A plan to preserve, explore, record and celebrate the heritage of the Howick Local Board area is outlined the board’s new Heritage Plan.
Adopted in September, the plan is a guiding document and includes a set of principles to help the local board assess and make decisions on future heritage initiatives. These principles are:
- to explore Howick’s intertwined Māori and European history and where appropriate, link it with that of Tāmaki Makaurau
- to capture and record the area’s varied written, cultural, oral and visual history as it has evolved up until present time
- to identify, preserve and protect natural features, historical places, property and relics with the wider Howick area
- recognise, promote and celebrate Howick’s unique history through education, exploration and tourism initiatives.
Community growth
Howick is a community that cherishes its heritage and the plan provides the local board with a clear direction of future decisions.
The area has grown and changed significantly in the past 20 years, and is continuing to grow and the board says it is even more important to preserves and celebrate links to the past for future generations.
The plan also identifies several projects already in development.
Lest we forget
One of these is the additon of four new names on the memorial on Stockade Hill.
Respected historian Alan La Roche approached the local board to have more names included on the memorial.
After much research he came up a list of soldiers who had served, were wounded or died in service, for consideration and it was decided that names of four soldiers, all who had strong links to the Howick district, would be added this year.
- Philip George Arniboldi, who died in the battle of Passchendaele on 15 October 1917. Buried in France his death is also recorded on the family grant in the All Saints graveyard on Cook Street. At the time is father was at Glen Murray and in 1958 his grandfather ran a shop in Howick
- Thomas Corbett McLaren, who was killed in action in April 1918. His death is recorded on a family gravestone at the Howick Catholic graveyard
- Charles Leslie Mounce, who was killed in France on 13 July 1916, aged 28
- Private Nicholas Colin Stitchbury, who served and was wounded in South Africa. He also served and died overseas during the First World War. His wife lived in Howick.
Information lost
First World War memorials were often community-led initiatives and in the absence of any guidelines to determine whose name should be listed, locals decided to include only the names of men and women who died.
This was often gathered by canvassing the local community rather than official records which either did not have enough information or have been lost.
The engraving is expected to take place later this month.
