‘Swamp’ gone, park opens
Algae-infested Modellers Pond laid to rest
With the opening of a new park, the decades long saga of a beloved water feature that became a ‘‘stinking swamp’’ has finally come to a close.
Te Pa¯ Harakeke park in Nelson’s Ta¯hunanui Reserve opened on Saturday morning. Mayor Nick Smith, deputy mayor Rohan O’Neill-Stevens, and councillor Rachel Sanson attended, as well as kauma¯tua Luke Katu. The park is the end-point of years of contention between Nelson City Council and the Nelson Society of Modellers, after the Modellers Pond became infected with algae.
Dubbed a ‘‘million-dollar eye-sore’’, repairing the water feature was estimated to cost Nelson City Council about $2.37 million to fix. Despite the club calling for the pond’s base to be concreted over, the council eventually decided to fill in the pond and build Te Pa¯ Harakeke on the site.
The playground has been built around the tidal zone area it is based in. As well as moats that allow the tide to flow through, it has a ‘‘floor is lava’’ rock jumping trail, a rope climbing course, a teepee, and a birdwatching hut.
Smith said he had always been a great supporter of Ta¯hunanui Reserve and it was wonderful to see the park contributing to it.
As he was still a newly elected mayor, Smith fully admitted to having no part in Te Pa¯ Harakeke’s creation. He acknowledged former councillors who had participated in the creation of the park, as well as project manager Rebecca Dawkins and property parks and facilities asset manager Andrew Petheram.
Smith mentioned the community’s gratitude to the Nelson Society of Modellers, who for 64 years had volunteered their time to run the model trains and provide a wonderful place for Nelson’s children to enjoy.
Many Nelsonians had celebrated birthdays or created memories with their children on the trains run by the club. ‘‘My hope for this place is that it can be a place of joy, not just for our local children, but also for those thousands of children that come from all places on the planet to enjoy the special place of Nelson.
‘‘May the trains continue to roar around the track.’’
Katu said a ‘‘big thank you’’ to the Nelson Society of Modellers during his speech, acknowledging it was ‘‘painful’’ having the pond removed but saying the park was a ‘‘beautiful space’’. He spoke of the harakeke flax, saying the plant had many different uses and grew in groups of ‘‘wha¯nau’’. With harakeke, before you knew it, you had a hapu¯, then an iwi. This symbolised that the park was a place for families.
‘‘When the harakeke blossoms, it’s only for family.’’
After being closed for 10 months, the Nelson Society of Modellers opened for the day to run its miniature trains on the rails. However, president Richard Satherley said while the new park was open, the club hadn’t officially returned. When it did, the club would have its own official opening. While acknowledging Te Pa¯ Harakeke was better than the ‘‘stinking swamp that the pond had become’’, Satherley said the park was not what the club would have chosen to do with the area and they would have preferred to have been more involved in its design.
Nine-year-old Caris Halder was one of the first children to play at Te Pa¯ Harakeke. Her favourite was playing ‘‘the floor is lava’’ on the stepping stones with her younger brother. ‘‘It is a really cool playground now.’’