| Southern Crossings |
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Only those who have known sadness can feel joy. Only those who have known defeat can feel triumph. Only those who have known insecurity can feel security. The journey of Kupe to the Southern Oceans ended when he crossed the bar of the Hokianga and found shelter in the security of the extensive harbour. The bold and fearless navigator moved swiftly from exposure to enclosure. There was no room for indecision. The shipwrecks of those who made an error of judgement now litter the bars of West Coast harbours. The West Coast presents a seafarer with the tough option for arriving in New Zealand. No compromise. No mediocrity. The distinction between West and East has defined New Zealand's history. Much later than Kupe Tasman would blow into New Zealand on the Westerly trade winds. He found the Western edge so harsh and inhospitable that he did not make the crossing. He left without landing. Cook, in contrast, came the wrong way around, from the East, and found the soft underbelly of the land, with islands sheltering easy generous entrances to harbours. He stayed for six months, and twice returned. Others would follow. The rest, as they say, is history. Local Government Reform in New Zealand failed to understand any of this history. The Bay of Islands and the Hokianga may be physically close together, but in every other respect they remain worlds apart. No one in the Hokianga grows oranges or drives a BMW. No one in the Bay of Islands wears gumboots all winter or stops to help when your Series II Landrover, with a Holden 202 engine, breaks down. It is not that either the East or the West is better than the other. They are simply different. The Far North District Plan treats these opposites as one and the same. The planning police love uniformity. They take everything with them when they make a crossing, so that they never go anywhere. If you do not travel lightly where you go to becomes but a reflection of the place you have come from. Mediocrity is the inevitable result. A bridge can make it very easy to take everything with you. A ferry offers the opportunity to pause and reflect before making the crossing. Urban design excellence begins with an understanding of crossings. Vernacular urban design begins with a respect for historical distinctions. ***** Departure is not possible for those who have never arrived. Only those who take the risk of letting go know the feeling of freedom. It was from the Hokianga that Kupe left again to return to Hawaiki. Hence the name "the returning place". The rituals of farewell are central to nomadic and seafaring people. The poroporaki is much more than just saying goodbye. It is a declaration of what is to be taken on the journey and what is to be left behind. Planners are not good at letting go, but in this respect they are only like most other people. Planners genuinely believe that they are able to save the world, and they are convinced that their way is the best way. Planners believe that they have arrived while other people are still on the journey. Allowing people to take control of their own lives is a risk. Allowing people to build their own houses is a risk. Allowing people to think for themselves is a risk. Life is a risk. From time to time it becomes necessary to concentrate power, but this is never an ideal. At the earliest opportunity the relinquishing of power makes it possible for trust, dignity, responsibility and integrity to once again grow and flourish. These are the foundations on which sustainable design is built. Ideally planning would touch the earth lightly, making the least possible interventions into people's lives. Rites of passage are concerned not only with entering, but also with leaving behind. It is necessary to leave childhood behind to enter manhood. A bridge seeks to take ritual away. A ferry celebrates the crossing. Knowing when to stop is central to urban design excellence. Vernacular urban design never crosses the last frontier. ***** Life is uncertain, as Hamlet observed. Perhaps the truth is as we perceive it to be, but on the other hand perhaps we are wrong. It is possible that a historical crossing has confused Pouahi, the wharekura built at Whanui, with Arateuru, the wharekura of Ruanui on the South Head. This crossing between north and south is of importance for the design of the Nukutawhiti Marae. It is not important to resolve the enigma. It is important only to recognise that there is an enigma, and to make allowance for it in the design of the Marae. When we cross into someone else's world at first we see it our way, because we take all our intellectual baggage with us. We assume that we are superior. The problem with bureaucrats is that they are so self righteous. They cross into other people's lives, and yet they do not cross. You cannot converse with bureaucrats because they have closed minds. They then project their personalities onto others, assuming that everyone else has a position rather than of an array of possibilities. Aggression and anger come quickly to those who feel that someone is opposing them by simply wanting to be different. Those who propose a bridge to take away a ferry crossing presume that everyone must be either for their bridge or against their bridge. Today the idea seems to be important because it is new. Tomorrow it will be history. Lawyers have turned the planning process into polarised confrontation. In a pitched battle everyone loses. When options are left open new possibilities emerge, and new ways of seeing begin to gain ground. Urban design excellence always recognises that the historical truth could lie elsewhere. Vernacular urban design is always open ended. ***** We see ourselves more clearly when we see ourselves in relationships. The historian knows that every other civilisation has passed away, and wonders why ours should be an exception. Sustainability is but a contemporary search for immortality. Bishop Pompallier came to the Hokianga with a cross of another kind. He established the Purakau Mission Station before moving on to Russell and then Auckland. In January 2002 Pompallier's remains returned to New Zealand and in April they will reach Motuti, his "final" resting place beneath the Southern Cross. Purakau remains the mission it has always been, but the mission is new. The old flour mill is being restored but the message is new. We need to heal a broken world by healing our relationship with nature. It is a journey into the unknown. We have been there before, but we have forgotten. A pilgrimage design process is being proposed for the restoration of Purakau. The process will begin with random acts of love, rather than a Resource Consent. The role of the designer is to integrate the gifts freely given into a harmonious whole. It is the architectural process which is important. A materialistic culture sees architecture as object. A materialistic culture gives permits only for objects which are pre-designed and pre-determined. Institutional reform will be necessary if dynamic architecture is to make sustainability possible. Sustainable design is primarily concerned with relationships, and the right ordering of