100 years of caged birds in the park

BARE: The old aviaries, seen from the cenotaph behind a rockery.

Planned redevelopment of the aviaries in Masterton’s Queen Elizabeth Park has Gareth Winter from the Wairarapa Archive giving a bird’s eye view of the history of caged birds in the park.

MASTERTON Borough Council first came under pressure to erect aviaries within Masterton Park almost exactly 100 years ago. The council had taken control of the park from the trust that had established it, and had already made a large number of improvements, including better planting and its first fountain.

The Wairarapa Age, one of the town's newspapers, started the ball rolling in 1914 by pointing out that a private aviary in Upper Plain, owned by the Australian-born Richard Graham, was a good model for the town to follow, and that such an aviary could be constructed in the park. They were sure it would attract the support of the public.

The following year, the paper printed a letter from a Wellington visitor, who was very impressed with the "magnificent and well-kept park", but thought an aviary and zoological garden could only add to its value. If the council were happy to start such a facility, he would be pleased to provide some birds.

The first aviary was finally established just inside the Park Ave gateway in early April 1920. It was described as being on a small scale but there was a vandalism problem almost straight way. Several the flowerbeds in the vicinity of the aviary were trashed, by a teenager with an attitude problem. Fortunately, the curator knew him well - he was a large cockatoo from the aviary, who was sent forthwith to the Wellington Zoo.

Many of the specimens in the small aviary were donated - parrots, doves, pheasants, even two possums, but a monkey, offered by Mr Willoughby was declined, as were several rabbits, the council declaring they had plenty enough of their own to contend with.

In late 1927, the council decided to establish larger aviaries, and set up a special committee to investigate and report back. In a wonderful case of nominative determinism, the chairmanship was awarded to Councillor Peacock.

The aviaries continued on their site at opposite the Cenotaph for many years, but the arrival of new superintendent Colin Pugh in late 1962 saw the start of many changes that ultimately changed the way caged birds were dealt with in the park.

He was not impressed with the existing cages, arguing they were not very attractive, they were poorly maintained and they did not show off the birds very well. He envisioned a new enclosure near the fernery, containing both large and small birds, as well as fallow deer and wallabies, presenting plans in May 1965. Councillor Bart Wevers, a Dutch-born architect of the Modernist school, prepared amended plans, the cages being hexagonal in shape. In the end, a more traditional style was chosen, and a set of new aviaries were built near the eastern edge of the park, near the site of a maze, planted by Pugh's predecessor Des Riach.

Pugh was no fan of the maze and persuaded the council to remove it. He replaced the interior hedges with perennial beds but, when these did not flourish, he suggested it would be a good site for a free-flight aviary to contain the park's doves and peacocks. The large aviary, whose floor plan reflected the shape of both the band rotunda and the fernery, was built with good financial support from the public.

The Masterton Rotary Club came to the council with a proposal for another aviary, this time to commemorate their founding president, Sir Herbert Hart. Hart was a Carterton-born military leader who was awarded a DSO at Gallipoli, and the Croix de Guerre in France during World War I. After the war, he was Governor of Samoa, and was later in charge of the war grave cemeteries in the Middle East. He died in 1968.

Rotarians helped with the construction of the new aviary and it was opened in March 1972, with two of Hart's children present.

When these aviaries were established in what is a quiet part of the park, some of the public expressed concern about the danger of vandalism. Although not a major problem at first, it did become a problem later. In August 1986, thieves stole a pair of breeding sulphur crested cockatoos.

But worse was to come.

The park's replacement cockatoo, Charlie, seemed to be very lonely. A companion was found - George, a mature bird from Feilding. Almost as soon as he was put into the park, vandals broke into his cage, releasing him and an assortment of other birds. George was eventually coaxed back into his cage but the other birds flew to freedom.

In 2004, thieves stole a large number of birds, and again the following year, but worse was to follow. In 2006, a teenaged boy cut his way into the aviary and killed George by beating him with a dog chain then stomping on him. At his trial, he explained he was annoyed because George had squawked as he walked past.

Public concern about the state of the aviaries led to some being removed in September 2010, and after SPCA comment about their drab state, all but the large peacock enclosure were removed in the following 18 months. All the birds were rehoused.

At one stage, a large free-flight aviary was proposed for Henley Lake but, although that never eventuated, a similar huge aviary is proposed for Pukaha Mount Bruce, with planning well under way. Smaller scale additions also appear likely in Queen Elizabeth Park, almost 100 years after the construction of its first aviaries.