From humble beginnings with just one plane, a small airline has been transformed into a critical regional New Zealand lifeline, with more than 320 flights a week.
Napier has formally marked 150 years since being proclaimed a borough with an hour-long gig attended by about 600 people at the Soundshell.
A typically sunny Napier November day, with centennial booklets shielding punters from the glare at the commemoration of 150 years since Napier became a borough. Photo / Doug Laing
The Soundshell, built in 1935 in one of the many city-rebuilding responses to the 1931 Hawke’s Bay earthquake, was swathed in sunshine on Thursday morning.
A couple of ships were on the horizon to the east, and just to the west the T&G Building, also built in 1935, and seemingly-spruced-up to make sure the clock on the dome atop the building showed the correct time for a 7am start.
A quarter-hour into the Napier 150 years commemoration the crowd, the morning sun, and the T&G Building clock apparently on time about 7.15am. Photo / Doug Laing
It was on November 26, 1874 that Parliament issued a proclamation declaring Napier a borough. It was declared a city in 1950.
In an hour introduced by Deputy Mayor Annette Brosnan and Mana Ahuriri chair Te Kaha Hawaikirangi, there was a significant focus on children and youth of today, led out by the kapa haka and choir from Napier Boys’ High School (which marked 150 years in 2022) and Napier Girls’ High School.
Napier Youth Council chairperson and new NBHS Dux Ben Kingsford read the proclamation, delivered under the Municipal Corporations Act 1867 150 years ago by Governor Sir James Ferguson, and Mayor Kirsten Wise also spoke.
Entering the last year of her second three-term in the mayoralty (begun by Robert Stuart when he was elected in January 1875) she spoke particularly of the city’s growth after the 1931 Hawke’s Bay Earthquake.
Napier Mayor Kirsten Wise joining with Napier Boys' and Girls' high schools students in Tutira Mai Nga Iwi. Photo / Doug Laing
She presented a kowhai tree to each of the Napier schools represented, from Eskdale to those based in what was once the borough of Taradale, and joined the students in the truly Hawke’s Bay and Ngāti Kahungunu waiata Tutira Mai Nga Iwi.
The Boys’ High kapa haka would later lead with powerful, equally-Hawke’s Bay, Ngāti Kahungunu haka Tika Tonu, reportedly originated in 1914.
Past and present - vintage vehicles were a part of the Napier 150 years commemorations. Photo / Doug Laing
The eldest present seemed to be one of the vintage vehicles around the Soundshell, as the Napier Pipe Band marched in to move the proceedings along at 7am – a Studebaker, from 1924, marking its own centenary.
With the team from the local constabulary at the hot plates, bread and tomato sauce, there was a free sausage on the day.
Napier constabulary on guard, providing the sausage sizzle at the Napier 150 years commemoration at the Napier Soundshell on Thursday morning. Photo / Doug Laing.
Then in the CBD, 150 “free coffee” vouchers were handed out from 9am, and from midday similar generosity with Mr Whippy Ice Cream was planned.
Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today, and has 51 years of journalism experience, 41 of them in Hawke’s Bay, in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues, and personalities.
