NZ Strong lend a hand on the maunga

Last Saturday 6 July we were joined by nine professionals from NZ Strong, a major construction company headquartered in Mt Eden near the foot of the maunga. Assisted by seven FoM volunteers, the group planted 50 native seedlings on the steep southern slope uphill from Rautangi Rd, and another 10 shrubby plants (Coprosma rhamnoides and hangehange) alongside the lower track.

Gerard Drum

Team NZ Strong

The NZ Strong volunteers were keen, capable, smart people who came well equipped and ready for action. It was a great pleasure to work with them on a chilly morning. Two FoM volunteers had set out the plants and stakes the day before, and the planting was completed in an hour. We then made our way back towards Batger Rd and along the Batger track to Hall Park, where we enjoyed tea and home baking provided by FoM volunteers.

The planting day came about through NZ Strong's interest in our activities. Gerard, a services engineer at the company, initiated the contact and led the team. We had met Gerard twice beforehand to show him what we do and discuss how we might develop an ongoing association. Given their expertise as engineers, surveyors and site managers, we're hoping that NZ Strong can help with terracing and track edging – possibly making use of construction waste.

It's exciting to think that young people from a local company will have an ongoing role with FoM. Corporate groups in the past have helped FoM only occasionally and as a one-off. NZ Strong is making much more of a commitment, and that makes us feel invigorated and motivated.

The planting site

 

Gerard, Keith and Sel

"The History of Mount Eden" has launched

May Day, when Morris Dancers perform at dawn on the Maungawhau tihi, was a fitting date for the launch of The History of Mount Eden – the district and its people.

Published by the Epsom & Eden District Historical Society Inc. and edited by historian Dr Helen Laurenson, this remarkable book has been written by volunteer researchers and contributors over several years.

Dame Silvia Cartwright and Helen Laurenson
cutting the cake from the City Cake Company

Speaking at the launch at the Mt Eden Village Centre, Dame Silvia Cartwright remarked on paired photos of residents of Eventide Home (now Eden Village) in 1925 and 2015, illustrating changes in fashion and the longevity of many of Mt Eden's institutions.

But the book delves much farther back. The chapter by historian Graeme Murdoch on the Māori history of Maungawhau weaves knowledge and narratives into a fascinating story. Failure to reconcile the different iwi histories of Maungawhau was the main reason why the 2005 draft Conservation Plan for Maungawhau was never finalised. So this is a great achievement, blessed by the Tūpuna Maunga Authority and full of information and interest.

Several members of the Friends of Maungawhau contributed: Bernhard Spörli wrote the first chapter on Maungawhau's natural history, Sel Arbuckle contributed the section on birds and insects, and Keith Locke wrote the chapter on political institutions and organisations. FoM supplied a few photos and is profiled in the Community Services chapter.

A substantial book covering a lot of ground, the beautiful layout and detailed indexing makes it easy to dip into or read sequentially.

There are fascinating titbits – Tom the elephant* and the myth of John Batger's house, for example. And there are photographic gems, such as the one showing hundreds of Auckland Grammar School pupils sitting in the Maungawhau crater – in 1921!

The History of Mount Eden is available for $60 from Time Out Bookstore. Thank you so much, Helen, Eric and the EEDHS team for completing this splendid project.

Mary McIntyre, "Granny streaks on Maungawhau" (not in the book!)

* https://timespanner.blogspot.com/2009/07/princes-elephant.html

* https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/maungawhau-mount-eden

* https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11416890

Tribute to Judith Holtebrinck by Cnr. Christine Fletcher

Judith helping to set up the
Love Your Mountain Day display
at the Village Centre
6 Dec 2012

Judith Holtebrinck was a long-time supporter of FoM and a close personal friend of several of us. When the renovated Mt Eden Methodist Church and Village Centre opened in 2010, Judith was appointed the centre manager, a position she held until just a few months before her death on 6 August 2017 at the age of 48.

Councillor Christine Fletcher is a board member of the Mt Eden Methodist Church Charitable Trust. She posted the following tribute to Judith on Facebook on 11 August, the day of Judith's end-of-life celebration at the church.

