Dame Anne Salmond speaks passionately about her love of Auckland's maunga at Devonport Heritage's AGM on 22nd October, 2026

DESTROYING WHAT YOU LOVE

Anne Salmond

(Dame Anne Salmond is a Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Maori Studies at the University of Auckland, and a local resident in Devonport. She was the 2013 New Zealander of the Year, and was awarded the Order of New Zealand in 2021. She spoke of her love of Auckland’s maunga at Devonport Heritage’s AGM on 22 October 2026 ).

Devonport has always been a feisty community. When Jeremy and I moved here more than fifty years ago, we were among a generation of young couples who shifted into Devonport, attracted by its old, inexpensive villas, parks and glorious beaches. It was home to artists and poets, and a great place to raise a family.

Within weeks we were drawn into the fight over Ngataringa Bay. A developer was proposing to build a marina in the bay, destroy its marine life and double the population of what was then a sleepy seaside village.

The community rallied together, elected a new Council and defeated the proposal, which featured a contract signed in secrecy with former council members. It cost the new Council a fortune, but local people backed them to the hilt.

That was in the early 1970s. In 1981 the Council became the first borough in New Zealand to declare itself nuclear free, and later that decade the community fought hardest and loudest against amalgamation into what would become North Shore City.

Love of place; a distaste for authoritarian decision-making, and a determination to chart its own future – this is localism at its best. With its volcanoes, beaches, old buildings and residents who are willing to fight for its distinctive character, Devonport is a special part of Auckland.

Our villa in Stanley Bay is one of its fine old houses, and it helped to shape our future. As Jeremy worked to restore it, scraping off old paint, finding mouldings and skirtings in other old buildings around Auckland, he became fascinated by its construction and the industry that built it.

As time went on, Jeremy wrote Old New Zealand Houses, a classic text, and established Salmond Reed Architects in Devonport, combining contemporary design with restoration techniques. He studied heritage architecture in the US and Europe; worked on marae, and restored many of New Zealand’s finest old buildings; and to his amazement, was awarded the Gold Medal in Architecture, among other honours.

Those who would destroy what they love are at the heart of the latest battle in Devonport. A development company, Peninsula Capital, has bought many of the historic buildings in the village, and proposes to build eight story apartments behind them, looming over the main street, and a hotel that blocks views of Takarunga /Mt. Victoria, the volcano that shelters the village.

Two of the three directors of Peninsula Capital, Berridge Spencer and Graham Turley, have long-standing links with the local community. They both have family homes here. They ought to know better.

Jeremy had a pithy term for developments that take the facades of historic buildings, and erect a tower block behind them. He called it ‘facodomy.’ He would have seen the Peninsula Capital proposal as a case in point, an ‘up yours’ to the village and its sheltering volcano.

Jeremy helped to set the height limit of four stories that protects the views to Takarunga / Mt. Victoria. The developers have decided to try and double this. To achieve this, they applied to the Fast Track, a process that excludes local communities from decison-making and gives ministers exceptional powers.

Donations have been made, conversations have been had. Wealth and power tries to have its way, in defiance of democracy, and the right of local people to have a say about the places they live in.

Devonport has only one road – Lake Road – in and out of the peninsula. This is already one of the most congested roads in Auckland, making access increasingly difficult. Intensifying development in the village doesn’t make sense.

Signs have sprung up all over Devonport protesting against this development. Protest meetings have been held, red balloons flown to show the height of the new buildings, and a judicial review of the Fast Track process, with its autocratic powers for one minister, has been funded.

Why are local people so affronted? They love the place they live in, and don’t want wealthy developers hand in glove with a self-important minister in Wellington deciding what should happen to it.

Like many other Devonport families, our children have climbed all over Takarunga / Mt Victoria, and its neigbouring volcano Maungauika / North Head, and slid down their slopes on bits of cardboard.

Takarunga is also the resting place of Patuone, the rangatira who was largely responsible for the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi – a diplomat, and peacemaker.

During Covid, many of us walked the volcanoes, gaining peace and solace from their expansive views and open spaces. Even more than its history, the maunga remind us of the antiquity and power of the land.

We can talk about viewshafts, and the RMA. But we should also reflect upon the short-sighted greed that sees our beautiful landscapes as ‘natural capital’ – something to make a buck out of; or a resource to be managed - ‘resource management.’

In our relationship with local landscapes, there should be room for beauty and peace, spaciousness and generosity of spirit.

And last time I looked, New Zealand was still a democracy, where the will of the people is supposed to prevail.

That’s why those who are responsible for this development should get off the Fast Track, listen to their neighbours, and think again.