Heritage et AL

One of New Zealand’s most highly respected abstract artists, Milan Mrkusich , designed several large public artworks in Auckland in the 1950s-1960s. The most well-known existing ones include the mosaic mural on the B. J. Ball Building overlooking Fanshawe Street, and the stained glass windows at Grey Lynn’s St Joseph’s Catholic Church - the largest abstract work in the country at that time. Ref: Patrick Clearwater, BJ Ball mural, 31 May 2010. B. J. Ball (NZ) Ltd was a paper manufacturing company and Mrkusich’s mural for them highlights the paper-making process from the raw material of trees to the end product of stacks of reams. This mural is 7.6m high and 3.9m wide (25ft x13 ft.) and is made from thousands of glass and ceramic tiles. As Julian Dashper recounts in a 1995 article, Mrkusich made full size plan drawings “which he rolled up and posted to Italy, where a master tile maker made a complete mural on the floor, turned it upside down into hundreds of little boxes and ...

Sculptures, murals and statues are dotted around Auckland with information about many of these public artworks available on Auckland Council’s Art and Heritage Database . A display on level 2 at the Central Library showcases some of these items, from Fatu Feu’u’s Aotea Centre mural to Greer Twiss’s Pigeon Park sculpture. Statues and monuments from the Auckland Domain are featured including the Pukekaroa Palisade where Princess Te Puea planted a tōtara tree during the city’s 1940 centennial celebrations in order to reaffirm the mana of the Tainui people in the area, and the connection between her family and the Domain. Her great-grandfather Te Wherowhero had lived in two houses on the Domain site between 1847-1858 before returning to the Waikato as the Māori King. Ref: Pukekaroa Palisade, 2016.

The Women’s Suffrage mural in Khartoum Place celebrates suffragettes who fought for women’s franchise in New Zealand – which they won in 1893 , and women in this country became the first in the world to gain the vote. Artists Claudia Pond Eyley and Jan Morrison designed the 2,000 bright tiles of the mural marking the centenary of this achievement. A Navy band led over 300 guests down Queen Street for the 1993 opening, and the Air Force hung a cargo parachute across Khartoum Place which dropped at the exact dramatic moment for the unveiling by Irish President Mary Robinson and Governor-General Dame Catherine Tizard. Ref: Auckland Council, Khartoum Place pre-1993.

Public baths were constructed in Auckland during the 1880s and this led to a growing interest by adults in swimming. Baths such as Point Erin in Herne Bay, the Tepid Baths in town and Parnell Baths used salt water and this in turn led to sea swimming becoming a popular activity. Ref: NZ Map 4675, Plans and sections for the Parnell Baths, 1913, Sir George Grey Special Collections Parnell Baths were Auckland's first salt water baths. Constructed at Judge's Bay in 1914 by the council, the baths have become an iconic and well loved location for swimmers of all ages. At 60m it is the largest salt water pool in New Zealand (although the salt now comes from a bag & not the sea) and tops Newmarket's Olympic pool by 10m. That is a very long length to swim! Ref: 4-8628, stereoscopic view of the Parnell Baths, no date, Sir George Grey Special Collections The baths opened during the summer season of 1914-1915. Since the pool is unheated, the baths are closed for part...