Remembering Judith Holtebrinck
1968-2017
by Councillor Christine Fletcher

It was with great sadness the Mt Eden community came together today to farewell Judith Holtebrinck, a fearless and visionary campaigner whose contributions to improving the quality of life in our Mt Eden community, and in Auckland generally, are tremendous. While she never sought personal accolades for her considerable achievements promoting sustainability and inspiring urban development, all Aucklanders should know the champion who tirelessly, over many years, helped secure important policy changes that many take for granted today.

Judith and Rev. Saane Langi at the Little Day Out
4 March 2017

Judith and I first met when I was Mayor of Auckland City. Her passionate advocacy for waste minimization and planting fruit trees on public reserves and berms were infectious and resulted in a wonderful legacy of green across the city.

She was a part of the Transition Town movement in Kingsland and wanted to plant fruit trees that everyone could enjoy and also because of rising food prices. In her own words: "It's a nice thing to do for the community. The idea is that kids on the way to school can pick a piece of fruit or have trees near playgrounds."

As a founding member of The Mount Eden Village People, along with Michele Donovan, Sara Rishworth and Gail Batten, the group focused mainly on four projects – fruit tree planting, minimising waste, establishing a community garden and holding workshops on growing food. One of their first goals was to make Mt Eden the first plastic bag-free suburb in Auckland.

Judith and husband Dave at the Wish Tree
on Maungawhau, Love Your Mountain Day
7 Dec 2014

The landscape photographer had noticed bags turning up as rubbish in unexpected and really remote places like Rangitoto. She spoke to the local business association and put on a photography exhibition to help raise awareness.

The strategy for minimizing waste was another joint community effort. Judith persuaded the merchants in Mt. Eden Village to get involved with the campaign. Today, cafés in the village donate their coffee grounds which are used for gardening; a pig farmer collects leftover produce from a local fruit and vegetable shop; while a goat owner collects deli leftovers. The group also set up battery recycling stations at Civic Video and the MBE Copy Shop.

According to Judith, "By changing the environment people will realise there are opportunities to recycle and make the changes at home as well."

I regret that some of this progress has been lost with the amalgamation of the Auckland Council. But I also believe this will change over time because Judith’s work and examples of what can be achieved when people in communities work together, are a legacy to be drawn upon in the future.

Aucklanders should also know of her inspiring leadership in establishing Mt Eden Village Centre. This precious asset, so hard fought for by our Mt Eden community, is the result of a partnership between the community, Council and the Methodist Church. Such partnerships can make for challenging governance. It took an outstanding leader such as Judith, by gentle persuasion and regard for all parties, to make the Centre a reality.

Judith was both a leader and a teacher. What I loved about her particular style of leadership was her inclusiveness, kindness, generosity and thoughtful respect for everyone. These are so important in a city such as Auckland where diversity is a cornerstone of our growth and development.

I hold this marvellous woman in the highest professional and personal regard. We salute you, and thank you from the bottom of our hearts, Judith. We have lost a champion, but your legacy will long endure.

Auckland Heritage Festival guided walk

On Saturday 7 October, Friends of Maungawhau chairperson Kit Howden will lead a guided walk from Parnell's Holy Trinity Cathedral to the summit of Maungawhau and Mt Eden Village. 

Meet us at Terry Stringer's Mountain Fountain in the cathedral forecourt at 10:30 am.

Discover walks and waterways, reserves and rock gardens. Find out how the city has developed, and look at issues related to intensification and the protection of green space in Auckland.

You can choose the whole walk (about four hours) or join us partway. Bring water and lunch to eat in the grounds of Highwic House (optional entry inside the House costs $8). 

In the afternoon we'll visit Withiel Thomas Reserve and Government House grounds and garden. Our gardener guide will meet us at Savannah Place at 2:00 pm.

Reasonable fitness and sturdy footwear are recommended.
The Outer Link bus connects the start/end points and midway locations.

You can read about the Mt Eden rock forests in this interesting article in the New Zealand Geographic magazine.

For more information, please contact us. 

