Akaroa Historical Overview - Christchurch City Council

SECTION ONE: OVERVIEW
Report Context
This report was commissioned in September 2008 by Keri Davis-
Miller, Planner, City Plan Team, Christchurch City Council.
“Akaroa has the highest
density of registered
historic buildings
anywhere in the country,
surpassing even the
historic towns of Russell
and Arrowtown.
Even by this rather clinical
measure, Akaroa is a very
special place”
Akaroa Civic Trust Newsletter,
November 2008
Based on the original request for quotation and subsequent
discussions it was agreed that the report would provide a general
historical account of change and development in the built and
landscape forms and environment of Akaroa, a preliminary
identification of extant heritage fabric, a tentative list of themes
that could assist with the later identification and assessment of
individual heritage items (of all classes) and a tentative definition of
the boundaries of discrete parts of Akaroa that could become
conservation areas, for which provisions under the District Plan to
protect those areas from adverse developments would be
developed.
The need was not for a general history of Akaroa but for a
systematic presentation of historical information relating to the
town’s development that would assist later identification of specific
heritage items and of general characteristics of the town which
would enable protection policies and measures to be developed for
eventual inclusion in the District Plan.
The authors were advised that the Council intended to commission
a separate report on the Maori history and heritage of Akaroa and
were instructed to deal in only a summary manner with the town’s
history and heritage prior to the arrival of Europeans.
The authors were requested to set Akaroa’s surviving heritage
fabric, features and items in the context of a general account of the
town’s development and to note their distribution through the
built-up area of the town. They were also to identify other features
of Akaroa (particularly its broader setting) which contribute to the
present character of the town.
It was also understood that the report should provide a framework
for, and contribute information to, a possible contextual historical
overview for all of Banks Peninsula.
The report was not to attempt any assessment of the relative
significance of individual heritage items or of potential
conservation areas or to set any priorities for the preservation or
protection of individual heritage items or potential conservation
areas.
AKAROA HERITAGE OVERVIEW : SECTION 1 OVERVIEW PAGE 1