After the Historic Places Trust, what next?

Carol Berry
Carol Berry
The North Otago branch of the Historic Places Trust is investigating ways it can continue to exist if the Government passes legislation disbanding it and other branches.

North Otago branch chairwoman Carol Berry said dis-establishing the branches would lose the trust "its eyes and ears" in local communities and new solutions were needed to fill the gap.

In her branch annual report, Mrs Berry said that subject had occupied a lot of the North Otago committee's time over the past year.

"We have tried to strike a balance between carrying on as usual and preparing for a future where a new national heritage foundation may unfold," she said.

As a result, the branch had distributed a portion of the accumulated branch funds to a variety of heritage causes throughout the North Otago region, while leaving half intact so any new local heritage organisation would have seeding money to establish itself successfully.

The branch received $1000 a year from central trust headquarters to cover operational costs.

It was envisaged any new heritage organisation would not be funded from the trust or from Government, although a one-off transitional grant of $2500 has been signalled.

Trust board member Anna Crighton with a steering committee had worked on preparing a new organisation to be ready to fill the gap once the branches were disestablished. Named Historic Places Aotearoa, it would consist of a federation of independent incorporated societies and would be driven from the bottom up.

It would seek to be registered with the Charities Commission and has approached Dame Anne Salmond to be its patron.

It would be up to the North Otago community to decide whether to form a branch of the new Historic Places Aotearoa organisation or to concentrate on supporting the local heritage trust which already existed - the Oamaru Whitestone Civic Trust.

"Whichever group we work for, our community's heritage assets will remain and be treasured because they make our town an interesting and civilised place to live, and because they are inseparable from our sense of identity and belonging."

The North Otago community would always contribute to advocating for protecting heritage buildings under threat and providing voluntary work to get projects up and running, Mrs Berry said.

The onus of protecting historical heritage was in the hands of local territorial authorities, such as the Waitaki District Council.

"The public perception that the NZHPT is somehow responsible for protecting our historic heritage has missed a fundamental point: that inclusion on the Register of Historic Places doesn't confer status, it simply recognises it.

"Protection can only be conferred through local authority recognition," she said.

"There was a richness and a diversity in North Otago's heritage and we belong to a community which will always work to protect and promote it."

Among the activities with which the North Otago branch was involved during the past year included sponsoring the Forrester and Lemon Memorial Lecture, pursuing restoration of the Phoenix Mill water wheel in Old Mill Rd and supporting and contributing to the North Otago Club restoration on the corner of Itchen and Tees Sts.

- david.bruce@odt.co.nz

 

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