Park history

Ngāti Tama migrated from Taranaki through the Manawatū to eventually settle in the Kaiwharawhara area. The Kaiwharawhara pa was located at the mouth of the Kaiwharawhara Stream. It was inhabited before and during early settlement days. The chief during the earliest days of settlement was Te Kāeaea, also known as Taringakurī or Dog's Ear. He was initially hostile to the settlers and to the sale of Māori land. In 1839 his resistance was overcome and he sold his land to Wakefield's New Zealand Company for clothing and other goods.

Tracks and transport

Ngaio Gorge formed a natural access way between Wellington and the coast and was much used by Māori going to Whanganui and Taranaki. Māori also used the gorge as a source of food and for hunting. In 1841, Mein-Smith, the prominent New Zealand Company surveyor who laid out Wellington, improved the track Māori used through the gorge to form a pedestrian way between Kaiwharawhara and Khandallah.

This was followed in 1845 by the construction of a road up the gorge commissioned by Captain Daniel whose Trelissick Farm, named after his estate in Cornwall, was at the head of the gorge. This road became a popular by-pass for the early stages of the Old Porirua Road which was extremely steep. In 1846, the gorge access was improved again when Governor George Grey, with a militarist's appreciation of old Roman roads, enlarged and upgraded the gorge road in order to send his troops to fight Te Rauparaha. By 1860, Cobb & Company coaches were using the gorge route. In September 1898, the Onslow Borough Council approved a plan to survey and construct a new road. This road followed much the same path as the present Ngaio Gorge Road.

In 1874, The Wellington-Manawatu Railway Company established a rail link though the gorge.

The Trelissick Track has been a walking track between Hanover Street in Wadestown and Trelissick Crescent in Ngaio since the late nineteenth century. It was used by early settlers and residents of the areas.

Land

The area was named in the early 1840s, when Captain Daniell built his home and established the family at “Trelissick”, their name for their 100 acre country property. Another early settler was Duncan Fraser who leased a 40-acre block for farming on the Hanover Street spur.

By 1900, Trelissick Bush was also called Major Deane’s Bush, and there was a move to open the land for private sale. The Wellington Tree Planting and Scenery Preservation Society, established in 1895, wished to acquire the land believing that future generations would bless them for their foresight. They lobbied for the Scenery Preservation Bill to proceed in parliament. In February 1921 their hard work paid off and the government and Wellington City Council purchased the land and created the Ngaio Gorge Reserve. The Evening Post of 28/2/1921 reported: "A new strip of bush-clad land along the Manawatu Railway, following the Ngaio Gorge almost to Ngaio ... has recently been purchased from the Trelissick Estate, to be a public reserve." Between 1920 and 1922, 11 hectares were acquired for the park. Early reports from the Onslow Historical Society record the park being used for picnics and swimming. Over time more parcels of land were added, to bring the total to just over 18 hectares by 1995.

More recent additions to the park include an area off Ngaio Gorge Road where the historic powder magazine is located and another off Waikowhai Street, Ngaio. These have provided excellent east and north entrances to the park. The large, flat area of Wightwick’s Field was generously donated by the Wightwick family to the WCC, and the land below Oban Street, Highland Park, was added when the WCC sold a property there. Chris Horne has provided some of the history of the Oban Street extension to the park, which now has a new entrance, track and footbridge. For this history from the mid-1990s see Historic Oban Street information.

The total area of the park is now 24 hectares, including the areas of land described below – compared with 100 hectares in Otari/Wilton Bush.

• Parts of the park adjoin railway land below the Johnsonville railway and parts border private land. Some owners off Hanover Street have covenanted their hilly slopes down to the stream to the QEII Trust, so the land will remain in bush in perpetuity.
• Small areas of road reserve along Ngaio Gorge Road and a larger area from the lower park entrance on Kaiwharawhara Road towards the magazine have been incorporated.
• Two areas next to the Korimako Stream between bridges 2 and 3, and bridges 4 and 5 have been leased to WCC by KiwiRail under Licence to Occupy No. 61023 of 28 February 2005. The total area is about 1 hectare.
• The area bounded by about 20m below the railway line and Kaiwarawhara Stream from Hanover Street up to the confluence of the Kaiwharawhara and Korimako Streams is also leased to WCC from KiwiRail under Beautification Lease No.50376 of 30 April 1982. The area is 2.75 hectares.

Powder magazine

Two stone buildings to store gunpowder were built in 1879-1889 in the lower Kaiwharawhara valley as a more isolated alternative to the busy streets by the Mt Cook magazine. Ammunition was carried from the Waterloo Hotel's jetty at the Kaiwharawhara Stream mouth from June 1880. There magazine building experienced destructive flooding, slips and roof damage. The army offered the magazine buildings for lease in 1921. The property was sold in the 1940s. The area was subsequently used for industrial activity, including a plastics factory and a panel beater. The Wellington City Council bought the area in 1994 and the factory was demolished. In 2000, the magazine roofing was destroyed in a fire when a security van was set alight after a robbery. The stone walls of the magazine have been preserved as ruins. Two historic dry-stone walls border the track from the lower park entrance to the ruins of the powder magazine.

Information and photos source: Kaiwharawhara Powder Magazine – www.industrialgwent.co.uk