KEY POINTS:
Historic Places Trust staff were tonight battling to save two of New Zealand's oldest buildings -- the Kerikeri Mission Station and Stone Store -- as torrential rain in the upper North Island caused widespread flooding in Northland.
Trust staff wrapped historic artifacts, archives and other treasures and moved them to safety as the Kerikeri River rose.
"Our main concern though is the Mission House and Stone Store -- it is the buildings themselves that are the real treasures," the trust's regional general manager Sherry Reynolds said.
The Kerikeri Mission House, also known as Kemp's House, was built in 1822, and is New Zealand's oldest standing building. Both it and the neighbouring Stone Store were severely damaged by flooding in 1981 and cost more than $1 million to repair.
During heavy rain, flood debris coming down the river is caught in the narrow bridge across the nearby road, effectively damming the floodwaters around the historic precinct.
Prime Minister Helen Clark last month turned the first sod for a road deviation around the Stone Store, in an $8.5 million "heritage bypass" to safeguard the buildings.
According to Kerikeri archaeologist and Historic Places Trust heritage adviser Fergus Clunie, the existing roadway threatens both buildings, and without the bypass, the two buildings have a "very, very limited shelf life".
Vibrations from the 7500 vehicles a day -- more than 2.7 million a year -- which drive past the two buildings are also regarded as a threat.
"You are looking at buildings which are of absolutely crucial historic significance to New Zealand and which are widely recognised as such. You could not find a more significant pair of buildings if you tried in this country," Mr Clunie said.
The project will remove the single-lane Kerikeri Basin bridge -- and build a new two-lane bridge over the Kerikeri River about 1.5km upstream.
"It's great that work on the Heritage Bypass has begun, but so long as the old Kerikeri River bridge remains in place the threat to the Kerikeri Mission House and Stone Store will always remain a reality," said Ms Reynolds.
- NZPA
