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Victoria Park, Auckland
Victoria Park is a park and sports ground in the Auckland city centre, New Zealand. It was opened in 1905 and named after the queen who had died four years earlier. It lies on reclaimed bay land in Freemans Bay, a suburb directly west of the Auckland CBD. However, it does not have direct connection to the foreshore anymore, as the Western Reclamation and the Viaduct Basin quarter lie between it and the Waitematā Harbour. The bay started to be filled in as early as the 1870s although the bulk of the reclamation appears to have happened after 1901. The Park was 'finished' around 1912, the area to the north (called the Western Reclamation) dates from after that.
A park located west of the Auckland central city was mooted at a Council meeting in 1884. Victoria Park opened in 1905 by mayor Arthur Myers, after the reclamation of Freemans Bay was completed. The artificial creation of the land is why it is very flat and level – it was intended from the start to be primarily a facility for active events augmenting the other public parks; Western Park 1876 and Albert Park 1884 which were for more genteel passive enjoyment. For this reason the park was not laid out in a picturesque manner, neither has it ever had decorative flower beds. The first grandstand pavilion was opened in 1906. As a sports facility for the adjacent working class areas and industrial zones it was provided with a sports pavilion and edged with trees to give shade for spectators. These are London plane trees (planted in 1905 for the opening of the park),
In 1910 'Campbell Free Kindergarten' opens in the western part of the park, with funds from Sir Logan Campbell and Lady Campbell. This building was later used by a sports club, and is owned by Auckland City Council, but fell into disrepair and has not had a tenant for two decades as of 2010, crumbling aways slowly. However, in June 2010 it was announced that NZ Transport Agency and Council had reached an agreement whereby some Vic Park Tunnel control equipment would be housed in a refurbished building provided as a legacy feature, with a 100-people occupancy community space on the ground floor. In 1912 the playground received equipment donated by John Court. Court owned a major Department Store on Queen Street and made many contributions to Auckland, including presenting the Zoo with an elephant.
Victoria Park was the site if the first ever match of international rugby league played on New Zealand soil when Great Britain played against the New Zealand Maori team on 20 July 1910 as part of their first ever tour of Australasia.
During the 1918 flu pandemic the park was used as an open air depot for the storage of the bodies of the many hundreds who died. The Pavilion was used as a temporary morgue. From here the bodies were transported to the Railway Station at the bottom of Queen Street and sent on to Waikumete Cemetery in West Auckland where they were interred in a series of mass graves. During the Second World War, the park was used for accommodation of US Armed Forces and covered with temporary huts. In the early 1950s, the park escaped closure and industrial redevelopment after it was decided that the facility was of regional use and the provision of parks in the outer suburbs would not suffice to replace it.
In 1960, the kindergarten moved to Tahuna Street, and the vacated building was occupied jointly by Grafton United Cricket Club, Ponsonby Soccer Club and the Pipe Band. The building was later abandoned (around the 1980s, by the late 2000s the building was derelict – now renovated in 2011). In 1962, the four-lane Victoria Park Viaduct was constructed overtop of the park, as a part of the Auckland North Motorway. Later plans to widen the viaduct (which by now is the narrowest part of the motorway in the Auckland area) meet resistance, as it is feared that this would further despoil the park it bisects.
In 1989 Auckland City receives ownership of Victoria Park from the Auckland Harbour Board, exchanging it for stub roads used for wharf access in Viaduct Basin.
In 1999, the Victoria Park Skate Park was constructed. As a part of this work, two pouwhenua were carved and incorporated into the park, in order to reflect Ngāti Whātua's associations with the area, and to improve the visual appeal of the skate park. The first Waiatarau, was carved by Lenard Phillips and Te Aroha Witika of Ngāti Whātua, acknowledges the former Waiatarau Stream. The second, Te Mau Mahara, was carved by skateboarder Lee Ralph (Te Rarawa), and depicts a figure holding a skateboard.
