|
Post by phil82 on Oct 16, 2014 14:56:14 GMT 12
Personally, I think we are getting a bit worked up and far too parochial in our attitudes to this. Like it or not, Wellington is our capital city. Why not put it there? It is a terrific gesture and yes, it will be expensive, but it's a fitting cause, to be frank. Eu contraire my friend; I am neither worked up nor parochial, but what I am is accepting of why and how of what exists, and that is a a NATIONAL memorial, which just happens to be located in the capital and on which an overhaul is long overdue and commensurate with the 100 year commemorations . So I agree!
|
|
|
Post by nuuumannn on Oct 16, 2014 15:54:36 GMT 12
I wasn't specifically referring to your comments, Phil We should be thankful the govt is considering spending public money on the likes of this, otherwise there will be complaints about not enough being allocated to the Centenary of the war, or if it were to be put in Auckland then there would be complaints about the fact that yet more public money is allocated to projects in that city and not elsewhere! Sigh... Besides, it has to be put in Wellington, as it is geographically closest to the physical centre of New Zealand, which is in Nelson, and imagine the uproar if it were there and not in Chch or Wgtn, Auckland...
|
|
|
Post by kiwirob on Oct 23, 2014 0:14:29 GMT 12
Put bluntly 90 million is a drop in the bucket, I think this is money well spent.
|
|
|
Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Mar 28, 2015 14:55:02 GMT 12
from The Dominion Post....Pukeahu National War Memorial Park provides space to rememberBy NEIL RATLEY | 8:55AM - Saturday, 28 March 2015Pukeahu National War Memorial Park above Arras Tunnel in Wellington has been completed in time for the centenary commemorations of the Gallipoli landings on April 25th, 1915. — Photo: Ashten Macdonald/Fairfax NZ.A SPACE worthy of honouring the sacrifice of thousands of Kiwi servicemen and women can now be enjoyed by Wellingtonians and visitors.
The Pukeahu National War Memorial Park precinct was officially blessed this week and is open to the public.
The park was envisioned to enhance the setting around the war memorial and provide space for the increasing number of people attending major ceremonial occasions such as Anzac Day.
Pohutukawa have been planted, and boulders carved with Maori motifs representing Ruapehu and Tongariro have been installed.The Australian memorial is made from standstone columns, symbolic of the country's red centre. — Photo: Ashten Macdonald/Fairfax NZ.The Carillon now stands proudly in a memorial precinct created by the construct of a park above the Arras Tunnel in Buckle Street. — Photo: Ashten Macdonald/Fairfax NZ.The new memorial precinct has encompassed the existing carillon, Hall of Memories and Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, and the new Ceremonial Plaza.
There is also an Australian memorial at the park, featuring 15 sandstone columns, symbolic of the country's red centre, surrounded by eucalyptus trees.
Pedestrians and cyclists can access the park from Taranaki, Tasman and Tory streets, as well as Martin Square.• Pukeahu National War Memorial Park
Related news stories:
• Arras tunnel honours wartime heroes
• Ceremony marks opening of Pukeahu National War Memorial park
• War memorial park opens early
• Great peal of sorrow rang out across Wellington
www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/67534783/Pukeahu-National-War-Memorial-Park-provides-space-to-remember
|
|
|
Post by kiwithrottlejockey on May 12, 2015 17:28:37 GMT 12
from The Dominion Post....Skaters do tricks on revamped Anzac war memorialBy BEN HEATHER | 3:17PM - Monday, 11 May 2015The refurbished Wellington cenotaph has become a skating hot spot since it reopened in April. — Photo: Cameron Burnell.THE memorial meant to honour our fallen soldiers is providing a new playground for skateboarders.
The Wellington skaters have been flipping, sliding and jumping over the newly upgraded cenotaph, near Parliament.
John Conigrave, of Thorndon, said he has seen skateboarders at the cenotaph twice since it reopened in April. This included a crew of 25 late last Saturday afternoon, who were using flashlights in the dim light, and mobile cameras to record launching themselves off the memorial's stairs.
“They would slide down the steps to do their flips and all the rest of it,” he said. “They were really getting into it.”
