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Otago Daily Times
28-05-2025
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Rates rise of 9.79% splits council
Waitaki District Council's longest-serving councillor has been left annoyed and frustrated with fellow councillors' inability find further ways of reducing rates bills. At a meeting of the Waitaki District Council this week, councillors agreed a rates rise, from next year, of 9.79%. Cr Jim Hopkins was not impressed with the outcome of what was the final chance to make meaningful reductions before the long-term plan is finally adopted in June. ''No-one wants to spend 9%-plus on rates but none of you want to actually take a dollar off the bill — crying out loud.'' The Oamaru Freezer Building was a concern. Cr Hopkins had suggested the building be gifted to Heritage New Zealand to be looked after by the nation, rather than ratepayers having to pay $250,000 to keep it up to safety standards. His suggestion that the $80,000 planned to pay for demolition of aviaries at the Oamaru Public Gardens be saved by offering the work as a free project to a community group was also turned down by councillors. ''I would just say to my colleagues around the table that what you have decided in terms of the discussions previously and even today, is that every dollar, of every line item, on every page, is absolutely of essential importance and cannot be reduced or forsaken,'' Cr Hopkins said. ''I think that's untenable. ''There are discretionary items in the pages we've looked at that could and should be reconsidered and I stand by the points I've made. ''I'm disappointed the elected members won't accept the principle that if, as has been asserted by a Crown agency, the Oamaru Freezer Building is a building of national importance, there is no justification for 13,000 ratepayers to put the total cost of its upkeep.'' The council did manage to agree to a reduction of $100,000 in the budget which will have a further small reduction of about one or two tenths of a percent. While not as big as the 10.3% rise the council originally consulted on in March, councillors have approved a proposed rates strike for its 2025-34 Long Term Plan, which will be adopted by the council in June. Once adopted the plan will see rates rise 9.79% in 2026, then a rise of 6.5% the following year. Rates will then be reduced from that benchmark by 16.11% in the third year of the plan, as water services are transferred to a yet-to-be-confirmed water entity that will charge ratepayers separately for services. Following that, rate rises will remain below 4% for the following seven years. ''This has been an extremely difficult process as we juggled with many conflicting priorities, against a background of affordability challenges for our community,'' Waitaki District Mayor Gary Kircher said. ''We've been working on this long-term plan for around 20 months and a lot of work has gone in to reducing cost for the ratepayer. ''We started in late-2023 with a rates rise of 26% and pulled it down to 13.73%. ''Even then, cost pressures saw the draft budget increase to 16%. ''We've managed to get it down to 9.79%, which is still more than anyone would like.''
Otago Daily Times
16-05-2025
- General
- Otago Daily Times
Oamaru bid for heritage status no sloppy call
As an enthusiast for Oamaru's historic town centre, Civis was pleased to read about progress toward achieving National Historic Landmark status. The 15 buildings in the Harbour St-Tyne St precinct, and the life around and within many of them, create a unique and impressive New Zealand ambience. They are worth visiting just about every time you pass through Oamaru. Both the visionaries and the hard sloggers who did, and still do, so much to retain and develop the area deserve thanks and praise. The Landmark process began in 2022, and earlier this month, the Oamaru Whitestone Civic Trust gave Heritage New Zealand formal assent to include the buildings in a proposal for Landmark status. If the government approves, the area will join the Treaty of Waitangi grounds in holding this premier standing. Others are also lining up for approval. The Wellington National War Memorial's application is with the heritage minister, and work is under way for the Christchurch Arts Centre and Kerikeri Basin. If too many sites gain landmark status, however, exclusivity will be lost. ★★★ Discussion of the word fulsome a few weeks ago received, dare Civis say it, a "fulsome" response (to use one of fulsome's meanings) from Oamaru reader John Chetwin. He said he found himself shouting in agreement about the unfortunate evolution of the word. John finds the word "impact" causes him as much anguish because it has almost completely usurped the roles of the verb to affect and the noun effect. "As a consequence, we have lost the use of three words in one hit: affect, effect and impact. In this case, I believe journalists have a lot to answer for." Craig Radford, of Dunedin, reported