New Zealand Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero – Review Report for a Historic Place Onekaka Ironworks Wharf and Tramline Piles, ONEKAKA (List No. 5126, Category 2) Onekaka Ironworks Wharf and Tramline Piles, Onekaka (B. Wagstaff, HNZPT, 26 January 2021) Blyss Wagstaff DRAFT: Last amended 30 July 2021 Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga TABLE OF CONTENTS PURPOSE OF REVIEW 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4 1. IDENTIFICATION 5 1.1. Name of Place 5 1.2. Location Information 5 1.3. Legal Description 6 1.4. Extent of List Entry 6 1.5. Eligibility 6 1.6. Existing Heritage Recognition 6 2. SUPPORTING INFORMATION 7 2.1. Historical Information 7 2.2. Physical Information 20 2.3. Chattels 23 2.4. Sources 23 3. SIGNIFICANCE ASSESSMENT 24 3.1. Section 66 (1) Assessment 24 3.2. Section 66 (3) Assessment 25 4. APPENDICES 29 4.1. Appendix 1: Visual Identification Aids 29 4.2. Appendix 2: Visual Aids to Historical Information 39 4.3. Appendix 3: Visual Aids to Physical Information 43 4.4. Appendix 4: Significance Assessment Information 48 Disclaimer Please note that entry on the New Zealand Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero identifies only the heritage values of the property concerned, and should not be construed as advice on the state of the property, or as a comment of its soundness or safety, including in regard to earthquake risk, safety in the event of fire, or insanitary conditions. Archaeological sites are protected by the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Act 2014, regardless of whether they are entered on the New Zealand Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero or not. Archaeological sites include ‘places associated with pre-1900 human activity, where there may be evidence relating to the history of New Zealand’. This List entry report should not be read as a statement on whether or not the archaeological provisions of the Act apply to the property (s) concerned. Please contact your local Heritage New Zealand office for archaeological advice. Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Review Report for a Historic Place, List No. 5126 2 PURPOSE OF REVIEW The purpose of this review is to consider whether there are grounds to vary the extent of the List entry for Onekaka Wharf and Remnant of Tramline, to encompass other elements of the former Onekaka Ironworks’ complex of infrastructure. The complex once stretched across six kilometres, from the coast at Onekaka Inlet up into the foothills of Parapara maunga, inland. This review assessment concludes that the List entry extent should be varied slightly, to clarify that it encompasses the full extent of the remaining Ironworks infrastructure at the Onekaka Inlet: the Onekaka Ironworks wharf and tramline piles. At the inland end of the Ironworks infrastructure complex, six kilometres away, there are also remains of the Onekaka Ironworks quarries, aerial tramway, and the Onekaka Hydro-electric Scheme, that may also merit recognition on the List. It is recommended that a separate List entry for those elements is investigated, due to the geographical distance between them and the Ironworks infrastructure at Onekaka Inlet. Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Review Report for a Historic Place, List No. 5126 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Onekaka Inlet is culturally significant to Te Tau Ihu iwi, particularly to Ngāti Tama ki Te Tau Ihu, Te Runanga o Ngāti Rārua and Te Ātiawa o Te Waka-a-Māui, but also for Ngāti Kuia and Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō. Traditionally, Onekaka was the site of a papakāinga and an important signalling point for communications with other rohe. The Onekaka Ironworks Wharf and Tramline Piles, built in 1923-24, has historical and archaeological significance as a poignant physical link to an ambitious iron mining and smelting scheme. Although this undertaking ultimately proved uneconomic, the deteriorated remains of the scheme’s coastal infrastructure are a rare physical reminder of its impact on the locality. The aesthetic values of the wharf’s rusted vertical piles, a particular favourite subject of noted painters Doris Lusk and Enga Washbourn, continue to inspire artists, photographers, and poets. People have inhabited Mohua (Golden Bay) for many centuries, valuing its climate and resources, including kōkōwai (red ochre) obtained from the foothills of Parapara, a maunga of great cultural importance to manawhenua and tangata whenua. The mineral richness of the Onekaka-Parapara hills was also recognised by early colonists, who moved quickly to secure this resource for the Crown. The Onakaka [sic] Iron and Steel Company was formed in 1920, consolidating various earlier mining leases that had not been fully realised.1 Fifty men were employed to construct smelting works on a terrace to the west of State Highway 60. The plant was fully operational by 1924, producing bars of pig iron suitable for making railway irons, stoves and pipes. The company’s infrastructure stretched from the hills to the coast at the Onekaka Inlet. An aerial tramway carried iron ore and limestone in buckets 2.4 