Interactive Children’s Books Website

Long-time Oriental Bay resident Victoria Stace recently launched a website which gives world wide access to free children’s interactive picture books. The website, bayreaders.co.nz, features a panoramic illustration of Oriental Parade. The first book loaded onto the site, Something Special for Millie, follows a mother and daughter as they walk from Hay Street to Roseneath School on a very windy day.

The hand drawn illustrations, by artist Shar Young, portray many familiar Oriental Bay scenes complete with dogs, seagulls, ferries and the dairy. Victoria intends to load more books onto the site as the illustration and animation process is complete. Each of the books is likely to have some connection to the Bay.

 Bay View newsletter 66, November 2015

Local Anzac Service at Pt Jerningham

When you buy next year's diary, don't forget to mark an important date - the Anzac service on April 25. It will be held as usual at the street memorial that stands in Carlton Gore Road between St Barnabas Church and Roseneath School. The memorial was unveiled on 10 November, 1917 and is the first permanent memorial in Wellington to those who died in World War I. It is inscribed with the names of Roseneath School old boys who died during WWI.

The service is becoming more popular every year — about 170 people attended the last service. Because of its growing popularity, plans are afoot to improve the area around the memorial.

Bay View newsletter 66, November 2015

Telling Wellington’s Stories

Wellington Museum

Reception area, Wellington Museum

Museums Wellington Nairn Street Cottage 

In July, Museums Wellington rebranded its four museums: Museum of Wellington City & Sea, Colonial Cottage Museum,Carter Observatory and the Cable Car Museum. All Museums but the Cable Car Museum have new names, being Wellington Museum, Nairn Street Cottage and Space Place at Carter Observatory respectively.

Museums Wellington’s aim is to tell Wellington’s stories. Each of our institutions express a different facet of the region’s story, with new branding that speaks of their individuality while unifying them.

Wellington Museum logo mirrors the Tukutuku panel illustrating Wellington’s harbour on display in level two. Meanwhile, the Cable Car Museum’s logo traces the cable car route from Lambton Quay to Kelburn. Nairn Street Cottage’s logo is a cross-stitched house, referencing young Clara Wallis’ sampler on display in the Cottage. And finally, Space Place’s logo is the Southern Cross, one of the most defining constellations in our southern sky.

Wellington Museum has been renamed to reflect that we have become the Museum of and for Wellington. Since its foundation in 1972 as a single-room Maritime Museum in the Wellington Harbour Board’s Bond Store the Museum has grown and evolved – now telling all of our tales; from the depths of our harbour, of the hubbub of the streets, to the top of the hills that crown our beautiful region.

The wrapper that has been on the building for the better part of the year is now off, and installation of the exhibition in its brand new space The Attic is now well underway. Adding nearly a third of floor space to Wellington Museum, The Attic is open.

Nestled at the top of the Botanic Gardens is Space Place at Carter Observatory. In 2005 a government report recommended that Carter Observatory be transformed into a world-class visitor attraction, paving the way for Space Place. Space Place’s mission is to bring the wonder of our southern skies to earth, with planetarium shows, our informative and interactive galleries, telescope viewing (weather dependent) and friendly, knowledgeable staff to help you discover the wonder of space.

General admission to Space Placeis now cheaper at $12.50 foradults (previously $18). And be-cause there’s only one visible starduring the day, its hours havechanged too. During school termSpace Place is open from 4 to11pm on Tuesday and Thursday, 10am to 11pm on Saturday, and 10am to 5:30pm on Sunday. Space Place is open daily from 10am during the school holidays.

Nairn Street Cottage is one of Wellington’s secrets, telling the story of the Wallace Family’s in their original family home. Wellington’s oldest original cottage, it harkens back to a Wellington when immigrants needed to bring everything with them – from wallpaper to nails and sewing machines, where you needed to be self-sufficient and were far from home. Quaint and charming, Nairn Street Cottage houses Wallis Family heirlooms, and tells the story of one of our oldest settler families alongside significant historical moments in the world.

To find out more about each of our Museums, including the significant redevelopment occurring at Wellington Museum, please see the website at museumswellington.org.nz.

Bay View newsletter 66, November 2015

Bernie, an Oriental Bay Favourite

Nick Ryan and Bernie outside Bernie’s namesake café

We don't often feature any of our 4-legged friends in Bay View, but Bernie the Bernese mountain dog is an exception. Sitting or lying outside the Freyberg Pool, he's become a regular feature of Oriental Bay and a good mate of its residents, young and old. Nick Ryan of Roseneath (who owns the café at the pool) owned him jointly with his sister since Bernie was a puppy. Nick took over when his sister moved to Australia.

