No. 1Craccum-1966-040-001.Pdf

liKfc . V o l . 4-o ISSUE I LIBRA»W I I -ft gistered at GPO, Wellington, for transmission by post as a newspaper DESECRATION GOVERNMENT GRABS GRAFTON GRAVES The end of 1966 will see the loss and destruction cf an irreplaceable area of Auck Auckland care for its own land's beauty and history. Grafton Gully with its lovely oaks and green sheltered ways history and beauty? will have gone forever. This pleasant reserve in the midst of our barren city will have People will later attempt been bulldozed away and another gem that has been tenuously held since 1841 will have to justify their own negligence by saying that the Gully need been lost forever. The final rest of our sturdier forbears will have been rudely torn open ed clearing, that it was an and their chiselled records shattered by pneumatic drills. eyesore, that it provided an The motorway has already Karangahape Road inter- Ministry of Works Staff unsavoury haunt. These are been commenced and progress section. One can well imagine have been tracing relatives of the people that allowed the is now far advanced on the the confusion when this extra those buried in the cemetery. graveyard to become over Grafton site. Thousands of outlet is added to an already For why? Not to contact grown, the wrought iron yards of soil have been shifted overcrowded traffic blockage. these relatives to seek their surrounds to be torn down and into the gully and all trees For this approach road approval but to. inform them piled under the Grafton Bridge, and shrubs in the way have Mr. Flynn, the District Commi of the Ministry’s decisions. and the grave stones to be been razed. What was origin ssioner of Works, stated A meeting was scheduled broken and used for retaining ally represented as an innoc publicly that "over 11Q0 for mid-January between offi walls. uous amount of earthmoving graves will be destroyed” . cials of the Ministry of Works, The motorway must come has in actual fact shown it This may seem a small number Church Authorities, and the but the proposed ancillary self to be a cataclysm of to some until we read further Civic leaders. When asked a road can and must be shifted, devastation. The public was that '*300 to 400 graves would week before this meeting about the original master transport assured that Grafton Gully not be affected by the re their views, high dignitaries plan submitted in 1957 showed would be hardly disturbed, moval” . In other words only of the Church and City Council the proposed route to and from the site during the work” says that the motorway would lie about one-fifth of Grafton were quite plainly in total downtown city placed over by Mr. Flynn. What guarantee only on the edge of the Cem Gully will be left untouched, ignorance of it. No report Grafton Road. Why should this have relatives that they will etery. nor have we any assurance was ever published and it be altered? But perhaps the be given the correct remains On the map the road does that a tree will be left stand would seem that the Ministry only person who cares about at all? And what of the lie dangerously near the ing there. The fine Gothic of Works is deliberately keep Auckland and is in a position monuments? It would be fringes; it passes through the archway on Symonds Street is ing the public uninformed of to do anything is Tom Pearce. impossible to move them with sexton’s hut and through St. already scheduled for demol of their manoeuvres until it Anyone who was at the out heavy equipment. What Benedict’s cemetery. But it ition and although it is offi is too late to do anything public meeting of 6 February, then? The marble stones will cially stated that Governor crosses Symonds Street by about them. 1961 when Mr. Pearce chall be broken for the foundations means of an excavated under Hobson’s grave will be un The Cemetery itself is a enged from the floor Mr. of the road, the granite tombs pass which will require affected, on the plan it lies historic spot. Originally Kinsella, then Minister of will be shattered for filling. enormous approach works. right in the path of the road. consecrated by Bishop Selwyn Broadcasting, and success It is a horrible thought What has been concealed Why should this motorway it once overlooked the broad fully opposed the placing of a that a last resting place can from the public is a proposed scheme be a matter for con expanse of the Waitemata. T.V. transmitter mast on Mount be swept away as lightly as cern? Is Grafton Gully really entrance road from the new Governor Hobson was interred Eden, will remember how he this. What of the graves where r motorway which will be built worth bothering about? While in the newly consecrated burial pointed out the number of descendants have moved away, through the Grafton Cemetery the proposal to desecrate this ground behind the town in Auckland’s green reserves that under the mistaken impression f parallel to Symonds Street and historic cemetery will naturally September 1842. A clay track have been taken over by the that the large sums originally bring every eccentric for ' will lead into the Symonds was cut to it so that the cortege Government. Whangaparaoa and paid for the plots have been • Street - Grafton Bridge - hundreds of miles around out could wind its way up the hill. North Head to the military. devoted to their continued into the open and provide as This clay track was later The superb golf course on care and maintenance? Their happy a hunting ground for christened Symonds Street Crown Lands at Orakei con graves will be ploughed up them as the pyramids, we must after Police Magistrate who fiscated to become a fennel and the remains become name be careful to separate rea had hoisted the first flag in covered waste. Auckland less. The questions are not sonable protests from those 1840. One could not attempt Hospital quietly grabbed huge those of progress or public made by the more obvious to list the notable pioneers tracts of the Domain during good but rather of public crackpots. The motorway buried there. The Rev. J.F . the War and conveniently for apathy and disinterest and proper must certainly go Churton, the soldiers killed in got to give them back; while official might. It is we who through: there can be little the Maori Wars, Major-General the Cornwall Park Trustees are to blame for being so argument about its intention Pitt, and the hundreds that are still fighting for their heedless of our own property. or siting. have caused it to be called rights against similar en Chris Gordon- Craig One can protest against the Settlers’ Cemetery. One croachment. What chance the proposed approach road. important monument that will has the individual against The conception is ridiculous be broken up is that covering official forces armed with STOP PRESS. the grave of Edward Costley their own Special Acts? in its addition to an already Taylor (VUW) only hopeless confusion of roads who died in April 1883- By Mr. Pearce, there are still applicant for full at the Grafton Bridge - Symonds his will he bequeathed £84,700 a few who will rally behind Street intersection. What is to Auckland institutions. It you. Why are the Church tim e, PAID, P resid ency more important is that this is a tragic thought that no-one, Authorities so weak as to Of N2TToA. scheduled road is as yet only not the Costley Home for the permit their land to become a a proposal. If the public were Aged, the Sailors’ Home, the Public Responsibility under COPY CLOSING: Hospital, the Orphan Home, sufficiently well informed and the Auckland City Council? Friday 11th March. nor any other work that bene warned as to its dangers then And what is the A.C.C. doing fited so deeply from his opinion could perhaps change to safeguard this 'sbeautiful bequest, could care so little JOIN CRACCUM NOW AND it. But any attempt to ascertain spot? We have all \oo few about the impending destruction DIE YOUNG AND CYNICAL the facts surrounding this green spaces in the City to of the fine obelisk erected to road will be met with what lose thus lightly this far his memory be a then grateful can only be described as praised spot. official obstruction. The Auckland. What of the mem writer was told by one clerk orial erected by the Victoria Although the motorway will of works "we are waiting to League to the gallant soldiers go through as a necessary evil, see what protests are made of the Maori Wars? Does no-one what provisions have been before - we finally decide the care any longer about its made for the graves? "Screens route.” preservation? What does will have to be erected around HULLO FRESHERS s» s Let’s start with the facts. Either you are a fresher or you’re not. (It is this kind ol incisive logic which will never cease to startle and amaze you at this place.) If you ar< Pi a fresher, read this article; its aimed at you, and we never miss, baby, we never miss If you are not a fresher, also read this article. After all, the damn paper’s not costinj you anything. Right, then .... You may have been told a^ money you gave _away when Naturally, we at “ Craccum”1 a little bit - in fact you’ve you enrolled.

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