Labour Party - Speeches

Return of early regional records to Archive New Zealand's Auckland Office

31.03.2008

Speech to mark a significant event for historians, archivists and Aucklanders alike, the returning of early regional government records to Archive New Zealand's new Auckland office from Wellington.

Speech to the mark the returning of early regional government records to Archive New Zealand's new Auckland office, 95 Richard Pearse Drive, Mangere, Auckland.

Staff of Archives New Zealand, other archivists, records managers, historians and distinguished guests, I am pleased to be addressing you on this significant occasion. Today we are welcoming back some Auckland taonga which have been residing down south for many years.

As Minister responsible for Archives New Zealand and as an Aucklander this event is close to my heart. These early regional records of the greater Auckland district are coming home. They have been mostly well looked after in Wellington in recent years but they are now back where they rightfully belong.

I would like to thank the Chief Archivist and Chief Executive of Archives New Zealand, Dianne Macaskill, the Auckland Archivist, Mark Stoddart, and the members of their staff who have worked to ensure the preservation of these important records and their eventual return. In particular the Wellington team of Catriona Logan, Michael Jonassen, Honiana Love and Diana Coop. The exhibition put together for this opening is thanks to Ken Willis, Sarah Mathieson, Stephanie van Gaalen and Zoe Zheng. My thanks too to Ihaia Biddle, our kaumatua, for the blessing which began this event and the blessing he gave to the records prior to their departure from Wellington. On their arrival here in Auckland the records were duly blessed by mana whenua representative Jim Rauwhero.

This homecoming is a follow-up to one of the major Archives achievements of last year, the opening of the new Auckland premises for Archives New Zealand. Having new premises and returning these records are prominent examples of the Labour-led government's commitment to the development of a strong New Zealand identity. It is only by knowing about our past that we can fully understand our present and then project ourselves successfully into the future.

I am pleased to hear that northern researchers and historians have been very appreciative of the new facilities and surroundings here. There have been comments that it is a pleasant and restful place in which to work. Apparently, those hardy readers who stay all day are very happy with the new readers' lounge. I believe it's even been difficult to get some of them to leave at the end of the day!

As some of you know, storage conditions here are vastly better than at the old premises. I'm told that staff have a real sense of pride in these new facilities and in the service they can now provide.

With the extra space the Auckland office is once again able to take in records from departments wanting to transfer material to it. And the improved conditions have allowed for the return of the early records that we are celebrating today.

These Auckland records date from the period in our history when the country was largely run by provincial governments, that is from the early 1850s to the mid-1870s.

As is clear from these records, but not widely known, the Auckland province, which was founded in 1853, covered a much greater part of New Zealand than what we now call Auckland. It included most of the northern half of the North Island, from North Cape down to Lake Taupo, and then across to the Mahia Peninsula.

In 1853, of course, most of the population in this region were Māori, although this had changed significantly by 1875, when the provincial governments were brought to an end.

Throughout this period there was an elected Provincial Council in Auckland, with an Executive Council led by a Superintendent and a Treasurer. From 1865 an Agent for the General Government was appointed to Auckland. Because of the ongoing land wars he was given extensive powers.

The records that we are welcoming home today relate primarily to the work of the Provincial Council, the Superintendent and Treasurer and the central government's Agent. There are also records of the Northern Military District and documents relating to the early health board and the railway commissioners.

I'm sorry to tell you, however, that many of these records no longer cover the entire history of the Auckland province. In 1872 one of those terrible events which destroyed so much of our nation's archives occurred in Auckland. In November of that year a fire ripped through the Provincial Government buildings.

In the fire, practically all the Superintendent's records were destroyed, including all correspondence and the minutes of the Executive Council. Fortunately, the Treasurer's records were either saved during the course of the blaze or salvaged from strong-rooms afterwards. However, most of them show signs of water or fire damage.

After the provincial governments were abolished, the surviving Auckland archives were sent to Wellington and placed in the custody of the Department of Internal Affairs.

They then seemed to disappear. You will be pleased to know that the Auckland archives were eventually discovered again in 1955, in some cupboards under the stairs of the old Government Buildings. The thick layer of dust covering them showed that they had not been examined for many years. They were intact, however, and were then transferred into the National Archives in Wellington where they remained until today.

I am sure that there is much of interest to historians and other researchers in these records.

The Superintendent's papers that survive deal with issues like Māori and Pakeha land claims, public works, immigration and disputes with central government. There are also the usual range of demands from constituents that Ministers continue to hear about today, including complaints about officials, requests for compensation and applications for appointments. I suppose it all has a familiar ring.

Understandably, the Treasurer's records are more extensive. The full range of matters relating to running a province are here, from money for prisons and schools and assistance to the sick and destitute to developing railways, mining for precious metals and licensing pubs.

The records provide a fascinating glimpse into the day-to-day minutiae of provincial government. People seek permission to hold an Art Union Lottery, to fell a kauri tree to provide roofing for a school house, or to erect a private slaughter house in Mount Smart – that request, incidentally, was declined because it would compete with the public slaughter house (which was a forerunner of the Auckland City Abattoir).

The records of the Agent for the General Government have also been returned, they run from the last years of the New Zealand Wars into the early postwar period. They include important material on Māori-Crown relationships and the survey and settlement of confiscated land.

We are also welcoming into the fold the records of the Northern Military District which run from 1868 to 1874. These too deal with the final phase of the New Zealand Wars.

I'm told that the records have not been entirely ignored while in Wellington. One researcher went through them to obtain details on the types of trees planted in Government House in Auckland. Another with an interest in early photography found evidence of an Aucklander, John McGarrigle, who described his company as 'Photographers to the American, Mexican and New Zealand Governments'. He managed to get money out of the provincial government by hooking into their planned immigration schemes to get settlers to Auckland.

I'm sure that historians will find many more interesting stories now that the records have returned home.

Many will be particularly interested in correspondence relating to land confiscations. Some letters are written in Māori with contemporary English translations. There are also firsthand reports of Hau Hau raids and the military situation in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty.

So there is a lot for Auckland and northern researchers to get their teeth into. I'm certain that you are all going to enjoy working through these records.

They are important taonga that tell us about the lives of our ancestors and, therefore, how we got to where we are today.