Bernie is now nine years old and he likes to take life easy. In preference to a vast meal each day, he likes to graze. A few snacks during the day is what he really enjoys, says Nick. When he puts his paws up on the counter for a snack, you could be forgiven for thinking that a black bear has wandered into the Bay.

Taking a break - life is exhausting

Exercise, too, Bernie takes quietly. After all, it's a lot of weight (65 kilos) to carry around. "He's more sprint, than marathon," Nick told me, "though he did run for quite a while this morning in Oriental Bay." He's very well behaved as he sits patiently outside the pool, never wandering off. Nick has been taken to task occasionally for not having him on a lead which hardly seems necessary for this gentle giant.

The breed originated in Berne, Switzerland, where they were working farm dogs. Before this they were said to accompany Roman soldiers on their journeys through the mountains. These dogs were agile and strong which enabled them to navigate treacherous mountain passes. (Bernie has no ambitions in this direction. Mt Victoria does nicely for him). The ancestors of the present Bernese mountain dogs were most likely large mastiff-types, but dogs left as guardians at Roman outposts were crossed with local herding dogs, resulting in the dog that's known today.

Bernese mountain dogs are natural watchdogs but they also like to be with people. This is just as well, as people come and go continually to Freyberg Pool and/or the café which is called Bernie's on the Bay.

"Bernie is the managing-director and he runs a hard ship," Nick jokes. Bernie is surely the only dog in Wellington (New Zealand?) with a café named after him. When you stop to chat and pat him, as many people do, he tends to give you a patient, almost long-suffering look, as though you're going to tell him a shaggy dog story which he's heard before.

Bernese mountain dogs first arrived in New Zealand in 1973 with an English immigrant who established the founding kennels for the breed. Some were exported to Australia and became the first Bernese mountain dogs to be bred there. In the late 1980s, enthusiasts in New Zealand formed a club which is still flourishing today. It holds annual garden parties and publishes a quarterly newsletter for enthusiasts. The 1990s proved to be a boom time for imports of the dogs with more than 20 arriving in the country. Show entries increased as the breed became more popular and recognised.

Bernie, to the locals' delight, is on show frequently outside the pool. Winning hearts, rather than prizes.

Saving Iconic Heritage Buildings

Matt Philp's interview of Maurice Clark, who is on the committee of the Oriental Bay Residents' Association, appeared in Heritage New Zealand in the Autumn issue 2015. We have abbreviated it for Bay View.

The cupola of the Old Public Trust Building, Wellington.
Photo by Judith Doyle
 

He's been tagged a hero developer, but you can be sure that Maurice Clark doesn't approve. The man behind the renovation and repurposing of some of downtown Wellington's finest heritage would much prefer his buildings to take the limelight. But when you devote yourself to rescuing such icons as the art moderne Departmental Building at 15 Stout Street or the Category 1 Old Public Trust Building, you have to brace yourself for a few bouquets.

Usually it's brickbats for developers. But Maurice is one of a small group in Wellington who have discovered the formula for making a commercial return from heritage; Ian Cassels is another. Previous heritage developments by Maurice include the $40 million refurbishment and fit-out of the 1920s Tower Building (which went by its previous name of Government Life Building) on Customhouse Quay, which was tackled by his construction company McKee Fehl.

There's a romantic streak to Maurice; he owns a 1923 Studebaker. But it's leavened by a developer's canniness and an engineer's pragmatism. Why does he buy these old buildings? "Because no one else will do it and they're cheap," he answers. "but also I can see what they could look like. If you can get rid of all the stuff that's been built on to them over the years, they transform."

He grew up with heritage at Oxford UK, where his father was a professor, then later studied engineering in London. "It became second nature to be interested in the old buildings." Wellington, where he landed after a decade working in Canada and Australia, must have been a shock. He then had to watch as much of the capital's limited heritage resource was levelled during the 1980s, replaced by the bland.

Maurice's first heritage project was to strengthen and refurbish Victoria University's Hunter Building, followed by the old wooden Government Buildings, both of which he undertook as a contractor rather than developer. They were followed by a project he still considers the most technically challenging of his career. The Museum of Wellington City & Sea, housed in the Wellington Harbour Board Head Office and Bond Store, was sitting on rotten wooden piles. The entire building needed to be jacked up sufficiently to insert sliding bearings. (See story on Page 28 of this issue on the Wellington Museum as it's now called).

