CHB trifecta at Heritage Awards

Central Hawke’s Bay history got a huge boost at the Hawke’s Bay Heritage Awards this week, with three projects winning top awards.

Ngā Ara Tipuna, an interactive showcase of seven historic Pā sites located in the Waipukurau-Takapau area, was the overall Awards’ supreme winner and also won the Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated, Māori Realm Award. 

The iconic Coles Builders & Joinery Factory in Ongaonga won the Hawke’s Bay Tourism, Heritage Tourism Award and the Central Hawke’s Bay Museum in Waipawa won the Wairoa District Council Hawke’s Bay Heritage Heroes Award.

An emotional CHB Mayor Alex Walker spoke to a packed cocktail crowd in the Assembly Ballroom at the Hastings Municipal Chambers complex acknowledging the many people who had made Ngā Ara Tipuna a success. “This award means a lot to us.”

Ngā Ara Tipuna is a cultural and educational self-guided, driving story-telling tour. It marries historic Pā sites with technology to share a history and the stories of the people unique to Tamatea/Central Hawke’s Bay. 

The  project includes the creation of carvings, digital storytelling and displays to engage visitors and locals through sharing stories of the hapu of Ngai Tahu ki Takapau, Ngāi Toroiwaho, Ngaī Te Rangitotohu, Ngāti Marau, Ngāi Te Kikiri-o-te-rangi and Ngāti Parakiore and their relationship with the land. See https://www.ngaaratipuna.co.nz/

The staunch colonial spirit of Edward and Clara Coles who, along with 12 children, arrived in Napier from the English village of Droxford aboard the Columbus in August 1877, was acknowledged at the Awards.  

The Coles family settled in Ongaonga and in 1878 Edward opened the Coles Bros Builders & Joiners factory, employing 17 and also accommodating Undertakers, Ironmongers, Painters, Plumbers and more. 

Today the restored, two-storey factory is understood to be the oldest of its kind in New Zealand and is listed as a Category 1 on the New Zealand Heritage list.

The Coles building was also “highly commended” in the Hastings District Council, Public Realm, Saved and Restored Award. Again emotion was palpable when the Hastings Municipal Buildings complex at Toitoi won this award and Mayor Sandra Halzehurst accepted on behalf of her team.

Spanning eight categories, the inaugural bi-annual Hawke’s Bay Heritage Awards recognise and celebrate the talents and energies of those who preserve the region’s heritage landscape. 

Barbara Arnott, Chair, Historic Places Hawke’s Bay and Art Deco Trust, and one of the organisers of the event spoke of the people who called Te Matau a Māui/Hawke’s Bay home in the past. 

“They have left their mark on the place we all call home today through their sites of significance, the places they built, the artefacts they left behind and the stories they told. Their legacies gift us today our sense of place, our sense of belonging and our sense of identity. 

“They tell the stories of our past and our progress as a region.”

 Among the four judges for the Awards was Jana Uhlirova, Curator and Manager at Central Hawke’s Bay Museum in Waipawa since 2011 and in large part responsible for the museum itself winning the Heritage Heroes Award.

But not all the winners on the night were well-known places. During pre-Awards cocktails, BayBuzz spoke with the owners of a 132-year-old cottage they had restored in Napier’s Paradise Road. They didn’t think they stood a chance among many big names. Yet when the Historic Places Hawkes’s Bay, Domestic Building, Saved and Restored Award was announced they were ‘highly commended’ for the authentic work they had done to breathe new life into the historic cottage they now run as a popular Airbnb.

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Award winners and nominees

 2022 Hawke’s Bay Heritage Awards Supreme Winner:

Ngā Ara Tipuna

Historic Places Hawkes’s Bay, Domestic Building, Saved and Restored Award:

WINNER Whare Ra, Havelock North 
HIGHLY COMMENDED Paradise Cottage, Paradise Road, Napier 

Hastings District Council, Public Realm, Saved and Restored Award:

WINNER The Municipal Buildings at Toitoi – Hawke’s Bay Arts & Events Centre, Hastings 
HIGHLY COMMENDED Coles Joinery Factory, Ongaonga 
HIGHLY COMMENDED Park Island Cemetery War Graves Restoration New Zealand supported by the Remembrance Army, Hawke’s Bay branch 
HIGHLY COMMENDED The County Hotel, Napier 

Art Deco Trust, Art Deco Era Building, Saved and Restored Award:

WINNER Daily Telegraph Building, Tennyson Street, Napier 

Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated, Māori Realm Award:

WINNER Ngā Ara Tipuna, Waipukurau-Takapau 

Hawke’s Bay Tourism, Heritage Tourism Award:

WINNER Coles Joinery Factory, Ongaonga 

Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, Seismic Strengthening Award:

WINNER The Opera House at Toitoi Hawke’s Bay Arts & Events Centre, Hastings HIGHLY COMMENDED Tribune Precinct, Hastings

Central Hawke’s Bay District Council, Future Heritage Award:

WINNER Tribune Precinct, Queens Street East, Hastings 

Napier City Council Hawke’s Bay Heritage Hero Award:

WINNER Denise Gore 
HIGHLY COMMENDED Michael Fowler 
HIGHLY COMMENDED Pat Benson 

Wairoa District Council Hawke’s Bay Heritage Heroes Award:

WINNER Central Hawke’s Bay Museum 
HIGHLY COMMENDED Hawke’s Bay Vintage Car Club 
HIGHLY COMMENDED The volunteers at Hawke’s Bay Knowledge Bank 

(Winners in each category received a handcrafted award commissioned for the awards programme by acclaimed local artist Emma Scott.)

Judges

The Judges for the 2022 Hawke’s Bay Heritage Awards were: 

James Blackburne, a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Architects, founding member and current President of Historic Places Aotearoa and Board Member, Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga. 

Nigel How, (Ngāti Kahungunu), living at Iwitea Pa just north of Wairoa. Registrar of Wairoa Museum, Chair of Wairoa Taiwhenua, Board Member of Ngati Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated, and trustee of Hawke’s Bay Museums Trust.

Dr Elizabeth Pishief is a heritage consultant and passionate advocate for heritage values, a member of ICOMOS New Zealand, the New Zealand Archaeological Association, the Professional Historians Association of New Zealand Aotearoa, Museums Aotearoa, Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, Historic Places Hawke’s Bay, and serves on the executive of Historic Places Aotearoa.

Jana Uhlirova, born in the Czech Republic, where she completed a master’s degree in Art History and Museology, immigrated to New Zealand in 2005. Since 2011 Jana has been working as Curator and Manager at Central Hawke’s Bay Museum in Waipawa. “