Conigrave said he had also seen a smaller group of skateboarders there the day after Anzac Day, just hours after the monument was the site for a centenary memorial service.
He said the new benches at the memorial was already showing signs of wear and splintering from the skating. “It's just not respectful and it is causing damage.”
Wellington City Council spokesman Richard MacLean said it was aware the cenotaph had become a skateboarding hot spot since it reopened.
“We are certainly aware it has become an attraction, and we may have to do some cosmetic work [to repair the site],” he said.
Options being considered would include banning skateboarding at the site, as had been done in Civic Square, and fixing the ledges and benches with steel inserts to prevent sliding. Ideally, the skateboarders would simply “show a little respect” and move on, he said.
“It's not a cool thing to do.”
Wellington Taranaki West Coast RSA district president Glover Anderson said skating on the cenotaph was “not on”. “It's a digrace really.”
The cenotaph was built in 1929 to honour the soldiers killed in World War I. Ahead of this year's centenary commemorations, Wellington City Council and the Parliamentary Service spent $2.5 million upgrade the site.www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/68446264/skaters-do-tricks-on-revamped-anzac-war-memorial from The Dominion Post....Skateboard problem at Pukeahu War Memorial Park By AUDREY SEAMAN | 3:03PM - Tuesday, 12 May 2015Skateboarders really are ripping it up at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park. — Photo: Audrey Seaman.WELLINGTON's new Pukeahu War Memorial Park has become a battered, noisy skatepark — but officials say they are relying on persuasion to prevent further damage.
The $120 million park's Tory Street entrance has dozens of dark scrapes from skateboarders riding the slanted wall, and two of the single-person benches are scratched and fading.
Skateboard damage has also been reported at Wellington's revamped Cenotaph, near the Beehive.
Skateboarders descended on the park when security was withdrawn after Anzac Day commemorations.
Several teenage boys said they visited the park daily because it was more open and free than skate parks.
Max Sceats, 16, said he understood their actions could be disrespectful.
“But we are using it better than the vast majority of people,” he said.
One skateboarder, who did not give his name, said he had been grabbed by a visitor, and another said he had been sworn at.
They said if visitors asked them to stop nicely, they would return the respect.
When asked about the marking around the park, they said: “Those are from the rollerbladers.”
National War Memorial curator Paul Riley said he had asked skateboarders to stop and they had told him to go away.
“There is nothing I can say until they put up signs,” Riley said.
Ministry of Culture and Heritage heritage projects manager Brodie Stubbs said it had the same problem when the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior was built.
“We found the effective way was to talk to them (the skateboarders) and to the skate shops around town so that the message was going out from their peers that they should go elsewhere in the city to skate, and that this is a place you don't go to skate.”
“For the Ministry of Culture and Heritage, we see it absolutely as our responsibility to deal with this situation and we are.”
Wellington branch Returned Services Association president Ron Turner said the RSA wanted people to have the liberty to use all of New Zealand's facilities.
“It's a fantastic public facility to use as a park as well as a place for commemorations,” he said.
“It's a pity there is sometimes a lack of awareness and respect for what the park and the items in the park stand for.”www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/local-papers/the-wellingtonian/68466004/skateboard-problem-at-pukeahu-war-memorial-park
|
|
|
Post by Dave Homewood on May 12, 2015 17:47:38 GMT 12
What do they expect? Of course that is going to happen...
|
|
|
Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Jun 25, 2015 14:16:04 GMT 12
from The Wellingtonian....Cenotaph could lose dawn service to Pukeahu War Memorial ParkAfter 77 years, a growing dawn service could be moved from the Cenotaph to Pukeahu.By TALIA CARLISLE | 5:00AM - Thursday, 25 June 2015Upgrades to the Wellington Cenotaph were completed on time for the 2015 Anzac centenary. — Photo: Cameron Burnell/Fairfax NZ.A 77-YEAR TRADITION of holding Wellington's dawn parade at the Cenotaph could be abandoned.
The dawn service was held at the Cenotaph from 1939 until this year, when it was incorporated into the Gallipoli centenary commemorations at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park.