By contrast, the Departmental Building, which Maurice bought for $14 million following a successful first foray into property development with the Tower Building, seemed easy once it had been deemed quake-proof."We didn't have to do much other than recreate the spaces. Badly designed internally, we had to build a linking space between the two wings. That and adding the atrium meant the whole thing just clicked together."

Buying the building, however, was a gamble. As is the entire exercise of developing heritage properties. "It's nothing like starting a new building with a blank piece of paper. You are locked in with all sorts of engineering and heritage constraints. Hugely satisfying though.

"These buildings are worthy of it and to reconstruct them in modern-day materials would cost a fortune. For the Departmental Building, the bronze windows all came from England. The stairs, the lobby, the marble: these are all unique features that are pleasing to retain and to bring back to life." Stout Street is now the headquarters of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. "Everyone in that building — that's 1600 people — loves it. Everyone entering that building loves it. They say it's like nothing else in Wellington, with that combination of a modern atrium and a humming café with all the Coromandel marble. It has been the biggest buzz for me." It's been a successful financial exercise too.

That ability to turn a dollar from the commercial development of heritage buildings is a relatively new phenomenon. "It used to be that the government was the only one that could afford to do it, but the balance has changed," says Maurice, citing earthquake risk as a catalyst. "Heritage buildings of low earthquake strength tend to be sold very cheaply, so you have more money to fix them up. Also, there's a lot of tenant demand for character buildings. My Tower Building, for example is pretty well full all the time."

All of which said, it takes a certain talentand personality to pull it off. Just don't go calling Maurice a hero. "I'm an engineer, abush architect, a frustrated heritage personand a commercial developer who knows what will rent and what won't."

Bay View newsletter 66, November 2015

Colin Blair, Our New Life Member

Colin Blair has been announced as a Life Member of the Oriental Bay Residents' Association. He is OBRA's sixth Life Member after Jack Ilott, Charles Heyward, David Rendel, Roger Newport and Jane Aim. Like Roger he has spent a considerable time as president and like all of the above he has a great sense of community.

Colin and his wife Judy have lived in Oriental Bay since 1994. Colin joined the committee as vice-president in 1993 and has been president since 2006. From 1995 to 2001, he was the first Commissioner heading the Financial Literacy and Retirement Income Commission and for several years in this period was on the Boards of the National Provident Fund and the Government Superannuation Scheme. Prior to this he had both a distinguished business and sporting career. Colin was a partner at Clarke Menzies, which later became Deloitte's, from 1962 until 1994 and was awarded an OBE for services to the Accounting Profession. In the 1990's he was on the Council of Victoria University and also served as a member of the Victoria University Foundation. In the sporting field, he played senior rugby for 10 years for the Onslow Club and was in the Jubilee Cup winning teams in 1955 and 1962. — he played with real flair on the wing. He is a keen golfer and a member of Royal Wellington where he plays regularly.

Jackie Pope

The Sculpture Walk, Part 2

We took a quick look, last issue, at the sculpture walk from the Railway Station to Oriental Bay. Given the gorgeous summer we enjoyed this year, it wasn't difficult to find a fine day to walk another section — the Meridian Energy Wind Sculpture Walk, near the airport.

If you're energetic and/or a fitness freak, go the whole hog and walk the long trek beside Evans Bay waterfront towards the airport. (The more leisurely could catch the Nos 14 or 24 buses). No sculptures along this Evans Bay section, but the vivid mural on the right-hand wall near Balaena Bay jumps out at you. This bright'n'bubbly bit of street art is by the students and staff from Wellington Polytechnic.

Further round, also on the right-hand side, pause at the row of wooden poles, once part of the Evans Bay Patent Slip. Here ships of all shapes and sizes were pulled up on a cradle from the water for repair or maintenance. The slip gave almost a century's service (1873-1972). On the six old pillars are historical and pictorial accounts of the history of the Patent Slip; whom it operated by and for; and how it actually worked. Intriguing.

The corner of Evans Bay Parade and Cobham Drive is where Meridian's spectacular row of wind sculptures start. Or should start. But where is the kinetic sculpture — the 'Zephyrometer'? Only a sad and shortened trunk remains. It was damaged by a sudden bolt of lightning. At time of writing it is being fixed by artist Phil Price in Christchurch and should be installed sometime in May.

