New Book Celebrates Pukekura Park

The history and the many walkways of Pukekura Park are celebrated in a new book, which will be officially launched this morning (Thursday).


Entitled Pukekura Park and Brooklands, A Guide to Walks, the book is a joint effort by Puke Ariki and the North Taranaki branch of the Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture (RNZIH).

“We have designed the book so that people can take it with them as they explore the park,” says Puke Ariki Team Leader Research Centre Gary Bastin.

“It also makes a wonderful coffee-table book for browsing, and it can be used for promotions or to send to friends to encourage them to visit Taranaki and see the park for themselves.

“We’re very proud of the final product – it’s a high-quality book about a very high-quality park.”

The book’s production was funded by the North Taranaki branch of RNZIH. The writing and designing took about a year for Puke Ariki’s senior researcher, Ron Lambert, with nearly all of the historical images coming from Puke Ariki’s collection.

During the research Mr Lambert came across a previously unknown painting by John Gully, an early Taranaki settler. “John Gully was a quite prolific artist in the 19th century,” says Mr Bastin.

“We found out he had done a painting of the original King homestead – at the centre of the Brooklands estate – which was burned down in 1861, and the painting was held by the National Library of Australia.

“We believe the painting was done around 1859. This is the first time that a photograph of that painting has been published in a book in Taranaki.”

The book is on sale for $20 at the Pukekura Park Tea House, the Vivid store in Puke Ariki, and at the Whitcoull’s, Wadsworths and Paper Plus book stores.