Raising the heritage value of our city

According to my calculations, this is my 500th article for the History Page. The first, on May 2, 2011, featured the Hamilton Courthouse.

That building is still unused and yet (miraculously?) still standing, whereas of the first nine heritage buildings I wrote about two have been demolished and one removed: Hamilton’s Municipal Pools, St Joseph’s Catholic Church in Morrinsville, and St Paul’s Methodist Church in Hamilton.

Having reached a quincentenary of articles, I could spend this one dwelling on the landmark losses (Hamilton East’s Euphrasie House and Church College at Temple View) but I’m not convinced that that would achieve anything, other than making me feel downhearted.

For whereas I am aware of considerable community feeling for heritage protection and interpretation in ThamesCoromandel, Waipa and Waikato district, it is hard to discern whether there is any more feeling for heritage in Hamilton than there was eleven years ago.

Against that backdrop Plan

Change 9, which seeks to add a large number of archaeological sites, notable trees, heritage items and areas to the Hamilton District Plan, might be described as a sign of better days to come for the city’s historic heritage. The demolition of scheduled items like Euphrasie House and the Block Plant at Temple View are proof, however, that scheduling alone does not guarantee protection; a lesson that the Hamilton East Community Trust and the Temple View Heritage Society learnt the hard way through countless submissions, hearings and even the Environment Court.

As I am wont to blurt out whenever the matter of heritage conservation crops up in conversation, the RMA defines historic heritage as ‘those natural and physical resources that contribute to an understanding and appreciation of New Zealand’s history and cultures’.

The Act then goes on to make their protection from ‘inappropriate subdivision, use and development’ a matter of national importance that must be recognised and provided for under section 6(f).

But what does that mean in an environment where understanding and appreciation seem to be in short supply, especially amongst the people and institutions who are charged with implementing the

RMA and hence protecting local historic heritage resources?

Kirikiriroa Hamilton has a rich history that is simultaneously challenging, troubling, uplifting and grounding. It’s a history that is no less worthy of understanding and appreciation because it lacks, in the built environment, the ground gestures of a Dunedin Railway

Station or an Auckland Town Hall. Looking back on the 499 articles that preceded this one, I hope that I’ve helped to increase awareness of the heritage of the city and the region in which it is located.

If not, I have no problem with continuing to be the proverbial ‘persistent flea’ (he tohe puruhi) for heritage conservation in the

Waikato because the law requires it and, I believe, people need it. Kia whakatō muri te haere whakamua (I walk backwards into the future with my eyes fixed on my past).