From Kittyhawk bistro to the Rifle Range amphitheatre, Hobsonville Point’s rich aviation heritage is celebrated everywhere you look. That’s all for a good reason, says Kathleen Waldock, HLC’s Placemaking Team Leader.
“The heritage component of Hobsonville Point falls within HLC’s Sustainable Development Framework, where we are measuring not only environmental goals, but also economic, social and cultural outcomes,” Waldock says.
Within this framework, the cultural outcomes around heritage aim to give residents both a sense of place (tūrangawaewae) and custodianship (kaitiakitanga). By acknowledging the heritage of the land and Mana Whenua, residents can feel connected to the past, and uphold the role of Kaitiaki for future generations of Hobsonville Point, Waldock adds.
Hobsonville Point has a fascinating history. The air base played a critical role in New Zealand's efforts to defend the country and fight alongside allies during WWII. At the same time New Zealand’s commercial aviation industry was being pioneered from Hobsonville Point. Prior to 1929 the land provided richly for Māori and Pākehā alike, offering up seafood, timber, kauri gum and clay for pottery.
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Hobsonville Point’s military and pre-European history has been respected throughout the development process, and Waldock and her placemaking team have guided many of the interpretations of this heritage, including street names, public art, and recreational facilities.
“We had such good bones as well, that’s really what made us stand out from other developments,” Waldock says. “While it was regarded as a greenfields site, there was a lot of history to draw on.”
Finding the stories behind the history was challenging, given the fact that the Air Force had left the area when plans for the housing development were underway. HLC left a guest book at Catalina Café – at that time the only public place at Hobsonville Point – and invited visitors to share their stories of the area, and be contacted about the stories if they wished.
From there, Waldock identified stories that needed to be recorded by oral historians, and as the development grew, people came out of the woodwork to share more information. “We still get approached every other week by someone who has a story about the area,” Waldock says.
The Rifle Range amphitheatre still has bullet holes from its former use for weapons testing. Picture/supplied.
Many of these stories have been captured in information panels dotting the neighbourhood; visit Junk’s Stop bus shelter on the corner of Sunderland and Buckley Avenues to learn more about the last man employed on the air base, or get up close to the bullet holes in the Rifle Range amphitheatre and read real-life stories about guns and weaponry tested at the range.
HLC also acknowledges the pre-European heritage in the area, and is continuously developing its partnership with local iwi, Te Kawerau a Maki and Ngāti Whātua o Kaipara, to ensure iwi heritage is reflected.
Waldock says the intention to preserve the history of the area has been done in a “genuine and authentic way”. She hopes that descendants of some of the historical figures acknowledged at Hobsonville Point, and Air Force personnel today are pleased with what HLC has preserved and celebrated in the neighbourhood.
“I suppose one testament to that is that we have many Air Force families choosing to come and live here – I take that as a big tick!”
- Content supplied by the Urban Development Group
