Guest Editorial: Losing sight of heritage

I have a hard time understanding what makes Whangarei tick.

In the 40 years or so that I have lived in and around this town I have witnessed a gradual destruction of the tangible links with the past, mostly in the form of architecture, leading to a loss of visual continuity and cultural identity.

Friedrich Hundertwasser, a talented fellow who worked hard to save the old Kawakawa post office from demolition in the early 1980s, was quoted in the Advocate at the time as saying, "A society which does not preserve its heritage is doomed: if they destroy their heritage they destroy themselves."

So it seems to me ironic that the people of this town would want to build a monument to Hundertwasser. His words seem to be wasted on those who make the development decisions around here. Why would they want to build a museum to this Austrian, when his philosophies are so at odds with theirs?

This push for the museum/gallery seems to be driven by a cargo-cult mentality which believes that Whangarei's financial future can be secured by jumping on some bandwagon. It reminds me of the St Patrick Day stuff in Vine St, the sole purpose of which seemed to be the generation of business. It is cheap and shallow.

The cost of building and maintaining a Hundertwasser imitation will be great. It has as little chance of making money for the town as a rugby stadium. The old Harbour Board building deserves better. It is a solid concrete structure that should be freed from the hideous modernising addition of the 1960s.

The good qualities of the building should be used and styling added which is in sympathy with its location and the surrounding buildings to create something which would enhance the area, rather than be some gimmicky "star attraction".

It's hard to know though, how the town basin can be redeemed from the effects of the new roading layout. The town basin has been cut off by the motorway-style road.

The river and Basin have been completely dominated, the scale destroyed and in the process the best piece of architecture in Whangarei, the Victoria bridge, has been vandalised beyond recognition.

We have lost a sense of who we are and what our heritage and culture is; the culture that I was born and raised in; the culture that built this town; the culture that came halfway round the world only to lose its way. Do we need to further our alienation by building a monument to an Austrian, even if he did say some good things? I don't think so.