” Centre in Grey Street at 10am and start in The visit to the Kaiti area. will “We will take in sites around Te Poho o include a visit to the Rawiri, the Hirini Street cemetery, William monument marking Leonard Williams’ Waikahua Cottage site at the first Anglican the foot of Titirangi/Kaiti Hill and the port. mission station at “Williams built the cottage in 1865 when Kaupapa, on the the inland mission station at Waerenga a Brown’s Beach Road, Hika was badly damaged in a battle. The site and a look at the enabled a quick getway by ship if required.” exterior of Toko Toru From there, the bus will travel into the city Tapu church, currently and look at the sites made available to the being renovated. four denominations – Catholic, Anglican, The tour will end Prebyterian and Methodist – in the 1870s. back in town at 4pm. Matawhero Church Busy times at the NZ Shipping Company building, . Pultron Mateenbar in situ at the Cenotaph. Seeking sponsors for $7M Pultron bars to Tokomaru Bay Heritage Project steady Cenotaph

Armed with multiple copies of a 170- “These are imaginative ideas that go much Gisborne’s Pultron Composites is a page feasibility study, Clive Bibby – the further than simply preservation of the heavyweight when it comes to donations. Not major driving force of the Tolaga Bay Wharf historic fabric, important as that is. Through only has it donated more than $30,000 worth restoration – is busy around the region and oral history, photographs and records, a of its strong, durable Mateenbar product to New Zealand seeking sponsors for the $7M picture can be built up of an illustrious past reinforce the Cenotaph, it also donated the Tokomaru Bay Heritage Project. to hand down to succeeding generations. Mateenbar that already strengthens St Luke’s The plan is to restore the wharf, restore But the greater ambition is to use this Church as Waerenga a Hika and Toko Toru and create a base within the former NZ extraordinary place and the drama of its Tapu, Manutuke. Shipping Company building and construct history as a springboard, to move forward This will put all of these structures on a firm a walkway around the freezing works ruins with an amalgam of new uses for the foundation for the next century. – all of which is expected to boost tourism buildings. Most of the old steel has been removed from and provide income for the people of the “The development of an indigenous the Cenotaph foundations and a start has area. The feasibility study includes a history tourism economy forms part of this plan been made on replacing it with Mateenbar, a of the area, the project’s social impact from which in due course more developed heavy-duty product impervious to corrosion. and tourism synergies, various engineers’ programmes for economic regeneration can This makes it ideal for environments such as reports and a valuable foreword from UK‘s emerge to reinforce the growing prosperity the salt-laden banks of the Turanganui River. leading authority on industrial heritage Sir of the East Coast.” Mateen is an Arabic word that means strong Neil Cossons, OBE. Sir Neil, who has visited Heritage New Zealand’s Northern Region and durable. Tokomaru Bay and seen the wharf, buildings general manager Sherry Reynolds has also Two manufacturing processes were used to and other sites, comments: written a letter of support for the project. produce straight and coiled Mateenbar for the Cenotaph’s foundations. Meanwhile, 12 new piles have been installed under the Cenotaph and secured down to 22 metres. A landscape plan is being developed for the area. PLEASE JOIN Historic Places Tairawhiti Inc – go to historicplacesaotearoa.org.nz/ join-hpa-2/ Tokomaru Bay freezing works under construction. Navigations project expected to bring enhanced sense of place From page 1: and enhanced sense of place that will occur and Turanganui bridge in 2017. ECT chairman Richard Brooking said the as a result of the project will be significant.” The council is providing about $4 million trust was impressed with the scale and vision Eastland Group will contribute $1.6 million towards the project. of the project and believed it would be a to the project with further works to include Gisborne Mayor Meng Foon said the project hugely significant asset for the community. the river training wall walkway scheduled for was transformative and would showcase the “The economic benefits, heritage aspects completion in 2015, and the inner harbour region as a key tourist destination.