Northland heritage champion Heather Ayrton, of Kerikeri, retires

Heather Ayrton with her iconic photo of Dame Whina Cooper. Photo / Supplied

A Northland heritage supporter who has made a bit of history herself over the years has retired from Heritage Northland.

Heather Ayrton, of Kerikeri, served as a committee member of Heritage Northland Inc since it was created in 2015, and as a member of the New Zealand Historic Places Trust Northland branch committee since 1984.

Ayrton has been involved with a number of community initiatives through the years.

She was instrumental in the creation of the Hōne Heke Memorial Park in 1993 – today a green space in Kaikohe, but once disused and overgrown with gorse.

"I'm quite proud of the project, and the way in which Māori and Pākehā volunteers worked together to make it happen," she said.

"People serving their periodic detention often worked in the park, and they also felt a strong sense of pride in the work that they did there. On one occasion we even organised one of the judges to visit the boys on-site."

Helping to establish Begonia House at the Pioneer Village Kaikohe, one of the best collections of begonias in the North Island, was another highlight.

And if facilitating the development of two significant amenities in Kaikohe wasn't enough, Heather filled whatever hours in the day that remained supporting ventures like the Kaikohe Pioneer Village, working as a coroner for 27 years, being the chair of the first Northland Conservation Board, as well as the chair of the Ethics Committee of the Northland Area Health Board.

She was also the Northland correspondent for the New Zealand Herald.

It was in this role that she struck up a strong friendship with Dame Whina Cooper and took the iconic photograph of Dame Whina firing a rifle, which was picked up by media worldwide.

"The object of Whina's attention was a possum. Whina taught me how to fire a gun on that occasion," Ayrton said.

"Whina contacted me whenever she wanted to make any comment on anything through the Herald and we got to know each other quite well over the years. She was a very good woman at heart who really felt for her people. She achieved all her objectives. She had a vision in life and stuck to it."

A love of history from a young age, plus her own deep family connections to the Hokianga and other parts of Northland, drew Ayrton to become involved with Northland's heritage.

Living in Northland – where some of the earliest Māori-Pākehā interactions took place, and where modern New Zealand first began – also stimulated that interest.

"I worked with some wonderful volunteers who had a strong connection with the NZ Historic Places Trust, including Fen Barrett and the historian Jack Lee," she said.

"Both men had a real passion for Northland history in particular and made tremendous contributions in different ways."