'Urban Forest' by Leon van den Eijkel in collaboration with Allan Brown, is the next wind sculpture along Cobham Drive. Consisting of five spinning cubes, its maker calls it an 'urban tree'. Engineer Brown overcame the challenge of enabling cubes on a pole to spin in response to the wind. The artist-sculptor, van den Eijkel, came to New Zealand from war torn Holland when all the trees in his city were cut down for heating.

Next along is 'Tower of Light' by Andrew Drummond. It uses the wind speed and converts that into light by very simple technology. The stronger the wind speed the more neon rings are lit. Says the artist, "I have used colour as a measuring element and so the sequence goes from green through the spectrum to red. As a result the viewer is able to read wind speed through colour."

My favourite are the glorious windsocks which pay homage to our wind. Their maker, Phil Dadson, a sound artist, calls them 'Akau Tangi' which translates as the sighing sound of the wind. There are eight poles with highly-engineered cones surmounting them. As well as the visual impact, they create a soft keening or flute-like sound on a windy day — a good reason to walk this section rather than always whipping past it in a car.

The final wind sculpture is situated on the roundabout where you turn right for the airport —'Pacific Grass' by Konstantin Dimopoulos. His works focus on relationships between natural forces and their impact on the landscape and 'Pacific Grass' does this to perfection. Given a certain amount of breeze, it's a dance tribute to the wind and, like all these spectacular wind sculptures, it is especially beautiful when lit up by colour at night.

JCD, Bay View newsletter 65, May 2015

Jane Aim: OBRA Life Member

Pictured here (from right) are Mayor Celia Wade-Brown, life member Jane Aim and President Colin Blair, at the launch of the swimming rafts earlier this year. Photo by Renée Sara

Jane Aim, current life member of Oriental Bay Residents' Association, was born and brought up in Thorndon. As a child she remembers her mother closing her bedroom curtains each night and saying "those lucky people in Oriental Bay still have the sun." So in a way she thinks she was programmed to live here.

She and Greg started married life in Wadestown. Then lived overseas in Zambia and in UK for a few years. But one school holidays, Jane and her daughter started looking at various properties in the Bay. They moved first of all to a family house in Oriental Terrace. "It was perfect...lots of space...a great place for getting together...there was a courtyard at the back and we could have a dog."

After five years, as the family started leaving home, they moved to an apartment in the Bay. There were not so many apartments on the market in 1995 but finally they found what they wanted. "We had bought through Janice Crowe who was on the committee of the Oriental Bay Residents' Association. She encouraged me to join as a good way to meet people — which it was."

After about a year she went on the committee. "I was always projectorientated." The first project was the wishing well which, at that time, was full of rubbish and had damaged asbestos walls. Jane explored solutions, got quotes and presented options to the committee. "Finally we commissioned Neville Porteous, brilliant Khandallah potter, who designed the tiles with a marine theme." As many grandparents will testify, the wishing well is a perennial success with small children.

Another project, and an ambitious one, was the children's playground at Freyberg Beach. A local had pointed out to the committee that there was not much for the children to do in the Bay during the non-swimming season. Could a spot for a children's playground near the beach be found?

Jane remembered that ever since Colonial days when sand was first deposited on the edge of Oriental Bay, the currents have carried the sand from the main beach towards the city. This had, in effect, made what has now been developed into Freyberg Beach. So after many consultations with the Council a children's playground was initiated — the first in Oriental Bay.

It is suitable for all age groups now; but not at first. "It wasn't until my first grandchild was a toddler that I realised that the steps up to the big slide are actually deep and quite dangerous." So the need for some additional equipment for under-fives was identified. Using the empty space by the wall, a single whirly chair and a toddler-sized slide with a 'shop' and tunnel were installed.

Establishing the Freyberg Beach playground, in those two stages, required serious fund-raising by the Oriental Bay Residents' Association. Donations came from OBRA itself, from family and other trusts and from locals (Jack Ilott gave generously as he had to so many other projects around the city). Peter Hemsley, project manager, WCC, was very helpful. The Council saw to the basic groundwork, safety mats and so on.

She is delighted to see the playground continuously used by children from all over Wellington; of all age groups; in summer and, even more importantly, in the winter.

One OBRA memory she recalls was the Saturday large-rubbish collection at the end of the year.* "It was such fun, especially with Janice Crowe and Jo Morgan. Afterwards we would go to Roger and Judith Newport's home and enjoy Judith's delicious home baking." The association no longer runs a rubbish collection.