Ironically, the success of this year's service, which drew a crowd of 45,000, has concerned organisers who fear that increased numbers would not fit at the newly renovated Cenotaph.Crowds at the national Anzac Day dawn service at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park, Wellington. — Ross Giblin/Fairfax NZ.About $2.5 million has been spent increasing the Cenotaph's capacity, from 12,000 to 14,000 people.
But the larger space, staircase to Parliament and artwork by Joe Sheehan would be inadequate if a crowd of anything like 45,000 people showed up.
Wellington RSA president Ron Turner said he was pleased with the 10,000 or more who had been attending recent Cenotaph's dawn services, but 45,000 would be too many.
“If that number of people attended the dawn service at the Cenotaph we would be both thrilled and concerned,” he said.
“We are concerned that everybody who comes to the dawn service is able to take part and not be so far away that they can't see the Cenotaph or veterans.”
The added cost of hiring television screens and buying extra tea and Anzac biscuits was another concern, he said.
“It's been a tradition to provide a cup of tea and Anzac biscuits afterwards. This year cost Internal Affairs about $40,000 just for food. It's cost nothing like that in the past.”Wellington RSA president Ron Turner is fighting to keep the dawn service at Wellington Cenotaph. — Photo: Talia Carlisle/Fairfax NZ.At the Wellington RSA's latest annual meeting, members voiced their preference for using the Cenotaph, he said.
“The Cenotaph is the place where those who left for the war from Wellington are commemorated, and that is really a Wellington service rather than a national service.”
Turner said he did not have a personal preference about the location, but said his role was to ensure Wellington Anzac Day commemorations were held at the most appropriate place in terms of tradition and public participation.
He said that before next year's location was decided, discussions would be held with the Department of Internal Affairs and Wellington City Council to estimate the number of people who could comfortably fit at the Cenotaph.Crowd at the official VE celebrations, Lambton Quay, Wellington, May 1945. The Cenotaph, and Bowen Street, are in the background. — Photograph: John Dobree Pascoe/Alexander Turnbull Library/Ref: 1/4-001522-F.Wellington City Council events development adviser Lauren Fantham said although the Cenotaph was built for the dawn service and other commemorations, the council did not have a preference regarded the dawn service venue.
“We will continue to work closely with the RSA and the Minister of Culture and Heritage and make sure the dawn service is held in the way that best serves the memory of the veterans,” Fantham said.Related stories:
• Ceremony marks Pukeahu official opening
• Cenotaph precinct reopens for centenary
• Pukeahu National War Memorial Park opens
• War memorial's 'Aussie' heart made in India
• First Anzac service for Pukeahu Memorial Park
• Citizens' ceremony at Wellington's cenotaphwww.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/wellington/69640980/cenotaph-could-lose-dawn-service--to-pukeahu-war-memorial-park
|
|
|
Post by delticman on Jun 25, 2015 14:22:09 GMT 12
Take the Indian Rocks away and move the Cenotaph to that site, just an idea.
|
|
|
Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Jun 25, 2015 14:47:10 GMT 12
Take the Indian Rocks away and move the Cenotaph to that site, just an idea. Hahaha....you'd upset out Aussie cousins if you remove their memorial. I've got to admit I was a bit disappointed when they moved the dawn parade away from the Wellington Cenotaph this year. Pukeahu National War Memorial Park is just that .... a NATIONAL war memorial. Whereas the Wellington Cenotaph is the city's war memorial. And just as every other place around New Zealand holds their dawn parade each Anzac Day at the local cenotaph, I feel that is where the dawn parade should be in Wellington. Hold a separate national Anzac Service at Pukeahu later in the day, but leave the dawn service where it has traditionally been held.
|
|
zolteg
Flight Lieutenant
Posts: 82
|
Post by zolteg on Jun 28, 2015 19:35:18 GMT 12
Mostly agree Kiwithrottlejockey, although I didn't object this year to the nation borrowing the Wellington Service. I can't quite recall, but I'm not sure the Centoaph was sorted in time for ANZAC day, but next years definitely needs to be back there.
There still needs to be something later in the day - it's the right place for a national commemoration service.
|
|