Plaques offer public brief history lesson
A series of framed metal plaques that offer the passerby a brief history lesson of Golden Bay are being fixed in their key locations.
Heritage Golden Bay have produced a trail of 29 plaques and counting, to recall the golden years of early settler times when Takaka was alive and thriving with shops and buildings that no longer exist.
Chairman Barry Cashman said each numbered plaque was almost indestructible and had a least one historical photo and interpretation of the original building or activity that occupied the site.
The project was a five-year labour of love for the society, whose eight members had been working tirelessly to get the plaques created, he said.
‘‘We each had something unique and different to offer the project, which has been really successful so far.’’
Some of the most recently made plaques were of the First Landing in Ligar Bay, and another showing the Ligar Bay Baches that were demolished in 2014.
Those two would be fixed on two large marble rocks at their key locations in Ligar Bay, Cashman said.
Other plaques in the township included Beattie Building, Eureka Boarding House, The Golden Bay Theatre, Postmaster’s Residence and the Church of Epiphany.
‘‘We’ve had some really great feedback, and you see visitors stopping all the time to look at them.’’
Other plaques outside of the township include Shady Rest Backpackers, Kotinga Cemetery and four plaques to commemor- ate the Takaka Tramway at Waitapu Wharf, central Takaka and East Takaka.
Heritage Golden Bay secretary and treasurer Sally Gaffney said people were mainly blown away by the number of plaques.
‘‘You honestly can’t misss them, they’re everywhere in town and you can follow them around.’’
They would highlight any visitor’s experience of Takaka, she said.
‘‘Most locals love seeing old photos too, and unless you work in a museum you don’t really get to see them.
‘‘I had no idea there was a tramway through the Bay.‘‘
Brochures of the Takaka Heritage Plaques are available at the Golden Bay Museum, Take Note Takaka and Pohutakawa Gallery, all on Commercial Street for $2.