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Victoria Park, Auckland
Victoria Park is a park and sports ground in the Auckland city centre, New Zealand. It was opened in 1905 and named after the queen who had died four years earlier. It lies on reclaimed bay land in Freemans Bay, a suburb directly west of the Auckland CBD. However, it does not have direct connection to the foreshore anymore, as the Western Reclamation and the Viaduct Basin quarter lie between it and the Waitematā Harbour. The bay started to be filled in as early as the 1870s although the bulk of the reclamation appears to have happened after 1901. The Park was 'finished' around 1912, the area to the north (called the Western Reclamation) dates from after that.
A park located west of the Auckland central city was mooted at a Council meeting in 1884. Victoria Park opened in 1905 by mayor Arthur Myers, after the reclamation of Freemans Bay was completed. The artificial creation of the land is why it is very flat and level – it was intended from the start to be primarily a facility for active events augmenting the other public parks; Western Park 1876 and Albert Park 1884 which were for more genteel passive enjoyment. For this reason the park was not laid out in a picturesque manner, neither has it ever had decorative flower beds. The first grandstand pavilion was opened in 1906. As a sports facility for the adjacent working class areas and industrial zones it was provided with a sports pavilion and edged with trees to give shade for spectators. These are London plane trees (planted in 1905 for the opening of the park),
In 1910 'Campbell Free Kindergarten' opens in the western part of the park, with funds from Sir Logan Campbell and Lady Campbell. This building was later used by a sports club, and is owned by Auckland City Council, but fell into disrepair and has not had a tenant for two decades as of 2010, crumbling aways slowly. However, in June 2010 it was announced that NZ Transport Agency and Council had reached an agreement whereby some Vic Park Tunnel control equipment would be housed in a refurbished building provided as a legacy feature, with a 100-people occupancy community space on the ground floor. In 1912 the playground received equipment donated by John Court. Court owned a major Department Store on Queen Street and made many contributions to Auckland, including presenting the Zoo with an elephant.
Victoria Park was the site if the first ever match of international rugby league played on New Zealand soil when Great Britain played against the New Zealand Maori team on 20 July 1910 as part of their first ever tour of Australasia.
During the 1918 flu pandemic the park was used as an open air depot for the storage of the bodies of the many hundreds who died. The Pavilion was used as a temporary morgue. From here the bodies were transported to the Railway Station at the bottom of Queen Street and sent on to Waikumete Cemetery in West Auckland where they were interred in a series of mass graves. During the Second World War, the park was used for accommodation of US Armed Forces and covered with temporary huts. In the early 1950s, the park escaped closure and industrial redevelopment after it was decided that the facility was of regional use and the provision of parks in the outer suburbs would not suffice to replace it.
In 1960, the kindergarten moved to Tahuna Street, and the vacated building was occupied jointly by Grafton United Cricket Club, Ponsonby Soccer Club and the Pipe Band. The building was later abandoned (around the 1980s, by the late 2000s the building was derelict – now renovated in 2011). In 1962, the four-lane Victoria Park Viaduct was constructed overtop of the park, as a part of the Auckland North Motorway. Later plans to widen the viaduct (which by now is the narrowest part of the motorway in the Auckland area) meet resistance, as it is feared that this would further despoil the park it bisects.
In 1989 Auckland City receives ownership of Victoria Park from the Auckland Harbour Board, exchanging it for stub roads used for wharf access in Viaduct Basin.
In 1999, the Victoria Park Skate Park was constructed. As a part of this work, two pouwhenua were carved and incorporated into the park, in order to reflect Ngāti Whātua's associations with the area, and to improve the visual appeal of the skate park. The first Waiatarau, was carved by Lenard Phillips and Te Aroha Witika of Ngāti Whātua, acknowledges the former Waiatarau Stream. The second, Te Mau Mahara, was carved by skateboarder Lee Ralph (Te Rarawa), and depicts a figure holding a skateboard.