Heritage et AL

Image: The scoria field where Auckland Training College would relocate is visible in the right of the frame. Henry Winkelmann, Epsom and One Tree Hill from Mount Eden, 1923, Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 1-W0400. In 1925, a building was erected at 72 Epsom Avenue. Where previously the area was littered with gorse and rocks, and popular among local children for playing games, the scoria field was now to accommodate Auckland Training College.   Image: The ‘red’ building, as it was known to some trainees, was erected in 1925 and demolished in 1976.  Henry Winkelmann, Auckland Teachers Training College, Epsom, 1926 , Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 1-W0681. Auckland Training College officially relocated from Wellesley Street to 72 Epsom Avenue in 1926. But teacher trainees entered the building for the first time in 1925, having carried equipment there from Wellesley Street.  The trainees celebrated the occasion with dancing and singing, the Co...

Auckland International Airport is one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s best assets. In the 2024 financial year, it carried 18.5 million passengers to and from 42 destinations by 26 airlines and made $900 million.  The airport is undoubtedly one of the bastions of the modern economy, the gateway connecting Aotearoa New Zealand to the world. Its sleek terminals and massive concrete runway create a sense of modernity, and a space disconnected from history. Yet, under closer examination, Auckland Airport is full of history. Similarly, the road network around the airport reveals stories of innovative aviators, with even the main terminal itself named after Jean Batten. In this series of articles, I hope to advance the idea that Auckland Airport is an essential space for understanding Auckland’s history and as representative of its history as any other city landmark. Previous texts, most notably the 2003 book Where New Zealand Touches the World, From Farm Paddock to South Pacific Hub: A History...

Image: Holy Trinity Cathedral as it appears today Holy Trinity Cathedral is a building familiar to most Aucklanders. Serving as the mother church of the Anglican Diocese of Auckland, it stands in a prominent position overlooking the city from the top of Parnell Road. It hosts a variety of events, spiritual and secular alike. Many Aucklanders who have never attended Sunday service have been inside its walls at some point in their lives, whether for a concert, school prize giving, wedding, or funeral. Like the grand old cathedrals of Europe, it serves as an icon of the city and ceremonial centre of public life. Yet, from an architectural standpoint, it is something of a curiosity – some would even regard it as an eyesore. Holy Trinity Cathedral is best described not as a building, but rather as a series of interconnected buildings. In the centre is a neo-gothic chancel clad with red brick, which is adjoined by a modern nave in the front and an even more modern chapel to the rear. Next to...

In 1849, Auckland, the capital of the recently established colony of New Zealand, was a centre of cultural flux. Māori, settlers, traders, government, and missionaries navigated their relationships to each other and Tāmaki Makaurau amidst colliding cultures and disputes over land and authority. By this time, the Manukau Harbour had become a flourishing centre of Māori-missionary relations, boasting prosperous agriculture, trade, and an enthusiastic adoption of Wesleyan Methodist faith. However, the Manukau’s peaceful bi-cultural exchange would be short lived, ending as tensions between the settler government and Māori developed into the Waikato War. Manukau tribes Ngāti Te Ata Waiohua and Ngāti Tamaoho had close ancestral ties with the Waikato. After the establishment of the Kīngitanga in Waikato in 1858, Māori in Manukau were treated with increasing suspicion by the settler government and many fled or were evicted from their homes by July 1863. A unique perspective into their experien...

Images: 151 Queen Street, The New Zealand Herald, 2014.  The 1980s were a time of transformation in New Zealand, marked by economic liberalisation, corporate excess, and a cultural shift that redefined the country’s identity ‘from the world’s first welfare state to the world’s first post-welfare state’.  The fourth Labour government instituted sweeping reforms known as Rogernomics. Spearheaded by Minister of Finance Roger Douglas, this involved deregulation, privatisation, and the removal of subsidies which reshaped the economy and heralded a new era of market-driven growth.  Amid this backdrop, urban landscapes evolved to reflect the changing times. Auckland’s Central Business District (CBD) became a playground for corporate ambition, with new skyscrapers symbolising power and modernity. This research series examines how the evolution of built heritage sheds light on social and cultural changes. It does so primarily by following the lives of three Queen Street locations:...