Northland Age
  • Northland Age home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Rural
  • Opinion
  • Kaitaia weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Far North
  • Kaitaia
  • Kaikohe
  • Bay of Islands
  • Whangārei

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whangārei
  • Dargaville

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Northland Age

A plan to save the Swamp Palace

By Peter Jackson
Northland Age·
9 Sep, 2019 08:25 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Ōruru's Swamp Palace might not have great architectural merit, but it does have history - and great acoustics. Picture / File

Ōruru's Swamp Palace might not have great architectural merit, but it does have history - and great acoustics. Picture / File

A meeting of about 50 people voted, with only two opposed, to ask the Far North District Council to strike a targeted rate to save the Ōruru Hall, aka the Swamp Palace, at a meeting at Taipa on Sunday.

The Ōruru and Inland Valleys Association's honorary 'bean counter', Peter Bevin, said a rate raising $1.1 million would cost each rating unit within a 10km radius of the hall, from Aurere Beach Rd to Oruaiti, around $32 a year, or 62 cents per week, over 20 years.

The proposal will now go to the council, mayor John Carter saying the process, which would include consultation with those who would pay the rate, would take about three months. He expected the council to support the proposal, if the required 75 per cent of affected ratepayers agreed, regardless of the outcome of next month's elections.

Two speakers on Sunday suggested demolishing the hall, originally part of the cable complex at Cable Bay, one suggesting that the "ugly" building be replaced with "new age mud brick" structure, but there was no support for that, Mr Bevin and others defending the hall on the basis of its history and its extraordinary acoustics.

However, the cost of reinstating it to a structurally sound state was rising exponentially, association deputy chairwoman Kath Adams saying that if something wasn't done "really soon" it would be lost.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Mr Bevin agreed that restoring the hall was achievable, but it would be a major exercise, and expensive. In 2014 (when a council engineer's report described the structure as being held together by the roof and "a lot of nails holding hands"), the Te Hiku Community Board had allocated $250,000, but "for whatever reason" nothing was done. Now, doing the job properly would cost $1 million, and that was money the council didn't have.

Striking a targeted rate was a "no brainer", Mr Bevin said.

"If we don't spend that sort of money we will lose the hall. It's as simple as that," he added, while, once it was structurally sound, and out of the council's hands, applications could be made for funding to extend and improve it.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"We can't apply for funding while it is owned by the council," he said, "and it would be irresponsible of the association to take it on as it is. If we can make it structurally sound the possibilities are endless."

Inti Jubermann (Inti Construction) said he believed reinstatement was "entirely achievable". He also agreed that $1 million, as a "ceiling price", would be a realistic budget, although Mr Carter believed that the final cost might be significantly less than that.

The council would now obtain definitive costs.

Discover more

Vintage rail attracts young volunteers

09 Sep 08:20 PM

Nature will decide when beach access is restored

09 Sep 08:30 PM

Editorial: Will threats persuade parents to vaccinate?

09 Sep 08:35 PM
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Northland Age

Northland Age

Kaitāia Airport's $5.4m upgrade progresses with regular iwi meetings

Northland Age

Kāinga Ora scraps 450 new Northland houses, deepening shortage

Northland Age

School lunch programme saves $130m, student satisfaction rises, Govt says


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Northland Age

Kaitāia Airport's $5.4m upgrade progresses with regular iwi meetings
Northland Age

Kaitāia Airport's $5.4m upgrade progresses with regular iwi meetings

Ngāi Takoto will purchase Kaitāia Airport in line with their Treaty settlement provisions.

14 Jul 12:00 AM
Kāinga Ora scraps 450 new Northland houses, deepening shortage
Northland Age

Kāinga Ora scraps 450 new Northland houses, deepening shortage

11 Jul 05:00 PM
School lunch programme saves $130m, student satisfaction rises, Govt says
Northland Age

School lunch programme saves $130m, student satisfaction rises, Govt says

10 Jul 02:00 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • The Northland Age e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to The Northland Age
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The Northland Age
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP