The Hamilton Gardens are 50 years old this year. Over those 50 years we have turned a rubbish dump and a sand pit into the best public gardens in New Zealand, the greatest visitor magnet in the region, and one of the most significant tourist destinations in the country. Over those 50 years the momentum for the development of the gardens has never stopped.
With the Paradise Gardens completed, work began on the Te Parapara garden which was opened in 2008. Te Parapara is being further developed at the moment and should reopen soon. Another stunning visitor attraction, this garden recognises the history of the site on which it sits, brings together the stories of all of the Iwi from Kirikiriroa, and creates an opportunity for visitors to understand something about the gardening systems that existed in this place long before Europeans arrived.
With Te Parapara nearly completed we are looking forward to the next step – the development of the Fantasy Gardens collection. This collection will begin construction later this year and will fill the open space behind the pavilion.
From time to time it is suggested that Council should write a cheque and get the gardens finished. Well I hope the gardens will never be considered to be finished. But more importantly, that would be the wrong thing to do.
The development of Hamilton Gardens has been much more than the development of a major asset. It has also been a wonderful exercise in community development. The gardens have offered an opportunity for a wide range of groups to help build something together that we all love. All of these gardens have been developed as a result of partnerships between Council and the community. Thousands of people have been part of making it happen. People on work schemes for the unemployed, the ‘Friends of the Gardens’, the various breed societies, the Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Italian, American, Russian and other ethnic communities, a wide range of arts activists, philanthropists, architects, engineers, and builders, and just you and me. The gardens have given us pride and they have helped to make us a stronger community.
I would like to thank everyone who has been part of this remarkable achievement, and I hope the gardens will always be a powerful symbol of our collective commitment to building a great city.
Bob Simcock
Hamilton Mayor
