Auckland walk casts city in a different light

Prince Davis' Tamaki Hikoi begins at Maungawhau. Picture / Kenny Rodger

From the top of Maungawhau, Mt Eden, Prince Davis sweeps his arm across the volcanic cones dotting the plain below. "The most important of these to Maori," he tells his audience, "was Maungakiekie, One Tree Hill, which was the seat of power. The highest chiefs sat there and ruled the lands as far as the eye could see."

Hamish Timmins pauses at the intersection of Queen St and Customs St and gestures up the valley of buildings. "Somewhere around here," he says, "was Auckland's first pub, Mucky Jack's. Some time late in 1840 an old hulk was dragged ashore around the bottom of the Waihorotiu Stream, which used to flow where Queen St is today. It was stocked with booze and opened for business."

At the entrance to the Auckland Museum, Tu Tata puts his lips to a conch shell and blows a haunting blast to summon visitors to a performance by Ngati Whatua culture group Manaia.

Sir John Ingram draws attention to a short length of heavily capped stone wall across the waterfront to the west of the Ferry Buildings. "That was part of the entrance to the old graving dock, built in 1878, which extended diagonally across where Quay St runs today."

All those experiences are part of a strategy to use Auckland's history as a selling point for the city.

Although Tourism Auckland chief executive Graeme Osborne comes from way down in the Catlins he is passionate about creating opportunities for visitors, and Aucklanders, to enjoy more of the Queen City's rich heritage.

"I've sometimes thought that Aucklanders seem almost embarrassed to say where they come from, let alone to want to promote their city's heritage," he says. "You'd also have to say not many of the people who live here - whether born and bred or from elsewhere - seem to know much about the city's past.

"Yet when you look into it, Auckland has a rich, colourful, fascinating history, whether it's from the Maori perspective, the days of early settlement, or the development of Auckland into the world-class city we know today."

Osborne believes that putting that history on display is a form of tourism which should both appeal to Aucklanders and serve as a useful point of differentiation when it comes to attracting overseas tourists. "If we can provide opportunities for visitors to experience this region's heritage, if we can bring our past alive, then we'll have a product no one else can copy, and we'll add enormous value to the total Auckland experience."

Auckland Museum was arguably first into this field of tourism, its Maori exhibitions having long been an early port of call for anyone wanting to understand the country.

These days, the museum attracts nearly half a million visitors a year, more than half of them international tourists, making it one of the country's top tourist attractions.

For several years it has also offered visitors Maori culture performances, these days provided by Manaia, using a clever mixture of humour and spirituality, education and entertainment to get across a lot of information about the Ngati Whatua world view while still being fun. Certainly, the day I was there, overseas visitors were entranced.

Afterwards, members of the group move into the Maori gallery and tell visitors about the items on display. That can range from describing the stories told in the carvings on the great meetinghouse Hotonui, to explaining how the mighty war canoe was carved nearly 200 years ago from a single totara.

Now Tourism Auckland has developed a partnership with Ngati Whatua to provide guided walks through the city that give the iwi's perspective on Auckland's landscape and history.

The Tamaki Hikoi begins at the top of Maungawhau with a formal welcome from Davis, and then wends its way down the mountain, across to Auckland Domain - with a pause for tea and pikelets by the duckpond - along the bushclad Centennial Walkway, up to the University of Auckland marae then down to Britomart for a farewell karakia.

During the 6km walk, which lasts three to four hours, Davis uses stories, songs, chants, even the call of a bullroarer, to illustrate how Ngati Whatua came to be tangata whenua of the area, the way they viewed the land, why they welcomed Governor William Hobson to establish his capital there, how they were affected by colonialism and the resurgence of hope in recent years.

The hikoi is great entertainment and a good way to get a Maori perspective on Auckland.

But Auckland's history did not slumber with the arrival of the Pakeha. It accelerated as Hobson's settlement grew into the great engine of economic, social and cultural development, and Tourism Auckland provides opportunities to experience that.

There are already several booklets designed to allow people make self-guided heritage walks.

These include:

* Auckland City Heritage Walks - Three routes through the history of the city's commercial heart in the Queen St valley.
* Ponsonby Heritage Walks - four walks through the colourful past of the Ponsonby-Freeman's Bay area.
* Historical Geography - three walks focusing on the early settlement's speculators, civic projects and colonial elite.
* Engineering Heritage - two routes drawn up by the Institute of Professional Engineers to highlight some of the city's great engineering achievements, ranging from the electric tram network dating back to 1899 to the modern Britomart transport centre.

Sir John, who chairs the institute's heritage committee, is enthusiastic about making Aucklanders more aware of the way engineering has helped to shape the city. "I think when people see what is there they'll find it quite exciting."

As the next stage of developing heritage tourism, Tourism Auckland is preparing to offer guided tours of the city's historic places.

Timmins, who researched the topic, is doing test runs to decide on the best route and sort out which of the masses of historical material to use.

There is, for instance, the story of Mucky Jack's and that within a year there were 15 hotels around Shortland St, Fort St and Queen St.

Or there's the route of the Ligar Canal, a combination of stream and open sewer which ran down Queen St, of which Timmins talks with relish of a newspaper report of police being called "to rescue an unnamed gentleman who had fallen in. Finding him clearly intoxicated but in no danger of drowning they decided to leave him because the stench was unbearable".

Or there's the spot where Auckland was officially founded in 1840 which, Timmins points out, isn't marked, although it was probably somewhere round Emily Place and wasn't on January 29, Auckland's Anniversary Day, but September 18.

Or there's the site in Shortland St where David Nathan pitched his tent and started the business which grew to become Australasian liquor giant Lion Nathan.

Wandering round the city centre with Timmins casts it in a different light - today's office blocks, shops and footpaths emerging as the former sites of pubs, brothels and stinking open sewers.

I've even learned that the old Jean Batten Post Office (also under threat of demolition) has a plaque recording that it sits on the spot where the first wooden building in Auckland, the Government Store, was built in 1840 ... where my great-great-grandfather worked. He probably had a drink down the road at Mucky Jack's.

Auckland Museum admission
A $5 donation for adults. It's on the web at www.aucklandmuseum.com (see link below) or ph (09) 306 7067

Manaia
A performance costs $15 for adults. Further information on the museum website.

Tamaki hikoi
It costs $80 for adults and the assembly point is at Tourism Auckland's i-SITE visitor information centre on Princes Wharf. Further information at www.aucklandnz.com (link below) or 0800 AUCKLAND.

Heritage walks
Brochures are available from any of Tourism Auckland's i-SITE visitor information centres. For details of the guided walks, ph 0800 AUCKLAND.