King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla will be crowned this weekend. Photo / Buckingham Palace
King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla will be crowned this weekend. Photo / Buckingham Palace
Waikato celebrations of the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla this weekend include several local councils honouring the royal tradition of marking significant occasions by planting a tree.
Matamata-Piako, Waipā, Otorohanga, Hauraki and Thames-Coromandel District councils will all have public tree-planting ceremonies while Hamilton City Council is having its tree-planting event in private.
Waipā District Council will also illuminate the Cambridge Town Hall, Cambridge clock tower and Te Awamutu Library façades in the royal purple from Friday, May 5 to Sunday, May 7.
The tree planting ceremonies for Waipā will take place on May 6, at Te Awamutu’s Victoria Park at 9am and at Cambridge’s Victoria Square at 11am. The council says the community is welcome to attend, however, the wet weather forecast means a scaled-back ceremony.
Waipā Mayor Susan O’Regan says: “We’ll be planting two European lime trees which are a particular favourite of the king and will grow well in the locations chosen. It’ll be a special event in our history that will mark the coronation of the king in Waipā.”
Meanwhile, the press secretary of Hamilton Mayor Paula Southgate, Kelly King, says a kowhai tree will be planted in the Hamilton Gardens but did not say on which day. The event will be closed to the public.
“Due to the location within the enclosed gardens at Hamilton Gardens and being situated along a narrow walkway, unfortunately, the public cannot attend the planting ... The site selected for the planting is not able to accommodate a crowd.”
When asked who will be planting the tree, King said: “Hamilton City Council is commemorating the coronation with a native tree planting.”
Hamilton City Council will plant a Kowhai tree in honour of King Charles III. Photo / Tania Whyte
The tree will be planted along the Ancestral Walk and marked with a commemorative plaque.
“This walkway ... represents our shared Māori and British ancestry. On one side we have natives from Te Parapara Garden and on the other is the Bay hedge of the Tudor Garden,” King says.
“These plantings from different cultures reflect the bicultural nature of Aotearoa New Zealand, acknowledging our European influences while representing Māori history and the significance of the Treaty of Waitangi Te Tiriti o Waitangi.”
Other public commemorative tree plantings will be held in Matamata-Piako District, where Mayor Adrienne Wilcock is planting a tree outside the Morrinsville Library, on Saturday, May 6, at 9am, at Matamata’s Memorial and Civic Centre, at 10am on May 6 and at Te Aroha’s Lower Domain, at 10am on Sunday, May 7.
Hauraki Mayor Toby Adams will host a totara tree planting ceremony in each of Hauraki District’s three main town centres on Thursday, May 4, in honour of King Charles and to celebrate the many school children and volunteers who have contributed to tree and shrub plantings in the district.
The new trees will join the totara trees planted in September last year, to commemorate the life and service of Queen Elizabeth ll.
Thames-Coromandel District Council will plant a tree at Thames’ Victoria Park on May 6 at 10am and Ōtorohanga District Council will hold a tree-planting ceremony at Windsor Park on May 6 May at 10am.
All commemorative trees planted for the king’s coronation across New Zealand will be included in a location map on the governor-general’s website after the ceremonies.
