Fight goes on to save Kaitaia's town clock

Kaitaia's loved and loathed town clock was the source of considerable civic pride when it was erected in 1965.

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The presentation by Rotary of Kaitaia's town clock, designed by assistant Kaitaia Borough engineer Andre Bax, on November 11, 1965. The clock cost £950 ($1900).

Delwyn Shepherd, who is leading a campaign to restore Kaitaia's town clock to a place of prominence, is still looking for the funding needed to bring it out of storage.

So far the project was unfunded, she said, and the plan was to finance the project without costing the community. An application to Creative New Zealand's Creative Communities Scheme had been declined because the project was a restoration rather than a new creation.

The clock stood on the intersection of Commerce St and Redan Rd from 1965 until 2015, and Shepherd says a group of passionate residents would love to see it restored and reinstated.

The clock, she said, was a piece of municipal public art, defined as artwork that is designed for and situated in a space accessible to the general public.

"It can be anything from murals, sculptures, memorials to town clocks," she said.

The Kaitaia town clock project was championed by the Kaitaia Rotary Club, with the full support of the Kaitaia Borough Council and mayor Lionel Thompson, himself a Rotarian.

It was designed in 1964 by then Kaitaia Borough engineer Andre Bax, who was also an accomplished painter in oils and watercolours. His design was based on the concept of space travel, at a time when the race to the moon had well and truly captured the public imagination, with three faces that could be seen from South Rd, Redan Rd and Commerce St.

Officially unveiled on November 1, 1965, it cost £950, equivalent to $78,000 today.

The project was commissioned and controlled by the borough council, but paid for by Rotary.

The presentation by Rotary of Kaitaia's town clock, designed by assistant Kaitaia Borough engineer Andre Bax, on November 11, 1965. The clock cost 950 pounds ($1900).

The clock was made by the Synchronome Clock Company, which was established in 1908 by Frank Hope-Jones and George Bowell following their invention in 1895 of the synchronome. It was removed in April 2015 in response to public safety issues. According to Far North District Council staff it had been struck by a vehicle, although corrosion is now understood to have been the problem.

Te Hiku Community Board chairman Lawrie Atkinson said in 2015 that it was a case of taking the clock down before it fell down. The clock is still in storage at Kaitaia Engineering, however, Shepherd saying the restoration plan included converting it to present-day technology, using solar power and GPS. The cost of restoration had been quoted at $29,790.

Anyone who would like more information, or to help with the project, was invited to make contact by emailing kaitaiatownclock@gmail.com