Yesterday was just great

The diverse architectural styles at Parliament complement each other rather well. Picture / Mark Mitchell

Wellington is a place you should visit yesterday. I know this as a result of many trips over the years which have followed the same pattern: gut-wrenching landing, dash through rain and icy wind into a taxi and then, as we head off into the city, the inevitable comment from the driver, "She's a bit rough today ... but it was wonderful yesterday."

Maybe it's that attitude, or maybe it's the fact that Wellington is the capital. I'm not sure, but if you're interested in yesterday then the windy city is definitely the place to go.

As it happens I did that very thing almost yesterday and it was fascinating.

First stop was Archives New Zealand, repository of the nation's records, not far from Parliament in Mulgrave St.

Behind an unprepossessing facade is stored a treasure-trove of records dating from 1835: lists of passengers arriving on migrant ships, 750,000 photographic negatives, 1300 works of art recording New Zealanders at war, 20,000 reels of film, and a vast array of government files.

But the jewel in the crown is the collection of surviving documents from New Zealand's most important yesterday - various copies of the Treaty of Waitangi.

Tattered with age and past misuse, they are now preserved with appropriate respect inside in a huge, dimly lit strongroom which has the atmosphere of a shrine.

That effect was somewhat diluted the day I visited by the blaring pop music from the security guard's radio but it is nevertheless moving to see the actual pages signed by Governor William Hobson, Tamati Waka Nene and Hone Heke, which led to the creation of the country we call New Zealand.

Archives NZ has regular exhibitions based on the material in its archives.

At present it is showing Erebus Remembered, telling the tragic story of flight TE901, and A Labour of Love, which records the history of midwifery in New Zealand.

Not far away, in Molesworth St, is the National Library, including the Turnbull Library, with its priceless collection of historic books, manuscripts and pictures.

The library also has some wonderful exhibitions including, at the moment, a collection of propaganda posters collected by the late Dr W.B. Sutch and an exhibition on iconoclastic poet and printer Denis Glover.

I had started reading Glover's marvellous autobiographies, Hot Water Sailor and Landlubber Ho in anticipation of seeing his life and work on display but unfortunately on the day we turned up there was nothing open. "We are," the attendant explained, "still between exhibitions."

Hmmm. Come back tomorrow. Very yesterday.

But not to worry, when you can get into their exhibitions they are very good. And the Glover display will be on until March 20, so there's still time.

Instead, we crossed the road and had a wander round Wellington's Anglican Cathedral of St Paul, finally completed seven years ago in a self-consciously modern style which seems somehow out of keeping with its setting.

The most attractive feature is the beautiful 100-year-old Lady Chapel, formerly the parish church of St Paul at Paraparaumu, built of glowingly aged rimu and matai.

But it does have some fascinating artefacts on display, including a cross made from nails salvaged from the remains of Coventry Cathedral in England after it was bombed, a stained-glass window commemorating an engineer in which the main feature is a dodo - what are they saying? - and a plaque acknowledging the original fundraising committee, which included a timber merchant, a lawyer, a banker and "John Plimmer, gentleman." Marvellous. And so yesterday.

The cathedral's predecessor, now called Old St Paul's, is only a stroll away in Mulgrave St and provides powerful evidence that yesterday does indeed have much to offer.

Completed in 1866 it is arguably the most beautiful church in the country, built in classic English Gothic style, its perfect proportions highlighted by the glow of aged native timbers, shining bronze plaques and rich stained-glass windows, and it has that tranquil atmosphere which seems to grow in places which have been venerated for generations.

After that why not meander along to the grounds of Parliament, a very pleasant place to sit if you've come yesterday and it's sunny, and see where all your tax money gets spent.

Presiding over the grounds are the statues of two of our most interesting prime ministers, John Ballance and King Dick Seddon. While others may disagree, I find the combination of the sharply contrasting architectural styles of the wonderfully ornate General Assembly Library, the pillared neo-classical design of Parliament Building itself, and the impractical hump of the Beehive, bizarrely attractive.

You can take a free tour of Parliament most days, and if you hang around there's even the chance of seeing a real live MP - although if they're walking they're probably yesterday's politicians - but having been there many times over the years I decided to forgo the experience in favour of a stroll through the city.

Wellington's great advantage over Auckland - apart from the billions of tax dollars which prop the place up - is that a combination of geography and properly co-ordinated planning has given it a real city centre where everything happens.

Among the highlights for visitors looking for signs of yesterday are the Old Government Buildings, a marvel when built in 1876 and still the second largest wooden building in the world, the marvellously overblown Wellington Railway Station, a reminder of the age when rail was king, and Plimmer's Ark, the 150-year-old remains of the sailing ship Inconstant, which turned up when the foundations were being dug for an office block.

It's also always worth checking out the latest exhibition at Te Papa, which right now means Toi Te Papa: Art of the Nation, which traces the development of New Zealand art in modern times. Even if you've no great interest in arty things it's still well worth seeing for the fascination of individual works by the likes of Rita Angus, Toss Wollaston, Colin McCahon and Ralph Hotere and what they say collectively about the development of a distinctive New Zealand culture.

Although the exhibition focuses on art from the 1940s on, it does include some ancient Maori taonga, including several of the works used in the exhibition Te Maori, which lead naturally into modern works by Len Lye, Gordon Walters and Para Matchitt.

A second stage, scheduled to be in place early next year, will have an even greater focus on traditional Maori exhibits, plus early European paintings and New Zealand art from before World War II.

After that, why not take a wander down memory lane back back to where the museum used to be, and the new Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, in front of the National War Memorial, with its 65-bell carillon and the Hall of Memories.

For a place of such deep national significance it's actually disappointing. It's not a patch on the magnificent Auckland War Memorial and is rather small and lacking in information on our warriors and the conflicts in which they died, and with much of the sense of awe rather washed away by the roar of passing traffic.

But I did like the juxtaposition of the grave of the young New Zealander who went overseas to die for his country. It is out on the forecourt, with the statue of a mother comforting two young children inside in the Hall of Memories.

I can't help wondering what the dead warrior might make of how the country he fought has turned out? To see, it, of course, he'd have to visit Auckland. Wellington is for yesterday.

* Jim Eagles' visit was assisted by Positively Wellington Tourism.

Places to visit

Archives New Zealand, ph (04) 499 5595.
The National Library, ph (04) 474 3000
Wellington Cathedral of St Paul, ph (04) 472 0286
Old St Paul's (see Historic of Faith Central websites below)
Parliament, ph (04) 471 9999
Te Papa, ph (04) 381 7000
The National War Memorial,  ph (04) 385 2496

Further information

Positively Wellington Tourism, ph (04) 916 1205