kilometres from quarries downhill to the ironworks. There the raw materials were crushed, washed, and smelted in a blast furnace; coal was purified into coke in the plant’s many beehive coking ovens. Good transport routes were necessary to get machinery and coal to the works, and the smelted iron products out to domestic and international markets. Initially the company used Skilton’s private jetty at Onekaka Inlet, and lobbied for improvements to the road. However in 1923 permission was granted to build a pier projecting 365 metres from Onekaka Beach into deep water. The timber piles of this structure were vulnerable to teredo borer and were soon reinforced with rejected steel tram rails, with extra steel bracing welded to the piles. A huge coal bin sat on the decking at the outer end of the wharf. A tramline, built in 1924, ran 2.6 kilometres directly from the wharf to the ironworks, crossing the inlet on raised trestles, and passing under the main highway. A hydro-electric scheme was built in 1928-29 to power the pipe-making plant that was installed in an attempt to remain competitive. 1 Note the difference in the spelling of the company name from the spelling of the place name. Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Review Report for a Historic Place, List No. 5126 4 The ironworks were a major employer in the area, and with over 81,000 tons of iron produced between 1922 and 1935, hopes were high for an enduring industry. However, ultimately the enterprise proved uneconomic, and the company was placed into receivership in 1931 before closure in 1935. The wharf was reconditioned in 1941 in case it was needed during wartime, but suffered storm damage in 1945. Government efforts to revive the Onekaka industry ceased in the early 1950s and the ironworks were dismantled; the site was eventually subdivided for residential use. Today (2021) the deteriorated vertical piles of the wharf and a few piles from the tramline provide a poignant reminder of this ambitious undertaking. 1. IDENTIFICATION2 1.1. Name of Place Name: Onekaka Ironworks Wharf and Tramline Piles Other Names: Onekaka Wharf; Onekaka Ironworks Wharf; Onekaka Wharf and Remnant of Tramline 1.2. Location Information Address 75 Washbourn Road Onekaka Inlet ONEKAKA Tasman Additional Location Information Onekaka Inlet is 16 kilometres north of Tākaka. GPS information (NZTM) +/- 5 metres: Base of Onekaka Wharf E1575559 N5489374 Tramline piles in middle of Onekaka Inlet E1575442 N5488952 Tramline embankment at southern edge of Onekaka Inlet E1575389 N5488749 2 This section is supplemented by visual aids in Appendix 1 of the report. Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Review Report for a Historic Place, List No. 5126 5 Local Authority Tasman District Council 1.3. Legal Description Pt Seabed; Pt Legal Road; Pt Sec 100 DIST Takaka (RT NL2A/399); Sec 284 Takaka DIST (Onekaka Inlet Recreation Reserve NZ Gazette 1995 p.225); Pt Lot 1 DP 701 (RT 135911); Nelson Land District 1.4. Extent of List Entry Extent includes part of the land described as Pt Seabed, Pt Legal Road, Pt Sec 100 DIST Takaka (RT NL2A/399), Sec 284 Takaka DIST (Onekaka Inlet Recreation Reserve NZ Gazette 1995 p.225), Pt Lot 1 DP 701 (RT 135911), Nelson Land District, and the structures known as Onekaka Ironworks Wharf and Tramline Piles thereon. (Refer to map in Appendix 1 of the List entry report for further information). 1.5. Eligibility There is sufficient information included in this report to identify this place. This place is physically eligible for consideration as a historic place. It consists of land and structures that are fixed to land which lies within the territorial limits of New Zealand. 1.6. Existing Heritage Recognition Local Authority and Regional Authority Plan Scheduling Scheduled in Tasman Resource Management Plan, Operative 1 November 2008 [as amended]: Listing No. 5126 in 16.13A: Heritage Buildings and Structures, Category II Heritage Buildings and Structures. Destruction or removal of Category II heritage buildings is a restricted discretionary activity, requiring resource consent. Onekaka Estuary Sandspit is also scheduled in Schedule 25D – Areas with Nationally or Internationally Important Ecosystem Values. The Natural ecosystem overlay (schedule 25D) includes rules that make any new structures, and any disturbing of the seabed, a non- complying activity. Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga – List Entry Review Report for a Historic Place, List No. 5126 6 Reserve This place is part of a recreation reserve: Onekaka Inlet Recreation Reserve (NZ Gazette 1995 p.225). Other Protection Mechanism Statutory Acknowledgement: All eight iwi of Te Tau Ihu have a Statutory Acknowledgement over the coastal area, including Onekaka Inlet. Nelson City Council, Tasman District Council and Marlborough District Council, Te Tau Ihu Statutory Acknowledgements: Statutory Acknowledgements of the Resource Management Plans of Marlborough District Council, Nelson City Council and Tasman District Council, 2014 New Zealand Archaeological Association Site Recording Scheme This place or sites within this place have been recorded by the New Zealand Archaeological Association.