18 February 2008: A Capital Suburb: Pipitea Thorndon
Survival of a community and its heritage is fragile when it is a gateway to the city, home to the seat of government and a desirable place to live and work.
A new exhibition at the National Library Gallery explores the history of the suburb at the heart of the capital. Images and documents reveal both the special character of the area and the similarities it shares with many older suburbs at the centre of New Zealand cities.
From the 1830s to the 21st century, cycles of growth, decline and renewal have left their mark on Thorndon in tangible architecture, in written words and images and, for Te Ati Awa especially, in memories and obligations passed on from one generation to another. Since 2003, their original occupation of the area has been given recognition in the name Pipitea for the eastern section of Thorndon.
Material from the Alexander Turnbull Library collections records Te Ati Awa, their kainga, cultivations and presence in the developing town of Wellington, and their long struggle to protect their interests in the city.
Panoramamic photographs including work by James Bragge and WHW Davis, show the progress from beach settlement to thriving city suburb. An album of photographs from the 1860s gives an intimate glimpse of family life and of the social networks formed in the new town. Images by photographer John Pascoe record events in the years of World War II while two works by photographer Robin Morrison catch the moment in the 1970s when Thorndon began to recover from urban blight and the ravages of motorway development.
Within walking distance of the National Library are many of the houses and public buildings, streets of workers’ cottages and homes of artists and politicians represented in the exhibition. Although there is no visible evidence of early Māori settlement, many of the locations where Te Ati Awa lived and worked are known. Visitors to the exhibition will have the opportunity to see in the streets around them what has survived from the past and the changes that have either enhanced or threatened the character of the area.
Media organisations can download high-resoution images from the exhibition on this website.
Download Pipitea Thorndon images
The exhibition opens on 5 April 2008 and will be on show until 19 July.
