Post by flyjoe180 on Nov 30, 2007 10:52:27 GMT 12
Navy retreats in face of motorway
By HEATHER McCRACKEN - Auckland City Harbour News | Friday, 30 November 2007
The Navy is leaving St Marys Bay to make way for a motorway tunnel.
The 78-year-old naval base will be demolished after the Royal New Zealand Navy reserve unit moves its headquarters to Devonport next month.
The flag will be lowered for the final time on December 8 to mark the end of the last commissioned naval base in Auckland city.
"This establishment has served us well over the years," says staff officer Lieutenant Commander Peter Drew. "There’s a little tinge of nostalgia when you look at the line of commanding officers that go back to the 1930s."
The headquarters for the naval reserve unit, HMNZS Ngapona, was established at St Marys Bay in 1929.
A ladder from the top of the cliff formed the first access to the beachfront base.
The main building, which now sits between the motorway and the cliffs, was originally built on a pier over the water.
"There used to be a wharf at the end of the building and the naval patrol boats would just tie up there," Mr Drew says.
"One room is an old gun bay. I don’t think it’s ever fired anything other than blanks, but the doors used to open up over the harbour."
The northern motorway was built on reclaimed land in front of the base and has cut the building off from the water since the 1950s.
But it was still used as a training facility for reserves, many of whom served on warships overseas.
About 100 people still train at the base on Monday evenings and weekends.
Mr Drew, who has been in the unit since 1979, says many reserves have a long association with the Ngapona.
"People tend to stay for a long time in the reserves. Many of our people are 20-year veterans, and that forms part of the attachment to the place."
Transit regional manager Peter Spies says the base has been acquired to make way for the Victoria Park tunnel.
"The northern outlet of the tunnel is in the vicinity of Ngapona," he says.
Mr Spies says the Navy was able to continue using the site until the end of December.
Work on the tunnel, which will carry northbound traffic under Victoria Park, is expected to start in 2009.
Former and current naval reserves will attend a formal parade in front of mayor John Banks at the base on December 8, ahead of a welcoming ceremony at Te Taua Moana Marae in Devonport.
www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/sundaystartimes/auckland/4297075a6497.html
By HEATHER McCRACKEN - Auckland City Harbour News | Friday, 30 November 2007
The Navy is leaving St Marys Bay to make way for a motorway tunnel.
The 78-year-old naval base will be demolished after the Royal New Zealand Navy reserve unit moves its headquarters to Devonport next month.
The flag will be lowered for the final time on December 8 to mark the end of the last commissioned naval base in Auckland city.
"This establishment has served us well over the years," says staff officer Lieutenant Commander Peter Drew. "There’s a little tinge of nostalgia when you look at the line of commanding officers that go back to the 1930s."
The headquarters for the naval reserve unit, HMNZS Ngapona, was established at St Marys Bay in 1929.
A ladder from the top of the cliff formed the first access to the beachfront base.
The main building, which now sits between the motorway and the cliffs, was originally built on a pier over the water.
"There used to be a wharf at the end of the building and the naval patrol boats would just tie up there," Mr Drew says.
"One room is an old gun bay. I don’t think it’s ever fired anything other than blanks, but the doors used to open up over the harbour."
The northern motorway was built on reclaimed land in front of the base and has cut the building off from the water since the 1950s.
But it was still used as a training facility for reserves, many of whom served on warships overseas.
About 100 people still train at the base on Monday evenings and weekends.
Mr Drew, who has been in the unit since 1979, says many reserves have a long association with the Ngapona.
"People tend to stay for a long time in the reserves. Many of our people are 20-year veterans, and that forms part of the attachment to the place."
Transit regional manager Peter Spies says the base has been acquired to make way for the Victoria Park tunnel.
"The northern outlet of the tunnel is in the vicinity of Ngapona," he says.
Mr Spies says the Navy was able to continue using the site until the end of December.
Work on the tunnel, which will carry northbound traffic under Victoria Park, is expected to start in 2009.
Former and current naval reserves will attend a formal parade in front of mayor John Banks at the base on December 8, ahead of a welcoming ceremony at Te Taua Moana Marae in Devonport.
www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/sundaystartimes/auckland/4297075a6497.html