Tauranga Domain Memorial Gates

Gates undergoing conservation treatment, June-August 2014
Image © copyright and courtesy of Fiona Kean

Over the past year the Tauranga Domain Memorial Gates have undergone extensive conservation work. The project, managed by Allan Sizemore of the Tauranga City Council, was guided by Salmond Reed Architects, who completed a Conservation Plan prior to the work commencing. In their report they stated that the “Tauranga War Memorial Gates are a rare example of brick and early concrete memorial entrance gates surviving in New Zealand dating from the First World War. They have high historical and social significance for Tauranga and they provide an important landmark to a domain that has been an historic recreation area since 1881.”

Domain gates at night
Image © copyright and courtesy of Fiona Kean

The Gates have never looked better and the recent work not only ensures that they will be here in another 100 years, it also acknowledges their importance to our community.  To borrow from Michael King, without question the Tauranga Domain Memorial Gates are a physical reminder of who we are and where we come from. They link us to an event that shaped our culture and our communities and they are imbued with our precious stories that need to be retained and retold.