Toro Waaka, chairman of the Ngati Pahauwera Development Trust, and Mario Schmidt, an advocate for Napier Prison's refurbishment, outside poorly maintained and fenced-off portions of the prison, a Category 1 heritage site. Photo / Paul Taylor
Toro Waaka, chairman of the Ngati Pahauwera Development Trust, and Mario Schmidt, an advocate for Napier Prison's refurbishment, outside poorly maintained and fenced-off portions of the prison, a Category 1 heritage site. Photo / Paul Taylor
A jewel in the crown of Napier’s hills and a unique piece of Aotearoa’s history has been left to decay by years of government mismanagement and neglect, local advocates claim.
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (HNZPT) lists Napier Prison as a Category 1 historic place, which means it has specialor outstanding historical or cultural significance or value.
Napier Prison was New Zealand’s first constitutional prison and could be the only prison in the world that ran an attached lighthouse, according to Napier resident Mario Schmidt, and Toro Waaka, chairman of Hawkes Bay Māori Tourism Charitable Trust and Ngati Pahauwera Development Trust.
But now its lower retaining wall is crumbling and sections of the prison are fenced off due to safety concerns.
The Waaka whānau have lived on site at the Napier prison for about 20 years and have run tours through its grounds.
Waaka said it felt as if there had been a legacy of neglect left by Land Information New Zealand, the government agency responsible for the management and maintenance of the prison.
“To me, it is all about future generations. They’ll want to know why such an icon of the city was left to deteriorate,” he said.
He said his lease was now short term and he would probably be moving out soon.
“If I had a long lease I would have put some money into it, but even now I’ve just had a letter saying my lease is month by month so you can’t even run a business like that.”
Toro Waaka and his whānau have lived on the Napier Prison site and run a business from it for about 20 years, but he is considering moving out soon, now that he is on a short-term lease. Photo / Paul Taylor
Matt Bradley, Linz project and hazard management delivery team manager, said the former prison is one of about 900 properties managed and maintained by Linz and earmarked for future Treaty settlements.
He said an engineering assessment of the 23 walls on site found further work was required on the retaining walls.
“Linz is currently assessing repair strategies. In the interim, fencing has been installed around the walls as a further precaution.”
Bradley said an engineering assessment found the front fencing to be in poor condition but “very low risk to health and safety”.
Schmidt said he became interested in the history of the prison because he lives nearby and has been working to get the lower prison wall in Marine Parade repaired.
He has already got permission to install a handcrafted gate and has offered to repoint the lower wall of the prison himself if he can get permission from Linz and Napier City Council.
Schmidt aims to eventually get permission to build a replica lighthouse on the spot where the original lighthouse stood to enhance Napier Prison’s draw as a heritage site and tourist attraction.
“As far as I know, the Napier lighthouse was the only lighthouse worldwide which was also attached to a prison, with the light attended by prison wardens, not a lighthouse keeper. This sort of maritime history is unique worldwide so the preservation of this Napier history is vital in my view.”
Kerryn Pollock, HNZPT Central area manager, said the prison had outstanding historical significance, but its heritage status didn’t confer automatic protection.
“HNZPT would like to see the complex appropriately managed and maintained so its heritage values remain intact.”
Pollock said HNZPT recommended that Linz commission a conservation plan to guide the ongoing conservation, care, and management of the prison complex in 2019.
Bradley said there was nothing in Linz records about receiving a recommendation from HNZPT to commission a conservation plan, but proposed works on the retaining walls included a conservation plan.
