Memory box
One of the papers presented at the recent ICOMOS New Zealand conference held in Hamilton was about the heritage values of Ruakura; not the inland port but the land, buildings and trees on which it is being developed.
A 2015 submission to the Ruakura Variation (Plan Change 1) by a group of heritage professionals, in relation to the site’s archaeological, built and landscape heritage values, was supported by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Toanga but rejected by Hamilton City Council, meaning that heritage protection on the site is extremely limited.
Ruakura is a well-known landmark site in Hamilton but I would hazard a guess that I am not the only one to have only a slim knowledge of its history as an agricultural research station.
Established in 1886 as a model government farm, the site became the Ruakura Experimental Station in 1901. From the 1930s the farm focused upon animal research and a number of major laboratory buildings were built in the mid-20th century to accommodate this ground-breaking work.
The first director of the Ruakura Animal Research Station was Dr CP McMeekan (1908-72), who had been a foundation student of Massey Agricultural College and gained a PhD in animal nutrition from the University of Cambridge. ‘Mac’ McMeekan was appointed to Ruakura in 1943 and developed an international reputation for animal research and innovative rural education.
Prior to McMeekan’s appointment Ruakura was already providing industry training and information.
In the winter of 1938, for example, the Ruakura Farm of Instruction hosted 116 youths over three farm schools, which were devoted to dairying, sheep and beef farming, and pig production.
During McMeekan’s tenure, farmers visited Ruakura on fieldays and to attend conferences to learn about new research in farm production, including how to fight facial eczema.
Some of the trees at Ruakura are scheduled on the district plan but none of the buildings are.
The 1997 Waikato Heritage Study by Dinah Holman identified that the Ruakura Research Station ‘is an area that contains buildings and features of cultural heritage value’.
Holman went on to say that the ‘research station is of national and international significance and has pioneered many agricultural developments and the buildings associated with the history of the station are also of considerable significance.’
One of the key buildings at Ruakura is the 1910 ‘homestead’, which was built to accommodate cadets at the state farm.
It is a large transitional bungalow designed by Auckland architect WA Cumming.
Cumming (1860-1947) was the architect to the board of Auckland Grammar School from 1903 until 1932, in which role he was responsible for ‘Auckland Girls’ Grammar School (in conjunction with Goldsbro’ and Wade, 1907), Mount Albert Grammar School (1922) and Takapuna Grammar School (1926 and additions 1931)’.
He was a founding member of the NZ Institute of Architects and first director of the School of Architecture at Auckland University College. Research to date suggests that Cumming also designed buildings at the Waerenga Experimental Farm, which later became the Te Kauwhata Viticultural Research Station.
Somewhat surprisingly, the cadet quarters were described in April 1910 as a ‘huge elaborate mansion’ by one disgruntled visitor who believed the Moumahaki Experimental Station in Taranaki should have been developed for cadet training. Putting to one side the alleged extravagance of the ‘homestead’ in 1910, only three years later there was an urgent need for more accommodation at Ruakura, with more than 70 applications being made for the 12, three-year positions available. The ‘homestead’ is a building that looms large in the memories of those who lived and worked at Ruakura in its ‘glory days’. Because no heritage assessment was undertaken as part of the technical documentation needed to develop Plan Change 1, the submissions regarding the heritage values of the site were ruled out of scope during the hearings process. In a region where agricultural production and innovation is vitally important and highly valued it seems about time to recognise the heritage significance of Ruakura before it is too late.