‘Vandalising’ of national historic reserve

So the metal monstrosity that is the so-called 1000-year bridge is finally nearing completion, with the body, prow and stern being hoisted into place. 

Also near complete achievement is the visual obliteration of the Cook landing monument. 

The waka bridge and other additions completely overshadow the landing monument. 

Will the pohutukawa on the hillside also have to be sacrificed for visibility’s sake on both sides? The gods forbid! 

When unveiled in 1906, the obelisk stood alone on the papa foreshore, near the inlet where Cook’s party rowed in. No more, having been cut off from the sea by port works and reclamation, and now “re-visioning”. 

Congratulations to all who had a hand in vandalising this national historic reserve - you have turned the site of what was a stand-alone obelisk into a clutter that more resembles a theme park than a place where one can reflect on one of the significant events of the country’s past. 

This whole project was bulldozed through in the lead-up to the sestercentennial with little input from the general public, who were given sparse detail on what was planned and almost no space or time to say anything. 

Even the obelisk - simply a marker of where and when the landing occurred - has been altered by the current reshaping of history, by someone deciding to surround its base with “bitter” words from Joseph Banks. 

I look forward to the day - sometime in the future - when the past is accepted as something that cannot be undone, as the dead cannot be resurrected, and the damage and hurt never fully recompensed. 

I wonder when we will have (as the Americans say) “closure” on the landing events 255 years ago. 

Roger Handford