Jane Aim feels honoured to have been made a life member of the association several years ago.

Since she is descended from Henry Blundell, who founded the Evening Post in 1865, the 150th year celebration has been exciting. On Sunday 8 February this year — the exact anniversary of the first issue of the Evening Post — the whole clan gathered for lunch, about 80 of them!

Henry Blundell came out to New Zealand with three sons and three daughters. Jane is descended from the eldest of the three sons: John. Her own father and her grandfather both worked at the Post and loved it. "I have quite a collection of old bound copies of the paper."

* The rubbish collection was stopped because people were putting out stuff that was too heavy to lift.

JCD, Bay View newsletter 65, May 2015

BATS Theatre back in business

BATS Theatre, situated near the city end of Oriental Parade, is beautifully back in business. It now has three performance spaces and shiny new backstage, dressing room, kitchen, Green Room and office facilities. The aptly named Pit Bar is now a spacious bar on the ground floor.

BATS is in the former Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes building at 1 Kent Terrace. The venue started in the 1930s as The Savage Club, a dance hall and venue for amateur theatre. From the 1940s—1975, Unity Theatre staged productions there.

It was administered by the BATS Incorporated Society from 1979—88. BATS is an acronym for the Bane and Austin Touring Society (named after Rodney Bane and David Austin, founding members). It produced school tours and shows but later administered the building as a venue for hire.

Over the years it gradually declined. But along came Simon Bennett and Simon Elson who negotiated a lease. They organised finance and materials, rebuilt the foyer and the auditorium and re-opened it as a professional venue in 1989.

Only a year later, fire broke out, damaging backstage, dressing rooms and the auditorium plus costumes and props for the current show. An electrical fault was thought to be the cause. A fund-raising concert was held in the St James Theatre, with celebrities like the Topp Twins, Paul Holmes, Lynn of Tawa, Gary McCormick, Kate Harcourt......Other theatre companies held benefit shows too. $22,000 was raised and BATS was reborn.

In 1999 BATS took over the lease of two small spaces either side of the foyer: an old fish'n'chippy became the office and what was Don's Car Insurance Office became the Pit Bar. BATS flourished until their landlords for 22 years — the Buffaloes — put the building on the market.

BATS staff and board were determined to have a long-term future by buying the building. But there was a limited timeframe and it didn't look as though they could secure the finance. At the eleventh hour, film makers Sir Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh purchased the building with a long-term lease for BATS.

Earthquake strengthening and renovations were undertaken. On 22 November 2014, BATS reopened with, wonderfully rejuvenated acting, backstage, kitchen, Green Room and office areas; but also, thanks to the community, trusts and other donors, with updated technical equipment and furnishings.

JCD, Bay View newsletter 65, May 2015

Swim Rafts Prove a Summer Hit

Oriental Bay's two new swimming rafts have had an incredible baptism in one of our best summers ever. They were launched last November by Mayor Celia Wade-Brown in the best way possible when she actually braved chilly Spring waters and swam out to one.

But the waters in the harbour thissummer have often been calm andinviting and swimmers have madethe best use of the rafts. They are moored some 50 metres from shore, between the fountain and Freyberg Beach. They replace the original ones donated by the Ilott family in 1985 — a connection recounted at the launch by Jane Aim, Oriental Bay Residents Association's life member.

Colin Blair, president of Oriental Bay Residents' Association, which initiated the rafts, paid tribute at the launch to Noel and Joanna Todd for their generous donation and also acknowledged the donation of Pub Charity, represented by Marcina Malcolm. He noted that members of the Oriental Bay Residents Association were all donors, as the association had contributed financially as well.

The Wellington City Council owns and maintains the rafts while the Wellington Regional Council (represented at the launch by John Tattersell) are responsible for mooring the rafts over summer and storage in winter. Colin Blair gave a special welcome at the launch to Mark Pulepule and the members of the Maranui Surf Lifesaving Club who provided a patrol on the beach for the event and during summer weekends.

Given the enthusiastic use of the rafts (especially when ten or so youngsters stand on one edge to see if it capsizes! It doesn't!) OBRA committee members are pleased they chose the expensive raft option rather than the cheaper aluminium raft.

Altogether a highly successful initiative that will give lots of pleasure for many years to come!

JCD, Bay View newsletter 65, May 2015