Great Wynyard Quarter Heritage Opening

Saturday was a great day for Auckland and its waterfront. Here's Bob Harvey, Chair of Auckland's Waterfront Development Agency, scissors in hand, about to cut the ribbon and open an idea that's been worked hard for by Auckland's Classic Boat supporters for the past five years.

Standing next to Bob (on his left) is Baden Pascoe whose passion and energy has been a great driver for this project. He owns a Dory style working boat used for commercial fishing. He and John Street and Tony Blake of NZ's Classic Boat Association worked with me to get this initiative up and running. You can see that history, and artists concepts here. Behind the group of people you can see an interpretation sign, part of the heritage signage that is starting to appear in Wynyard Quarter now. Helping to inform visitors and Aucklanders of the history of this special place.

Here Bob acknowledges the contributions of many people to this project. Interestingly, even mentioning Prime Minister John Key. The children who'd come on classic boats were invited to share in the opening, and Bob handed the scissors to Baden.

The area of water is at the end of Silo Park, Wynyard Quarter, and was previously used for loading and unloading cement and gravels mined in the Hauraki. For a time it looked as if maritime heritage would get side-lined at Wynyard Quarter. You can see here and here some of the planning background that led to heritage protection today.

The ribbon was cut and the public walked down steps to a pontoon where classic boats have finally found a home on Auckland's waterfront, where they can form part of the environment, enriching the waterfront experience.

The idea is that owners of the boats can do some maintenance, the odd spot of varnish, and talk to visitors about their boats, the history, the roles they played and work they did on Auckland's waterfront - and often other parts of New Zealand and further afield...

The facility provides a great attraction which will develop as classic boat owners, the maritime museum, and all stakeholders in this living museum, engage with the public and visitors. It is expected that a number of events will occur annually which will also add to the attraction.

Some boats were used for pleasure by wealthy people, others for racing, and others were working boats - fishing, small tugboats, piloting and small trading purposes.

These are the sorts of pictures that visitors will take home. They are unique to Auckland. We are learning to recognise our history, and understand its value, to visitors, the economy, and in building the knowledge of local people, of Auckland's history. Where we have come from.

An opening like this needed a blast from a cannon, and staunch supporter of classic boats and the maritime heritage industry - John Street - was happy to oblige. Made a hell of a bang....

...caused great interest... I think the lad wanted it to go off again...

Owners of these boats are very proud and have many stories to tell. I think it will be useful to have - perhaps - some sort of interpretation attached to the sterns so visitors can get some info when owners are not in attendance. Given that the fleet moored here will always only represent a fraction of the heritage fleet - some sort of portable interpretation will be useful....

Every boat has a story to tell....

...full of memories...

...all sorts of memories...

And it all looks stunning. This is another picture that tourists will love to take - we might not see much in our Harbour Bridge - but it is iconic, and with classic boats it becomes something else. This was the picture I could "see" as I fashioned my crude images to convince commissioners hearing the plan changes that led to what we see today...

...and here is that image. I crafted it with Sketchup over four years ago, to try and "show" commissioners what could be in this place, to try and visualise what the Classic Boat advocates could see...

The Waterfront Development Agency has done us all proud.

Auckland is truly the City of Sails.