DoomsdaysCW#HamiltonNZ - #TeParapara, The World’s Only #TraditionalMāoriGarden Was Made From Memories
Once gardens, then a garbage dump, then back to gardens.
by Anne Ewbank July 11, 2019
"The city of Hamilton, on New Zealand’s North Island, is cradled by the long #WaikatoRiver. For centuries, the #Tainui tribes of the #Māori cultivated massive gardens here. Even after European contact, they grew crops for themselves and to sell to new settlers. But by the mid-19th century, the gardens were gone.
"At the #HamiltonGardens, one has returned. The complex is something of a garden paradise. Many botanical gardens feature Japanese gardens and kitchen gardens. Hamilton has those. Not too many gardens have a Modernist garden and a steampunk blimp. But Hamilton also has something unique: Te Parapara, a recreated, pre-European Māori garden.
"The Hamilton Gardens got off to a humble start, says director Dr. Peter Sergel. Not long ago, the site of the gardens 'was the rubbish dump for the whole city.' As a child, he remembers the site swarming with seagulls and rats. While it was an interesting romping ground, Sergel grew up and became a landscape architect. Forty years ago, he drew up the plans for a facility that would take visitors through thousands of years of garden history. According to him, a Māori garden was always on the menu.
'It’s part of our tradition, and culture, and heritage,' he says."
Read more:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/maori-garden
#SolarPunkSunday #MāoriGardens #CulturalRestoration #CulturalPreservation #IndigenousKnowledge #Aotearoa #Gardens #NewZealand
mementomaori
Robin Forlonge Patterson