Alfred Sharpe, The environs of Auckland, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki,
watercolour, purchased 1935

The Mountain Fountain at Holy Trinity Cathedral

 

Newmarket Park

Newmarket Park

Newmarket Park

 

Highwic House

Withiel Thomas Reserve

Withiel Thomas Reserve

Government House grounds

Government House grounds

Thank you, Albert-Eden Local Board!

We acknowledge a "quick response" grant of $544 this year from the Albert-Eden Local Board for purchase of a saw, saw blades, and 50 pairs of gloves. Thank you for your support. We have already made good use of the saws and gloves.

Farewell Sue Bulmer

Dr Susan Bulmer

17.2.1933 – 6.10.2016

On Saturday 12 November 2016 several Friends of Maungawhau were among the large crowd gathered at the Blockhouse Bay Boat Club to celebrate the life of Dr Susan Bulmer, pioneering archaeologist in New Guinea and New Zealand, founder of the Friends of Maungawhau and namesake of the hefty New Guinea fruit bat, Aproteles bulmerae.

 

Sue on Maungawhau
September 2003

Sue Bulmer (née Hirsh) was born in Ithaca, New York and grew up in California. It wasn't until 1957, the year she arrived in New Zealand as a 24-year-old Fulbright scholar, that she got properly hooked on archaeology. Her earlier studies at Cornell University (BA) and the University of Hawaii (MA) were in anthropology. Sue had been introduced to field archaeology in Hawaii, and once in New Zealand she leapt into excavations in Auckland and field trips to the Coromandel. By all accounts, it was the music making and camaraderie as much as the excitement of digging that fuelled her enthusiasm. In 1958 she enrolled for MA studies in archaeology at Auckland University under Jack Golson, an early champion for Auckland's volcanic cones and the only archaeologist on the university staff at that time.

In 1959 Sue began her pioneering archaeological fieldwork in the New Guinea highlands, initially in the company of her newly-wed husband, anthropologist Ralph Bulmer. In the years following their return to New Zealand in 1960, Sue had three children (Alice, David and Kenneth) in quick succession, delaying completion of her MA until 1966. The family spent another five years in Papua New Guinea. Sue's research in Port Moresby became the basis of her PhD which she began in 1973 and completed in 1978, mainly to improve her chances of securing a position at a university or museum. Her marriage, however, was not a match made in heaven. She and Ralph divorced in 1980.

A collection of items relating to Sue's life and career.
She received a Living Legend award
from Auckland Mayor Dick Hubbard in 2005

Outspoken and far-sighted, Sue was an independent scientist for most of her career, apart from 15 years at the New Zealand Historic Places Trust (now Heritage New Zealand) and the Department of Conservation from 1979 until her retirement in 1994. As the HPT's first Northern Regional Archaeologist, Sue built up a team of more than 20 archaeologists and contract staff who carried out many site surveys in the Auckland region and brought a strong focus on archaeological research to the HPT's role.  

Sue indicating erosion on Maungawhau
November 2008

Sue first encountered Auckland's volcanic cones in 1957 on a bus tour for members of the newly-formed Auckland Archaeological Society. When Thor Heyerdahl visited the major Auckland maunga in 1965, he was surprised that none had ever been mapped. It was Sue who in 1978 produced the first archaeological map of Maungawhau, from survey work done by graduate students. Her map was published in the 1986 Management Plan for Maungawhau and is reproduced in our book, Maungawhau: a short history of volunteer action (2014). It is also available on our website, along with Sue's 2008 descriptions of the pā layout. Sue used to bring copies of her map to our meetings and urge us to mark anything of historical interest we might be lucky enough to discover.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Sue completed a great many archaeological studies and papers on the Māori settlement of Tāmaki Makaurau, including pā sites on the cones, gardens on the volcanic fields, and early historic sites in downtown Auckland. She campaigned for preservation of the Otuataua stonefields and for World Heritage status for the Auckland volcanic cones a decade before DOC took up the cause. In 1981, when the summit carpark on Maungawhau was repaved, Sue carried out the only archaeological excavations that have ever taken place on the mountain. Her passion for Māori history and her recognition of the immense value of the maunga as cultural landscapes was far in advance of the local authority management ethos through those frustrating decades. 
 

