Conservation Week 2003

4-10 August 2003

During Conservation Week this year the New Zealand Historic Places Trust (NZHPT), and the Department of Conservation (DoC) will focus on New Zealand's historic heritage. We'll be celebrating places that teach us about the culture and lifestyles of the people who came before us and have shaped the country we live in today.

The theme for Conservation Week 2003 is

Our Places - Our Stories
Nga whakanikoniko o te Ao Tawhito
The strands of our history are woven into the tapestry that is our heritage

Historic heritage places are special in every country and culture. A community's heritage is alive in the stories people tell about its places and people, in their art, literature and buildings. Communities have connections with places, and the enterprise and structures left behind by ancestors. Some of these connections are intangible but powerful nevertheless. Our historic heritage expresses the way our ancestors have shaped New Zealand's cultural and physical landscape and forms a fundamental part of our identity.

At risk

Development pressures and natural processes are destroying many of our historic places. Unlike the threats to our natural heritage, damage to historic places cannot be reversed - it can only be halted or slowed. Historic places cannot be renewed! We need to look after our special places and stories so our connections with the past are respected and maintained, and our identity and sense of place are strengthened.

The caretakers

• New Zealand Historic Places Trust Pouhere Taonga
  The NZHPT is the leading agency for the protection of sites and buildings in New Zealand that are of historic and cultural significance.
• Department of Conservation Te Papa Atawhai
  As well as conserving New Zealand's natural heritage, DoC also looks after sites of historic and cultural importance on conservation land.
• Many other dedicated individuals and groups look after historic sites including iwi, private landowners and local historic societies.

Historic places

The millennium prior to the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi created heritage of special significance to tangata whenua such as pa sites. For example, Station Bay pa on Motutapu Island, the extensive Otatara pa in Hawkes Bay, and 18 pa in Taranaki, including Te Koru and Pukerangiora. These last two pa were the sites of the opening scenes of the Taranaki war.

The heritage from this era encompasses a great diversity of tangible and intangible heritage sites including:

• habitation sites
• garden sites
• pa sites
• at-risk rock art
• tree carvings
• middens
• wahi tapu (sacred ground), including sacred urupa (burial grounds)
• maunga (mountains)
• awa ( rivers)

There are over 6000 recorded Maori archaeological sites on public conservation land.

Heritage sites from the post-Treaty of Waitangi era represent a range of activities, many with a distinctive colonial flavour, including:

• early missionary activity
• mining for gold and coal
• sawmilling
• bush clearance for farms
• high country farming
• sealing and whaling
• brick and ceramic making
• pa and horticultural sites
• kaianga (dwelling) sites
• colonial family life and early urban settlement
• coastal defences
• the New Zealand wars
• education
• railways, roads, shipping
• tourism
• conservation
• pest control

Join in on the celebrations!

New Zealand has many special heritage places which have local or national significance. If you are interested in discovering some in your region or taking part in Conservation Week activities, contact your local DoC or NZHPT office for information. You could also ask your local library, information centre, museum or historic society for information on places you can visit.

A list of Conservation Week activities organised by NZHPT will be posted on this website, and activities organised by the Department of Conservation posted on theirs in July 2003. Keep an eye on your local newspaper for Conservation Week activities you can take part in near you.