that, while unaware of fulsome's origins, he also avoided the word because of its ambiguity. He eschews "decimate" for the same reason. It was a Roman army punishment; the execution of one-tenth of a unit in response to a mass infringement. Later, as Craig also says, it was used to wipe out a tenth or a significant portion of an army. But now it is widely used to mean the almost total destruction of anything. While Craig notes that shifts in meanings are not new, sometimes the process now happens within a few years. Gay and woke are two prime examples. ★★★ Elly Kennedy wholeheartedly agrees about the superiority of curved sinks over the modern square variety. She believes many new inventions are more awkward than they need to be. She prefers the old method of manual dialling to the modern approach of punching in numbers, and she laments that so many things are designed to be thrown out rather than fixed. Janet, no surname supplied, still regularly uses the Kenwood mixer she received in 1974 as an engagement present. Civis suspects many even older Kenwoods are still chugging away. ★★★ Words have a way of quickly becoming fashionable. Recently, Civis read twice about "slop" within five minutes from two different news sources. Civis heard the word again just before writing this column. Two of the three uses referred to AI slop. The third was "slop" as the stream of disposable objects consumed. Peak use of slop as a noun was about 1910. It's quickly on the rise again, aided no doubt by sloppy uses of the word. ★★★ Civis' gripe a few weeks back with "American" to mean from the United States came to prominence last week. TVNZ's news was not the only outlet to proclaim the election of the "first American Pope". Also "sloppy", perhaps. Where the heck did Pope Francis come from if not Argentina, part of South "America"? Some outlets corrected themselves to the first North American Pope, although they might have wanted to specify the United States. civis@
RNZ News
09-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Country Life: Devcich Farm shines a light on Dalmatian pioneers
The woolshed is among a cluster of farm buildings listed as a place of special significance with Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Photo: RNZ/Sally Round Old pack horse saddles slung over beams, a sack of ancient kauri gum and a well-thumbed Ready Reckoner on the counter tell just one chapter of the Devcich Farm story. The items are in the farm's old trading post where, early last century, gum diggers and loggers came to buy stores for their camps up the Kauaeranga Valley on the Coromandel Peninsula. The old trading post where loggers and gumdiggers could buy stores on credit Photo: RNZ/Sally Round There's also an old blacksmith's forge, a timber mill with sawpit and a winery complete with antique wine-making tools and a pungent aroma of sherry. The Devcich family, originally from Dalmatia, now part of Croatia, farmed here last century. Their legacy, the Devcich Farmstead, is listed as a place of special significance with Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, for "reflecting significant developments in Dalmatian settlement in early twentieth-century New Zealand". The sheds, now clustered under a Croatian flag, also reveal their industriousness and range of skills. Follow Country Life on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , iHeart or wherever you get your podcasts. Simun Devcich arrived in New Zealand from Podgora with his two brothers, Marion Anton and Nicola just after the turn of the 20th century. They worked their way up through gum digging and trading and into farming, buying the block, much bigger then, in 1915. Simun had married another immigrant from Dalmatia, Matija Mercep, in 1913 and eventually took on the farm from his brothers, going from dairy to sheep farming, with his three sons working alongside. Simun married Matija Mercep in 1913 Photo: Supplied Commercial farming has stopped now but Simun's granddaughter, Lorenza Devcich, has restored the buildings and runs a menagerie of coloured sheep, llamas, Highland cattle, emus and assorted exotic birds on the land which remains, with tourists often staying in the old homestead. Lorenza Devcich feeding her llamas Photo: RNZ/Sally Round "My grandfather and his two brothers, they came from Yugoslavia to escape the army. "Even for years after, the young men would leave because as soon as they got of age … they would get thrown into the army." "My grandfather had about 11 pack horses that he and his boys, my uncles and father, used to pack supplies right up into all the camps at the top end of the valley. "When they'd first come here, a lot of [the gum diggers followed by loggers] had no money, so a lot of it was on credit. "He also bought gum and sold it. So, they'd come back here with the gum, and that's how he'd get paid." A large chunk of kauri gum left over from the early days found in the old store Photo: RNZ/Sally Round The