$15.2m grant puts new fire in old gun

By ANNE BESTON environment reporter

The old "disappearing" Armstrong gun at North Head is to fire once more but, unlike former times, is unlikely to shatter any windows in its ceremonial capacity.

The Government yesterday announced it was giving an extra $15.2 million to New Zealand's historic sites, including the old military fortifications and gun emplacements at North Head.

The Armstrong gun would be restored to "ceremonial firing condition", said Conservation Minister Chris Carter, meaning it would be loaded with a small charge that would give out a loud boom and a puff of smoke.

The gun's military career was shortlived - it was fired once but when nearby residents complained of broken windows was never fired again.

The gun, like the circular Fort Takapuna with its labyrinth of bunkers and tunnels, was built during the "Russian scare" of the 1880s and 1890s when it was widely rumoured the Russian Navy was about to invade.

The object of a "disappearing" gun was to protect equipment from hostile naval fire by arranging for the gun to recoil into an emplacement below ground level or behind a parapet.

Fort Takapuna and its surroundings are now a historic reserve administered by the Department of Conservation, which will spend $500,000 upgrading the site.

DoC gets $4 million in yesterday's package and the Historic Places Trust $8 million.

Other sites marked for protection or refurbishment are Antarctica's heritage sites ($400,000) and the Kerikeri historic basin ($544,000).

A development plan for the basin is aimed at protecting two of New Zealand's oldest buildings, the Old Mission House and the Stone Store.

Work on the Mission House began in 1822 and the Stone Store was built between 1832 and 1836.

Both have been damaged by flooding from the Kerikeri River.

DoC will spend another $200,000 of its new budget money on Northland's Ruapekapeka Pa, site of the final battle in the northern Land Wars of 1845.

The pa is an internationally renowned feat of early military engineering.

The trust's chief executive, Bill Tramposch, said New Zealand faced the challenge of preserving its heritage and as a result "the demand for our services has escalated to the point where extra funding is urgently needed to provide the level, range and quality of services our country's heritage places deserve".