New Zealand Historic Places Trust
Media Release 19 March 2002
New Zealanders' understanding and appreciation
of their heritage places took a huge step today when the on-line version of the
statutory Register of Historic Places, the only official record of New Zealand's
heritage, was launched by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust.
The launch
was celebrated throughout the country, from Kerikeri to Invercargill, in a striking
juxtaposition of history with technology as some of the country's most iconic
heritage sites, including the Stone Store, Old Saint Paul's and Totara Estate,
played host to an audiovisual presentation of the Register website.
For
the Trust, the event is a milestone in its own history as New Zealand's leading
heritage agency, and its implications are of direct interest to all New Zealanders.
"The Register is far more than just a list of places" said the Trust's
Chief Executive, Dr Bill Tramposch. "It's our national record of the places
that are so important to us, that their continued existence must be assured. As
such, it holds vital information about who we are as a people and as a nation.
It connects us to the places that have helped shape us, and that stand today as
icons of our story."
The New Zealand Historic Places Trust has been
compiling the Register for over 30 years and today it lists more than 6,000 places
- archaeological sites, hospitals and observatories, department stores and police
stations, bridges and rabbit fences, cinemas and club rooms, and many others.
While full reports on each place could always be consulted at Trust offices, the
Register was not readily accessible to the general public. With help from the
Government's Cultural Recovery Package, the Trust has spent the last year upgrading
the quality of information on the Register, and creating the on-line version.
The website launched today, which has as its address www.historic.org.nz/register,
contains almost 1,000 of the Register's most significant sites, with full reports
on around 300 of them.
"The on-line Register will be a fabulous resource
for all New Zealanders" said Dr Tramposch. "We have designed the site
to cater for a broad public with differing levels of interest in heritage. It
will provide information to planners, lawyers, architects, historians, teachers,
schoolchildren, community groups, in fact to anyone wanting to gain an understanding
of the places that are important to us."
Over the coming months, and
in the years ahead, many more Register entries, reports and photographs will be
added to the site. "It's very much a work in progress" explained Dr
Tramposch. "The Trust will expand the content of the website, and at the
same time, the Register itself will grow as we continue our statutory role of
recording the nation's heritage. As we mature as a nation, and our awareness of
the richness, diversity and importance of our heritage grows, the Register too
will develop to reflect that. I think we'll be coming back to this website time
and time again. It will be a window for us on how we see ourselves, and how we
recognise the heritage that helps us define that."
For more details
please contact: Peter Richardson Senior Policy Analyst Tel : (04)
472-4341 prichardson@historic.org.nz