Devcich brothers used pack horses to supply the gumdiggers working in the kauri forests up the Kauaeranga Valley Photo: Supplied Dalmatian immigrants were among New Zealand's wine making pioneers and the Devcich family was producing wine on a small scale from the late 1920s, under their Golden Valley label. Lorenza remembers helping her father Ivan in the wine shed which still houses a wooden fermenting vat and other wine-making tools. The old wine shed where Ivan Devcich made fortified wines under the label Golden Valley Photo: Supplied Lorenza used to help her father in the wine shed. The barrels still retain a pungent aroma Photo: RNZ/Sally Round "And there's probably the last standing bottle of sherry up there, still with some sherry in it. It hasn't been touched. And maybe it could even be one of the ones that I bottled, because my job here was the dog's body." Lorenza still tends to the 80-year-old grape vines today, using "the worst talkback radio station" she can find to blare out and scare away the birds. "The sherry and the wine were all made from grapes grown on the property. All the beautiful, big black Albany Surprise, I think it's called, … is still there producing. Lorenza Devcich with grapevines thought to have been planted about 80 years ago Photo: RNZ/Sally Round While the saw mill now stands quiet and the trading post has shut its doors, the farm courtyard is now home to a strutting peacock, brightly coloured pheasants and guinea fowl. Lorenza stores their feed in a shed once used to stable Simun's beloved racehorses, an interest he took up in later life. "They got fed all the lovely, cooked barley and everything. You'd go into the house, and you'd smell it cooking on the old coal range ... all the old farm horses, the pack horses and everything else, just lucky if they got thrown some hay." Lorenza keeps a menagerie of birds and animals on the remnants of the original Devcich farm Photo: RNZ/Sally Round Simun and Matija live at the Devcich Farmstead until their deaths in 1971 and 1977 respectively Photo: Supplied She has somewhat sad memories of Simun. "He got kicked in the stomach by a racehorse and ruptured his stomach, and he survived that, but then not long after, he had a stroke. "I used to love sitting down talking to him, but when I'd start talking to him, get him to tell me the history, he'd get upset and start crying." He died in 1971, once a strong active man and very much the "boss" in his day, and one of the pioneers of the valley, Lorenza said. Learn more:
Otago Daily Times
07-05-2025
- Otago Daily Times
Event introduces local archaeology
An activity day aims to inspire the next generation of archaeologists. A hands-on workshop at Tūhura Otago Museum on Saturday will give children a taste of digging, as well as cleaning and cataloguing historic finds. Hosted by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, the workshop will let participants examine genuine artefacts found in Dunedin. Archaeologist Jasmine Weston shows a toothbrush and pot of cherry toothpaste ''for beautifying and preserving the teeth and gums''. PHOTO: SAM HENDERSON Regional archaeologist Jasmine Weston said an array of artefacts dating from between 1860 and 1900 would be on display. Local finds included a small porcelain pot and lid that once held cherry toothpaste. Miss Weston said similar John Gosnell & Co containers were recovered from the wreck of Titanic. ''Because they are quite solid, they seem to last quite well.'' The tooth-cleaning paste would have been mixed with an abrasive such as ash. Another object unearthed locally was a toothbrush with a handle carved from animal bone. While the handle had survived, bristles, likely made from boar hair, had not. An intriguing find was an oval-shaped glass bottle, dating from between 1860 and 1900, that would have held aerated water, she said. ''Yes, they still had fizzy water.'' The bottle would have been reused repeatedly, making it difficult to pin down its exact age. ''It becomes really tricky to tell, because you use it the first time, but you don't throw it away, it gets taken back.'' People were even paid a small refund for returning the empties. Simple clay ''cutty'' pipes were often uncovered, some intact but often broken. ''Normally miners liked them. Lots of people smoked, but they were quite associated with that mining, gold rush mining period.'' During the workshop, children will handle artefacts and animal bones, learn to identify them and link each find to its period and place of use. Children are encouraged to wear old clothes because activities may get messy. The event is part of the New Zealand Archaeological Association's Archaeology Week. The Heritage NZ Archaeology Week activity day runs on Saturday, 10am-2pm, in the Beautiful Science Gallery at Tūhura Otago Museum. @
Scoop
06-05-2025
- General
- Scoop
Home Of Compassion Chapel And Resting Place Listed As Historic Place
