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From Heritage New Zealand, Summer 2007

The Serious Patron

by Ruth Nicol

The Governor-General - and New Zeland Historic Places Trust patron - Anand Satyanand lives in one of our finest historic properties

For the Governor General, Anand Satyanand, patronage is a
serious business. It would have been easy for him automatically to take on the 150 or so patronages held by his predecessor, Dame Silvia Cartwright, when he became Governor General in August 2006, but he chose not to. Instead, as you might expect from someone with a long and distinguished legal career, he gathered the evidence,
weighed it up, and then made his final decisions.

His Excellency, the Governor General, Anand Satyanand. Photo: Matt Grace

“I didn’t accept every invitation to become a patron,” he says. “At
the end of Dame Silvia’s time, every organisation of which she was
patron was written to, to say that the sun would soon be setting, and
they were asked to make a new submission. Every one of those plus-or-
minus 150 organisations were given due diligence.”
It was a slow process. “I took my time, and that was deliberate, because I wanted to review all of them in order to choose those patronages in which I felt my involvement would be of some use. In other words, I could see a number where patronage might simply be a name on a letterhead.

“If one is to be patron, it seems better to take it on the
understanding that one might attend events, write things. My total now is around 130. I’m happy about that because it’s come about through a proper process.”

Fortunately, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust is among the 130 that made it through the process. The Governor General says there were three main reasons why the NZHPT, which he describes as a leading heritage agency, got his seal of approval.

The first was its role in public education. “It helps history come alive, which was something I felt I could properly stand behind.”

The second was that so much of the NZHPT’s work is carried out by volunteers, “one of the outstanding aspects of New Zealand society that keeps us going forward in many areas”.

The third was that he was impressed by the NZHPT’s involvement in the democratic process. “I like the notion of participating in democracy, and the Historic Places Trust makes submissions on what should and should not be done, on all those things about making the Resource Management Act work.

“It was those three things that made me decide to become the
Trust’s patron – education, participation and a sense of history.”

So far, he has carried out only one official activity as patron,
opening “A Friend in Need”, an exhibition at Wellington’s Old St Paul’s, celebrating friendships that developed between American Marines and New Zealanders during World War II (see page 16). But he’s looking forward to doing more. “I think I have made it clear that I will happily do that.”

For the Governor General, there’s no getting away from the
importance of heritage buildings: he lives in one of the country’s largest Category I registered structures. As the thousands who visit Government House in Wellington
every year know, it’s grand, with a huge ballroom, featuring two large Czech chandeliers and portraits of both Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth II, a state dining room that can seat up to 26 guests, and a long main corridor lined with historic and contemporary New Zealand art. Add 27 bedrooms and 19 bathrooms – some of which have been used by several generations of visiting royals – plus 12
hectares of landscaped gardens, and you’re talking a lot of house. So much house, in fact, that even the Governor General and his wife, Susan, find it a little overwhelming.

“It’s unusual,” he admits. “It’s like living in a public space
with grand hallways and high studs and public rooms. It still feels unnatural when I’m in the bigger parts. I don’t relate to the building as our house; I don’t ever say to people that this is our home.”

In fact, the couple’s real home is a small private apartment on
the building’s upper floor, which they find thoroughly congenial. “It’s as if we’re in a well-accoutred apartment in Manhattan, overlooking Central Park, with the city lights behind. It just happens to also sit on top of a national treasure house.”

That treasure house, he says, “resonates with New Zealand’s
colonial past, and our linkages to the Crown”.

“Many of my predecessors have added lustre to the building.
Lord Willoughby Norrie donated a set of paintings, the Beatties left a wonderful carpet, Sir Michael Hardie Boys made a number of decisions that give the gardens their lovely look.”

However, Government House, which was built between 1908 and 1910, is starting to suffer from disrepair. Its plumbing and wiring nee upgrading, tiles are starting to fall off the roof and the building does not comply with earthquake resistance and fire safety standards.

The government is considering estimates to refurbish the house. “It’s lasted 100 years well, but houses don’t last forever,” points out the Governor General. “Cabinet is considering at the moment the question of how to deal with that.”

Whatever plans are drawn up, he’s confident they will be well
executed. “We have the techniques available to bring these buildingsback.” He points to restoration projects, such as the refurbishment of Parliament Buildings in the 1990s and the ongoing renovation of the Rotorua Museum of Art and History, built as a government-owned bath house in 1908, as examples of what can be done.

The Governor General laments the loss of buildings such as
Auckland’s City Club Hotel. “As an adult New Zealander, I realise that many choice buildings have gone before the public really realised it.”

However, he’s delighted that attitudes have changed. “I think
the turning point must have come in the ’60s and ’70s, when people suddenly said, ‘Goodness, we must do something about preserving some of these buildings.’ ”

Travelling the country has given him the opportunity to see the
results of that change in attitude, including projects such as the
restoration of Auckland’s St Patrick’s Cathedral, and Christchurch Cathedral as well as other premier heritage buildings.

“Other examples are Merchant House, opposite Auckland
University in Princes St, Caccia Birch and the surrounding buildings in Palmerston North, and the properties in Thorndon, Wellington.

Caccia Birch would have had special significance as it housed one of his predecessors, Lord Plunket, from 1908 to 1910.
“Dunedin is another place where the attitude towards heritage
buildings is to be very much admired. We are now in an era where people do value heritage buildings and their preservation much more.”