Auckland Domain
The Auckland Domain is Auckland's oldest public park and, with an area of 75 hectares, one of the largest in the city. It's in the suburb of Grafton .
prehistory
The area includes the explosion crater and the tuff ring of the extinct volcano Domain (Pukekawa). The volcano is one of the oldest in the Auckland Volcanic Field and today consists of a large, buried explosion crater with a surrounding tuff ring, in the middle of which there is a small cinder cone, the pukekaroro .
history
Māori
The Māori recognized it as one of the best places to settle on the Auckland Isthmus at an early stage . The north side of the volcanic cone was well suited for growing kūmara ; the hill itself was used for storage purposes and for a fortified settlement ( Pā ). The swamp in the crater provided eels and water.
"Pukekawa" means "hill of bitter memories" in the Māori language and probably refers to several costly tribal wars between the Ngāpuhi and the Ngati Whatua . A totara tree, sacred to the Māori , commemorates the battles and the ultimate settlement of disputes. It is said to have been planted by Princess Te Puea Herangi and still stands today on the central volcanic cone.
Europeans
After the Europeans bought the land from the Ngati Whatua, it was reserved for public use in the 1840s. In the 1860s, the Domain's springs were a source of drinking water for the City of Auckland, the crater swamp was drained and converted into a cricket ground . The Auckland Acclimatisation Society laid gardens here, which later developed into the Auckland Botanical Gardens . Parts of the former facility including some greenhouses from the 1870s still exist north of the music pavilion.
In the 1850s, New Zealand's then Governor General Gore-Browne kept an eye on the site. He intended to build a new Government House , as he was not very pleased with the location of his residence in the Waterloo Quadrant as well as its style - and especially that it was only a wooden house. He envisioned building a castle-like masonry structure similar to the Government House in Sydney . The latter is also embedded in an extensive landscape park. Drafts were drawn, but then Prime Minister Frederick Weld refused to approve funds for construction. So the domain remained publicly accessible, as it was originally intended. A new residence for the governor general was not built on Mount Eden until the early 1960s .
During the Victorian period, numerous non-New Zealand plants were planted in the domain, which today form an impressive landscaped park. They are now supplemented by native plant species.
In 1898 Gorrie built a wooden cricket pavilion for a previous building on the cricket field that had burned down.
The domain was the site of the rugby league's first test match in New Zealand in 1910 , when the UK team defeated the New Zealand team.
In 1913, the Domain hosted the Auckland Exhibition . The profit from this event was invested in improving the domain, especially in the winter gardens next to the duck ponds. The tea house was built as a model house as an exhibit and remained after the exhibition. This example of an arts and crafts style country house stands between the winter gardens and duck ponds.
In the 1920s and 1930s, the Auckland businessman donated several of the marble statues on the grounds of the winter gardens and the Art Deco- style entrance gates of the domain on Park Road. The gates are dominated by a bronze statue of a naked male athlete by the New Zealand sculptor Richard Gross . Several other works of art such as Guy Nygan's "Millennium Tree" are also displayed in the Auckland Domain.
The dominant structure of the Auckland Domain is the Auckland War Memorial Museum and the Cenotaph in front of it . They stand on an elevated point on the tuff ring of the former volcano. The museum, designed in neo-Greek style, opened in 1929, the rear part was added in the 1960s. As part of a renovation and expansion in the mid-2000s, the inner courtyard was covered with a dome. To the south of the museum, an underground water reservoir was built in 1953 to supply the city center of Auckland with a capacity of 18,500 m³.
In 1940, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the founding of Auckland, a new main road was to be laid through the domain. The Centennial Drive was measured and planted trees along its planned path. However, the route was never used for a road and is now a footpath between the duck ponds and Stanley Street.
The former crater of the volcano is now used for playing fields. On the crater rim opposite the museum is the cricket pavilion and the Auckland City Hospital . The Auckland Domain Winter Gardens with two greenhouses and a fern garden are on the north side of the cinder cone. The fern garden was created in an old quarry in the cinder cone. The domain's duck ponds are located in the northern part of the explosion crater, the edge of which is broken here by a small stream.
Events
The domain has hosted many of New Zealand's largest outdoor events. During the Edwardian period balloon launches were undertaken from here, events on the occasion of the visits of the British Queen Elizabeth II and the Pope took place, as were many sporting events.
The largest regular events include the summer Christmas party “Christmas in the Park”, which has attracted more than 200,000 visitors in the past, the open-air concerts “Symphony under the Stars” and the “Teddybears Picnic”.
literature
- The Heart of Colonial Auckland, 1865-1910 . Terence Hodgson. Random Century NZ Ltd 1992.
- Auckland Through A Victorian Lens . William Main. Millwood Press 1977.
- The Lively Capital, Auckland 1840-1865 . Una Platts. Avon Fine Prints Limited New Zealand 1971.
Web links
- Auckland Domain . Auckland Council,accessed February 10, 2016.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Auckland Domain . Auckland Council , accessed February 10, 2016 .
- ↑ a b c d e Pukekawa - The Domain Volcano ( PDF ; 134 kB), website of the Auckland War Memorial Museum
- ↑ Domain ablaze with spirit of Christmas - The New Zealand Herald , December 12, 2005
Coordinates: 36 ° 51 ′ 33 ″ S , 174 ° 46 ′ 32.9 ″ E