Heritage et AL

From 1955 to 1959, Aucklanders watched as a bridge gradually began to take shape across their harbour. The Waitematā, beautiful and usually so serene, was transformed into a stage for one of the largest and most complex construction projects in New Zealand’s history. Those on the quiet North Shore were particularly affected. Where residents of Northcote Point might once have looked over a tranquil harbour scene to the city on the opposite shore, their view now bustled with building activity. For those who lived in close proximity, excitement about the construction might quickly have worn off, but for plenty of Aucklanders, the project’s progress was a matter of ongoing fascination. In 1957, a watchman at the Northcote building site reported that as many as 50 sightseers would clamour to the area during weekends. Much larger numbers visited on the city side. Image: Jack Kirk. Aucklanders look on as the pick-a-back span is moved into place, 1958. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, ...

Sunday, 31 May 1959 marked a turning point in the history of Tāmaki Makaurau. After a century of dreaming, campaigning, planning, and politicking, a bridge finally connected Auckland City to the North Shore of the Waitematā. Throughout that time, ten formal proposals were submitted to local councils or the Government, at least as many bridge and tunnel designs were sketched, and endless amounts of ink were spilled arguing the topic on paper. However, the history of a bridge across the Waitematā does not begin with an ambitious Pākehā proposal published in a newspaper; rather, its origins are a narrative passed down through the generations from the earliest Māori who called the Tāmaki isthmus home. Image: Whites Aviation. View of Westmere with Meola Reef stretching across the Waitemat ā at low tide, May 1946. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 580-ALB22-026.   A long time ago, there was a war on the Waitematā between two iwi of the night-dwelling, fairy-like patuapaiarehe....

What do insects, fairy tales, old lace, Shakespeare and one of the founders of the Association of Book Crafts NZ have in common? Read on and all will be revealed. Miscellany - a Mixture from the Motu had its genesis in 2022 in the inaugural Print + Bind collaboration between the Association of Book Crafts NZ and various hand printers from around the country. The theme was 'Bugs' and the twelve printers and twelve binders all had free rein to interpret it as they wished. The only requirement was that the prints had to be on a single A5 sheet. Every printer made twenty-four prints of their chosen design which were then collated into twelve sets, each of which had two copies of each print. These then went to the binders who bound one set of prints into a book for a designated printer and the other set for him/herself. Thus, a potential twenty-four Bug books were born, and the idea arose that it would be wonderful to share the creations more widely than just through the Associatio...

Image: Takapuna Tramways & Ferry Company directors, 1907-1912 (left- right, from top row): Paul M Hansen, John Brown, Alexander R Morrison, Edwin Mitchelson, Henry Brett, Henry Hopper Adams, Captain James Smith, William J Geddis, and William Blomfield.  Paul Maximilian Hansen had a plan for Tāmaki Makaurau. The Danish-German immigrant and London-based entrepreneur envisioned an electric tramway network that would emanate from the Central City to reach every corner of Auckland, stretching far into sections that were still farmland and bush. He desired this system out of no sense of altruism, community connectedness or transportation efficiency. No, he and his cabal of investors wanted it so they could sell property. Specifically, their property. Image: Muir & Moodie. Postcard of Lake Takapuna (Pupuke), 1909. Museum of  New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa PS.002450 . By the early 1900s, the Coromandel goldfields were depleted, their vast wealth pocketed by Aotearoa’s nouveau ...

Keri Hulme’s poetry has inspired two exquisite handmade artists’ books – The Visionary , and The Silences Between (Moeraki Conversations) , on display in the Angela Morton Room’s STARGAZER exhibition. A community of artisans and artists combined to produce these ātaahua responses to Keri’s poetry, and this exhibition shares materials and stories about how these pukapuka were created.  Artist and printmaker Beth Serjeant was involved with both artists’ books. The first was her own, The Visionary (1987), which included Keri’s poem Stargazer, along with 10 lithographs Beth created to illustrate ten poems about the future. Beth later helped facilitate the artists’ book edition of Keri’s poetry collection The Silences Between (Moeraki Conversations) (2016). The Visionary was sparked by a young man Beth knew who was frightened about the future, and always looking for a mushroom cloud on the horizon. She wanted to make something that shared a positive belief in the future, and decided ...

Nestled on the Northern bank of the Waitematā Harbour is one of Auckland’s most iconic landmarks. Protruding loudly from the native bush and regenerating forest of the surrounding Chelsea Heritage Park, the large, questionably-coloured buildings which make up the Chelsea Sugar Refinery in Birkenhead are hard to miss from its seaward side. Everyday, they serve as a stark reminder to the thousands of commuters and day-trippers who cross the Harbour and residents of the adjacent beaches of Herne Bay that the North Shore, known for its ever-expanding low-rise suburbs and idyllic East Coast bays, is also responsible for producing one of New Zealand’s most-loved commodities: Chelsea Sugar. Indeed, today, the sugar works produces and distributes more than 160,000 tonnes of sugar per year to kitchens throughout New Zealand. Image: Chelsea Sugar Refinery, Birkenhead, as viewed from the Waitematā Harbour. 1980s. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, B0116 .   Image: Chelsea Sugar Refinery...