New job like coming home for heritage property lead
For 31-year-old Ohaeawai resident Alex Bell, taking on a new role with Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga is a bit like coming home.
He certainly needed little introduction when he was appointed Property Lead, Te Waimate and Hokianga Properties, a role that involves managing New Zealand’s second-oldest surviving building, Te Waimate Mission, Mangungu Mission at Horeke and Clendon House in Rawene. Mr Bell has a particularly strong link to Clendon House.
“Dennis Cochrane, the father of Jane Clendon, was one of my ancestors,” he said. “Jane, who married James Reddy Clendon, was instrumental in keeping Clendon House in the family after his death until it was eventually gifted to the NZ Historic Places Trust in the early 1970s.”
He grew up on a dairy farm near Lake Omapere and went to Okaihau Primary School and College.
“Both sides of my family were long-time Northlanders, with a good mix of 19th Century links to the Hokianga, Bay of Islands and Whangarei.”
Discovering physical evidence of his ancestors on family land as a child had been instrumental in forming his interest in history.
“The objects I found poking out of the banks of the Hokianga Harbour were likely disposed of by them, so those old spoons and whiskey bottles created a more personal link between them and now,” he said.
He was keen to explore highlighting links that help bring history alive, as well as making stories and information accessible to the community.
“I love to get into the gritty parts of the stories, and to find historical tidbits to incorporate into the story of a property or archaeological site that give it some personal context,” he added. “Heritage New Zealand’s Hokianga properties were all established in the early phases of European settlement, and are all Landmarks Whenua Tohunga. As well as travelling half way around the world, settlers had to build their lives in an unfamiliar nation, build relationships with a well-established Maori population, and build the foundations of missionary societies from which they had been sent — all while staying alive.”
Each of the buildings sat within landscapes that incorporated centuries of Maori settlement and politics, and had their own stories to tell.
“Te Waimate Mission is an untapped treasure, and that goes for Mangungu Mission and Clendon House too. There is a wealth of stories to be told beyond just those of key historical figures,” Mr Bell said.
“They’re also beautiful places to enjoy. Te Waimate Mission, for example, is a perfect for people to picnic and sit under the trees.”
Te Waimate was a far cry from Western Australia, where he worked as a contract archaeologist prior to returning to New Zealand. He was enjoying being able to walk through knee-high grass without having to worry about standing on a sleeping snake, or surveying in the bush and getting covered in kangaroo ticks. Neither did he miss being away for weeks at a time, relentless heat and sleeping in a swag by a fire.
“I certainly loved it there, though.
“A beer at sunset with your mates after a 10-hour work day in 45-degree heat, looking over a mountain range of premium grade iron ore — that’s the good life,” he said.
After working as an archaeologist in the North following his return from Australia, he was looking forward to the next step of his heritage journey. And his family connections made it more personal.
“One of my ancestors, William Robinson, is buried in the Mangungu cemetery, so this job is kind of like caretaking a bit of family history,” he said.