Preserving Monaco’s memories
Family picnics, water skiing carnivals, walks along the coast and clean-ups after king tide floods – these are just some of the memories shared on Monaco’s first story board.
City of Nelson Civic Trust has erected the sign at the Foster Reserve on Point Rd in Monaco to reflect the area’s history and highlight the significance of the reserve to its visitors.
The site was once the home of Rosemary ‘Roey’ Foster, who, along with her husband Les, enjoyed talking to locals as they passed their property on a walk through the small village.
Roey died in 1986 and left the house and section to the Civic Trust on the condition the house was removed and the land kept as a rest area for the public.
‘‘Roey was a very friendly person who loved the point and wanted to share the peaceful place with all who wished to admire the view and watch the boats and birds’’, her sister Annis Ashton said after the house was donated to the Trust in 1988.
City of Nelson Civic Trust chair Roger Nicholson said he shared in the memories depicted on the new story board.
When he was younger, his family would visit Monaco in the school holidays because his grandmother owned a house there.
He remembered being instructed to help in the village clean-up after floods. He said the fire brigade once brought a pump truck to the Monaco Foreshore Park to suck out the water so the patch of grass could dry out.
Kite surfers and surf skies had replaced the water skiers, Nicholson said, but they still came to the park to shelter from the wind and enjoy the view.
‘‘For years there was nothing to tell the story of this park.’’
City of Nelson Civic Trust project coordinator Kay Hill said while researching the area’s stories she uncovered photos of Monaco’s Boat Shows and annual Water Skiing Carnival, which attracted the country’s best water skiers.
The Foster Reserve story board cost about $6000, which was bequeathed to the trust by Morris Argent, an Englishman who moved to Nelson.
‘‘We wanted something where we could leave his memory,’’ Hill said.
Before European settlement, local Maori would gather shellfish, fish the shallows and channels and hunt birds in the area. Artefacts have been found on Monaco and nearby islands, in particular Oyster Island.