Sue talking to the developer in protest at the bulldozing
of an archaeological site. NZ Herald 15 March 1986

Sue and Ian Fish preparing for Love Your Mountain Day
29 November 2007

Love Your Mountain Day
2 December 2007

Sue's academic and advocacy work, and her connections with Māori historians, led naturally to her gathering together a group of conservationists, colleagues and local citizens to campaign for the maunga's preservation. The Friends of Maungawhau was incorporated in 2002 under a constitution written by Sue.  

Never one to shrink from robust debate or forthright action, Sue combatted the powers that be on every level. In 1986 when a developer was demolishing houses at the entrance to the domain, she stood in front of the bulldozer and brought the demolition work to a halt. Her petition for a land swap ultimately failed and Honeywell House now occupies the site. 

Sue regarded Maungawhau as a single historic heritage site and argued in her many submissions to Council and government that the volcanic cones should be administered as a special reserve category by a dedicated trust or board with its own trained staff. Her vision was to remove the cars and cattle and conserve the entire maunga. She supported our ecological conservation work and participated in Love Your Mountain Day every year it was held (2006-2014). 

In 2014, the year in which we published our book dedicated to Sue, much of what she had advocated since the 1980s came to pass. Following an historic 2012 Treaty settlement, the Tūpuna Maunga o Tāmaki Makaurau Authority was established as an independent statutory body and Maungawhau is now administered by a small, dedicated team in Auckland Council. 

Sadly, Sue's health deteriorated in her latter years after the death of her second husband,  psychiatrist Terry O'Meara, in 2010.

The celebration of her life was a lively and musical affair, including a spirited rendition of The Ballad of Bulmer’s Fruit Bat written by her son, David Bulmer. People commented on Sue's ready smile and her ability to inspire others.

Part of Sue's legacy for the Friends will be a willingness to actively lobby for the cones and to form relationships with all those who wish to preserve them. Sue's determination, feisty attitude and big-picture vision will continue to be an inspiration to us all.

References

Material was drawn from the following sources:

Bulmer, Alice. 2016. A matter of life and death (3): Farewell, Sue.
http://www.alicebulmer.com/farewell-sue/

Bulmer, Sue. 2004. A New York Yankee in Aotearoa. Archaeology in New Zealand 47(4): 58-61. http://nzarchaeology.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=114&Itemid=30&jsmallfib=1&dir=JSROOT/2000s/47+2004/47(4)+December+2004&download_file=JSROOT/2000s/47+2004/47(4)+December+2004/AINZ47.4.58-61Bulmer.pdf

Friends of Maungawhau. 2014. Maungawhau: a short history of volunteer action. Friends of Maungawhau, Auckland.

Golson, Jack. 2016. Susan Bulmer, an archaeological pioneer. Archaeology in Oceania 51 Supplement 1: 11–18.  http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/arco.5117/abstract

Future Parks and Community Action

Kit Howden presents a free talk and discussion on the future of parks and protected areas in an intensified city.

Time: 7:30pm on Tuesday 9 August
Venue: Mt Eden Village Centre (in the church opposite Circus Circus)

Kit has led the Friends of Maungawhau for many years and is well known as an advocate for urban green space, regional parks and biodiversity. He recently returned as a delegate to the 8th World Rangers Congress held in Colorado, and worked as a volunteer ranger in Yellowstone National Park.

Rangers from all over the world reported the same concerns: under-resourcing, pressures on green space and front-line staff, and lack of support and planning for the future.

Kit is concerned about the same pressures here: helicopter tourism in national parks, eroded tracks on Auckland's maunga, and threats to local and pocket parks that provide green space and walking access.

Following his talk there will be time for discussion and refreshments. The aim of the meeting is to get more people involved in volunteering and advocating for parks, and to discuss how we can take action together.

Sunday 31 July was World Ranger Day. In the past year 107 rangers (probably more) have died in the line of duty. Nearly half were killed by poachers. The Friends of Maungawahu will be collecting at this event for The Thin Green Line Foundation. Your donation would be very much appreciated.

For more information, please email Kit or call him on 6301490 or 0276671059.

Lowering the flag
after the Orlando massacre.