Memory box
There are only eight heritage buildings or structures in Otorohanga district.
At least that appears to be the view of the district council, which has scheduled all eight of the local Heritage New Zealand listings but no other historic buildings on its district plan.
An Art Deco-style store at the corner of Maniapoto and Tuhoro Streets is the type of character-defining town centre building that merits consideration for heritage scheduling.
Beside it, in Tuhoro Street, is the former Regent Theatre and on the opposite side of Maniapoto Street is Karam and John Haddad’s menswear store; ‘world famous in Otorohanga, since 1965’.
The Regent Theatre was the venue of an unusual farewell ‘party’ in December 1938. After evensong in the parish church, Rev Kenneth Small delivered a public service in the theatre prior to his departure to serve at the Holy Sepulchre Church in Khyber Pass, Auckland.
Two months earlier the theatre had been the venue for a gathering of 350 electors that was addressed by the Rev Clyde Carr (1886-1962), the Labour candidate for Timaru. Carr ‘reiterated that the Labour Government had no intention of interfering with private ownership of land or houses or business, and only aimed at taking over natural monopolies of wasteful competitive transport’ (Auckland Star October 7, 1938, p10). Both an ordained Methodist and Congregationalist minister, Carr held the Timaru seat from 1928 until 1961.
His Dictionary of New Zealand Biography entry states that Carr had a ‘long but largely unremarkable parliamentary career’ but his hold on Timaru ‘was based on his skills as orator and campaigner’. Perhaps it was Carr’s speaking skills that led to his talking in Otorohanga in October 1938, where he evidently received an ‘attentive hearing’.
The eight buildings listed by Heritage NZ and scheduled by the ODC are the World War I Memorial, the King monument, the former post office, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church, the railway station and the museum, all in Otorohanga, plus the Kio Kio School building and Rosamond house at Kawhia.
And that’s it. Wahi tapu, notable trees and archaeological sites are also included in the district plan, but for a plan only made operative in 2014 all of the heritage schedules are a little thin. The legacy of the Waikato Wars looms large in the King Country and Otorohanga district has a rich heritage of pa and wahi tapu. It would be expected, however, that the protection of built heritage resources, in Otorohanga and Kawhia in particular, would go beyond the slender Heritage NZ list for the district. Main street buildings could be a starting point for future heritage identification work, perhaps with the backing of the regional council’s Regional Heritage Forum. In small towns heritage status might be seen as a liability. A visit to Cromwell last month, population c.4500, put the lie to that in many ways. The town’s heritage precinct was buzzing with life and commerce. After all, heritage and tourism make great partners, as Otorohanga’s Kiwiana Town promotion goes to show.