relationships. Sustainable architecture embraces the natural order. A bridge simply joins. A ferry mediates a relationship in ever changing ways. Urban design excellence responds to the unknown, recognising that life is always unknown. Vernacular urban design is a journey of exploration. ***** Cultural integrity, like personal integrity, can be enhanced by a society which respects historical differences. Settlers such as Ralph Fletcher Watkins, who came to Rangi Point, brought another crossing. Cultures mingled through intermarriage. In the Hokianga Maori is spoken as freely as English. There is respect for the old ways, but no one fears the new. The new culture is local. It is a blend of many traditions, but belongs in only one place. A bridge is global. A ferry is local. Urban design excellence never imitates and never compromises. Vernacular urban design does not follow history. It makes history. ***** To understand the history of the Hokianga you must travel by water. A stranger might well take the scow Alma from Opononi to Rangi Point, to Purakau, to Kohukohu, to Rawene, to Horeke, and on up some of the mangrove inlets. Each finger of land stretches out to begin a crossing and each welcomes the paddle, the Seagull, or the Alma. When shipbuilders came to Horeke, and sawmillers to Koutu, the waters of the Hokianga were crossed with a thousand journeys of locally built ships. When the first automobiles arrived in the Hokianga a humble barge began a ferry service crossing from south to north. The ferry was not a second best option. It was simply an extension of a well established mode of transport. A bridge comes from another tradition. A ferry is the local tradition. Urban design excellence is always a development, in the true sense of that word. Vernacular urban design grows out of local patterns and local habits. ***** Responsible traffic engineering begins with an understanding of urban design history. Old World urban design began with place, but for us in the New World urban design begins with journey. The primary urban design pattern is the cross. Community finds expression where journeys cross and briefly pause. The corner pub or the corner dairy mark the moment where people meet. The urban form of Rawene is the classic New Zealand variation of the New World cross, where one arm is the wharf. Today when the visitor to the Hokianga joins the locals on the ferry from Rawene to the Narrows they begin to experience the unique vernacular urban design of this place. It could always be so if everyone resolves never to forget the history of the Hokianga. ***** Sadly however this primary expression of urban design is under threat by a proposal to build bridges which will by-pass history. It could so easily happen just as it has in Tai-O on Lantau Island in Hong Kong. One of the most perfect Feng Shui sites in the world was too frail to survive a lack of understanding. After 5000 years the river at Tai-O has been bridged and it is no longer possible to experience the urban form of the town. It seems that economic rationalism has no place for history and no respect for urban design, but sometimes philosophy is but a cover for other agendas. In the Hokianga it seems that the bridge proposal is neither rational nor sensible from an economic viewpoint. In 2002 there is a crossing of attitudes with regard to the soul of the Hokianga. It is the gap between people, and the gap in our understanding, which needs to be bridged. The ferry retains the distinction between here and there. The ferry celebrates the rituals of arrival and departure. The ferry juxtaposes North Hokianga and South Hokianga. The ferry asserts values which are beyond materialism. The ferry is unique. The ferry gives meaning to the urban cross of Rawene. The ferry makes the experience of history possible. Water links. It does not divide. The stars of the Southern Cross stand apart and yet together. Urban design begins with an understanding of crossings. A paper for Whaka whitiwhiti au Tonga SOUTHERN CROSSINGS 6th Australasian Urban History and Planning Conference, University of Auckland, 13-16 February 2002 Abstract - Hokianga Crossing. The journey of Kupe to the Southern Oceans ended when he crossed the bar of the Hokianga and found shelter in the security of the extensive harbour. It was from the Hokianga that Kupe left again to return to Hawaiki. Hence the name "the returning place". It is possible that a historical crossing has confused Pouahi, the wharekura built at Whanui, with Arateuru. This crossing between north and south is of importance for the design of the Nukutawhiti Marae. Bishop Pompallier came to the Hokianga with a cross of another kind. He established the Purakau Mission Station before moving on to Russell and then Auckland. In January 2002 Pompallier's remains returned to Motuti, his final resting place beneath the Southern Cross. A pilgrimage design process is being proposed for the restoration of Purakau. Settlers such as Ralph Fletcher Watkins, who came to Rangi Point, brought another crossing. Cultures mingled through intermarriage. When shipbuilders came to Horeke, and sawmillers to Koutu, the waters of the Hokianga were crossed with a thousand journeys of locally built ships. When the first automobiles arrived in the Hokianga a humble barge began a ferry service crossing from south to north. To understand the history of the Hokianga you must travel by water. From Opononi to Rangi Point, to Purakau, to Kohukohu, to Rawene, to Horeke, and up the mangrove inlets. Each finger of land stretches out to begin a crossing and each welcomes the paddle, or the Seagull. The urban form of Rawene is the classic New Zealand variation of the New World cross, where one arm is the wharf. Old World urban design began with place, but for us urban design begins with journey. Community finds expression in the corner pub, or the corner dairy, marking the moment where journeys cross and briefly pause. Today when the visitor to the Hokianga joins the locals on the ferry from Rawene to the Narrows they begin to experience the unique vernacular urban design of this place. It will however not always be so if the history of the Hokianga is forgotten. This primary expression of urban design is under threat by a proposal to build bridges which will by-pass history. After 5000 years the river at Tai-O has been bridged and it is no longer possible to experience the urban form of the town. The same tragedy is threatening the Hokianga. It seems that economic rationalism has no place for history and no respect for urban design. It seems however that the bridge proposal is also neither rational nor sensible from an economic viewpoint. Proposals which do not make sense are dangerous. In 2002 there is a crossing of attitudes with regard to the soul of the Hokianga. It is the gap between people, and the gap in our understanding, which needs to be bridged. Water links. It does not divide. The stars of the Southern Cross stand apart and yet together. Responsible traffic engineering begins with an understanding of urban design history. Tony Watkins |
When you take everything with you your journey goes nowhere.
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