Whanganui Chronicle
  • Whanganui Chronicle home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Taranaki
  • National Park
  • Whakapapa
  • Ohakune
  • Raetihi
  • Taihape
  • Marton
  • Feilding
  • Palmerston North

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • New Plymouth
  • Whanganui
  • Palmertson North
  • Levin

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 / Whanganui Chronicle

Conservation comment: Whanganui has amazing heritage, let's preserve it

By David Scoullar
Whanganui Chronicle·
22 Mar, 2020 04:00 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

Where's the love? Historic wharves are fading away. Photos / Supplied

Where's the love? Historic wharves are fading away. Photos / Supplied

Comment

The Whanganui region's history deserves to be preserved and celebrated and that's the big job being tackled by the Whanganui Regional Heritage Trust and other more tightly focused groups.

Historical events have created their share of headlines lately. The inaugural Whanganui Heritage Month in 2019 was a great success.

This will be an annual event each August and a terrific way to showcase our history, heritage and architecture as well as focusing on important milestones.

In January we learned the fire watchtower in Cooks Gardens is to be listed as a Category 1 historic site.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The same month we became the first New Zealand town to join the League of Historical Cities.

The league recognises the value of historical urban areas to local and international communities.

Earlier this month it was revealed that a new group set up to buy and restore heritage buildings in the CBD has purchased the old Native Land Court building in Rutland St.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The Whanganui Regional Heritage Trust's brief is wide and it has to prioritise, but despite its efforts it is sad to see some of our historical features fading away.

For example, at the bottom of Georgetti Rd in Kowhai Park stands a post on which a plaque was once fixed, but is now missing, indicating the site of Hatrick's foundry workshops.

The remains of the foundry wharf nearby are slowly deteriorating. Further downstream the skeletons of other once-busy wharves are succumbing to the years and with no signage detailing their rich history.

During World War II many gun emplacements, better know as pillboxes, were built at Castlecliff and near the airport.

Discover more

Climate emergency: Scaremongering or a call to arms?

16 Feb 04:00 PM
Environment

Ditch the tech - send the children bush

23 Feb 04:00 PM
Environment

Solutions needed for Whanganui paper and cardboard crisis

08 Mar 04:00 PM

Coronavirus gets governments moving; not so much with climate change

15 Mar 04:00 PM
Pillboxes get more attention from graffiti artists than historians.
Pillboxes get more attention from graffiti artists than historians.

Sea, sand and weeds have swallowed some up but others are still visible.

Couldn't one be tidied up and marked as an example of our coastal defences? This has been done at Plimmerton, where a World War II gun emplacement is now a heritage site.

The location of the Rutland Stockade in Pukenamu Queen's Park is begging for better recognition than a small plaque on a rock.

There's clearly a need for single-focus groups to form, and take on such projects.

With much to do, appreciation of our history and heritage is growing.

A good example of people working to bring history alive is the Bulls Museum.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

With a large pool of volunteers, the museum is open daily and it was great to feel the buzz and hear of their plans to further showcase the district's history.

Another example of grassroots enthusiasm is the Patea Historical Society, which has for the last four years hosted a historic tour in South Taranaki as part of the Whanganui Summer Programme.

The Friends of the Whanganui River group is also doing a great job and through its annual publication is building a terrific archive of river history.

In Canada last year a friend told me of a project to place on a website the location plus a photo and text detailing every historical plaque in his community — a big job but a notable contribution that offers a glimpse into the narrative of his town. Something we could think about.

Apart from Heritage Month, we also look forward this year to the development of a Whanganui Heritage Strategy. Hopefully the public will contribute to this blueprint for the ongoing enhancement of our history and heritage.

As the trust says, it's all about conserving yesterday for tomorrow.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

To keep up with the trust's activities, go to its website www.whanganuiheritagetrust.org.nz

• Dave Scoullar is a history-loving tramper, conservationist and member of the Te Araroa Whanganui Trust.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui Chronicle

Ngāti Ruanui files urgent Waitangi Tribunal claim over mining project

02 Jul 10:42 PM
Whanganui Chronicle

Why Whanganui is in for a warmer than normal winter

02 Jul 09:14 PM
Whanganui Chronicle

How a white picket fence symbolises a significant Whanganui family

02 Jul 06:00 PM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Ngāti Ruanui files urgent Waitangi Tribunal claim over mining project

Ngāti Ruanui files urgent Waitangi Tribunal claim over mining project

02 Jul 10:42 PM

The claim alleges breaches of Treaty principles in fast-track approvals process.

Why Whanganui is in for a warmer than normal winter

Why Whanganui is in for a warmer than normal winter

02 Jul 09:14 PM
How a white picket fence symbolises a significant Whanganui family

How a white picket fence symbolises a significant Whanganui family

02 Jul 06:00 PM
Rangitīkei fencer regains Golden Pliers title

Rangitīkei fencer regains Golden Pliers title

02 Jul 06:00 PM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

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
  • Whanganui Chronicle e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Whanganui Chronicle
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP