Wednesday Write In: Storm takes historic link

Storm takes historic link

The large evergreen tree which stood beside the Napier Municipal Theatre crashed to the ground in a tangle of branches during Sunday's rainstorm. It was brought low by a combination of age, root decay and the weight of sodden foliage.

The tree was a link with H.S. Tiffen one of the early pioneers of the Napier area. Henry Stokes Tiffen settled in Hawke's Bay in the 1850s and had extensive land holdings.

He gave the name Greenmeadows to that area on account of its luxuriant native grasses.

He was a Hawke's Bay Provincial Council member at the inception of Provincial Government in the Bay and was prominent in local affairs most of his life.

Tiffen's Napier house stood at the base of the Napier Hill facing on to Tennyson Street.

The grounds were landscaped and planted with a wide variety of exotic trees and plants, including English and Australian species.

In 1912, a part of the grounds was purchased for the erection of the Municipal Theatre.

Many of the trees remained on the surrounding land and one of these was a White Kurrajong (Brachychiton populneus, native to New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland) which survived car parking, sealing, drainlaying through its roots, and many other indignities over the ensuing years.

This survivor of a pioneer's love of horticulture, became a prominent feature of Napier's inner city tree collection and was probably the largest specimen of the species in New Zealand.

The tree stood proud for more than 100 years. Alas! It is no longer with us. Its absence will be noticed without doubt.

And we're so fortunate to have people in our community like David Low ex Park and Reserves, who have a wealth of valuable background information and are happy to share it - thanks David.

Barbara Arnott, Napier Mayor