Press Release – Compassion The decision was made by the Heritage New Zealand Board following careful consideration and recognises that the place holds sufficient significance to be entered onto the New Zealand Heritage List. The listing will take effect on 12 May 2025. Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga has recognised The Chapel of Our Lady of Compassion and the Resting Place of Meri Hōhepa Suzanne Aubert as a Category 1 Historic Place. The decision was made by the Heritage New Zealand Board following careful consideration and recognises that the place holds sufficient significance to be entered onto the New Zealand Heritage List. The listing will take effect on 12 May 2025. In its decision, Heritage New Zealand considered a range of criteria, evaluating the architectural, social, spiritual, aesthetic, and historical significance of the site. 'The Chapel of Our Lady of Compassion and the Resting Place of Meri Hōhepa Suzanne Aubert have outstanding historical and spiritual significance for their direct association with the Catholic nun, nurse, and social worker Meri Hōhepa Suzanne Aubert, who founded the Daughters of Our Lady of Compassion (Sisters of Compassion).' Heritage New Zealand also recognised the further historical significance of the Chapel through its association with Ross Brown, award-winning architect of the Structon Group, and John Drawbridge, an artist of national standing. Opened in 1990, the design of the Chapel is the result of collaboration between these two highly respected figures in their fields. 'The building has a unique form, and its interior is visually arresting. The result is a unique and extraordinary space, which, with the addition of the Resting Place, has significant rarity value.' The Resting Place was designed by Hugh Tennent of Tennent Brown Architects. Together with his business partner Ewan Brown, Hugh Tennent recently won the 2024 Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects gold medal for their contribution to architecture. Opened in 2017, the award-winning Resting Place is a tranquil but simple space accompanied by thoughtful design. The focus is Suzanne's tomb, the natural world through a large adjacent window, and John Drawbridge's 'Resurrection' stained glass window. The Chapel and Resting Place are an important part of Our Lady's Home of Compassion, serving as a place of prayer, worship, retreat, and reflection; a spiritual centre for significant religious and social events in the community; and a place of pilgrimage. Sister Margaret Anne Mills, Congregational Leader of the Sisters of Compassion, welcomed the decision. 'It recognises the importance of this place in the life Meri Hōhepa Suzanne Aubert and her wider contribution to New Zealand society.' 'We want to acknowledge Historic Places Wellington, who made the initial nomination, and to thank Heritage New Zealand for this recognition.' Suzanne's work and contribution to this country is already acknowledged on the New Zealand Heritage List with the inclusion of the Church of the Immaculate Conception at Pakipaki, St Joseph's Church and Convent at Hiruhārama/Jerusalem – a place Suzanne called 'the cradle of our Congregation' – and the former Crèche at Wellington. The Soup Kitchen she established in the city in 1901 continues to operate to this day. The Chapel and Resting Place are located at Our Lady's Home of Compassion in Island Bay, Wellington, which is one of five pilgrimage sites designated by the Archdiocese of Wellington for this Year of Jubilee with its theme of 'Pilgrims of Hope'. Suzanne served 'all creeds and none', and in keeping with this, the Chapel and Resting Place are open to everyone from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm every day. 'We look forward to welcoming you', said Sister Margaret Anne. ___________________________________________________________________________ Venerable Meri Hōhepa Suzanne Aubert, also known as Mother Mary Joseph Aubert, was a pioneering Catholic nun, missionary, and social reformer who left France in 1860 to serve in Aotearoa New Zealand. She dedicated her life to ministering to Māori and Pākehā communities, both Catholic and non-Catholic, without compromising her own beliefs. After early missionary work in Auckland and Hawke's Bay, she moved to Hiruhārama/Jerusalem on the Whanganui River in 1883, where she founded the Daughters of Our Lady of Compassion in 1892, the first Catholic congregation established in Aotearoa New Zealand to receive Papal recognition. The Sisters cared for the poor, the sick, the disabled, and abandoned children, regardless of race or religion. In 1899, Suzanne moved to Wellington, setting up a soup kitchen, a crèche, and later, Our Lady's Home of Compassion in Island Bay. At 78, she travelled to Rome and secured Pope Benedict XV's recognition of the Decree of Praise for her order in 1917. She died in 1926, and was widely mourned. Today, her cause for sainthood is underway, and her legacy continues through the Sisters of Compassion's ongoing work.
