Barton's Bush, in
Trentham Memorial Park
Trentham Memorial Park is a large park and a major sport and recreation ground in Trentham, a suburb of Upper Hutt, in the Wellington region of New Zealand.
The park was purchased by the Upper Hutt Council from the Barton family (descendants ...
, is the largest remaining area of lowland mixed
podocarp
Podocarpaceae is a large family of mainly Southern Hemisphere conifers, known in English as podocarps, comprising about 156 species of evergreen trees and shrubs.James E. Eckenwalder. 2009. ''Conifers of the World''. Portland, Oregon: Timber Pr ...
/broadleaf forest in the
Hutt Valley
The Hutt Valley (or 'The Hutt') is the large area of fairly flat land in the Hutt River valley in the Wellington region of New Zealand. Like the river that flows through it, it takes its name from Sir William Hutt, a director of the New Zeala ...
of
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...
. Named after
Richard Barton
Richard Barton (30 August 1790 – 20 August 1866) was the first European resident of Trentham, Upper Hutt, in New Zealand. He was born in Newport, Isle of Wight, England.
He was a Justice of the Peace and Member of Provincial Council in We ...
who settled in the area in 1841, it was his desire that this section of the native forest should remain whilst the city of
Upper Hutt
Upper Hutt ( mi, Te Awa Kairangi ki Uta) is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand and one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area.
Geography
The Upper Hutt city centre lies approximately 26 km north- ...
gradually took shape and land was cleared for farming and settling.
History
In 1841, Richard Barton purchased of land in the upper
Hutt Valley
The Hutt Valley (or 'The Hutt') is the large area of fairly flat land in the Hutt River valley in the Wellington region of New Zealand. Like the river that flows through it, it takes its name from Sir William Hutt, a director of the New Zeala ...
. He modeled his development of his estate on that of Trentham in England, where he had been a supervisor of the estate. This meant part of the land was cleared for farming and settlement while some of it was left as natural bush land. Over time, Barton and his wife acquired more land so that eventually his estate extended from Quinns Post to Silverstream to the west of the Main Road and on both sides of the Hutt River.
By 1924, Barton's descendants had started to clear the remaining native bush on the estate. Attempts were made to protect the remaining bush as a public reserve through discussions with the family as well as representation to the Minister of Lands. However, it was only in 1950 that £26,000 (£2,020,000 in 2012 values) were able to be raised to purchase the bush area. Of the money raised, £13,000 came from a War Memorial subsidy while the remainder was one third public subscription and one third each from the Upper Hutt Borough and Hutt County Councils.
While acquisition of Barton's Bush was intended to preserve the bush remnant as an indication of what the forest had been like before the Europeans came to New Zealand, it was far from pristine. During the 1940s the area had been logged. Based on the remaining stumps, over 100
tōtara
''Podocarpus totara'' (; from the Maori-language ; the spelling "totara" is also common in English) is a species of podocarp tree endemic to New Zealand. It grows throughout the North Island and northeastern South Island in lowland, montane and ...
had been felled, while the bush was also infested with the exotic pest plants Old Mans Beard (''Clematis Vitalba'') and Wandering Jew (''Tradescantia Fluminensis''), both detrimental to the forest. Since 1980 a control programme has actively removed these pest plants and supplementary plantings have encouraged native flora development.
In recent years, the bush tracks have been gravelled and lightly fenced to provide clear walking paths while protecting the forest and discouraging people and animals from wandering off the formed tracks and inadvertently damaging the natural undergrowth.
Flora
More than 100 different species of native plants live in Barton's Bush. Most of the mature canopy trees are
tawa, with some tōtara,
mataī
''Prumnopitys taxifolia'', the mataī ( mi, mataī) or black pine, is an endemic New Zealand coniferous tree that grows on the North Island and South Island. It also occurs on Stewart Island/Rakiura (47 °S) but is uncommon there.
It grows up ...
and
kahikatea canopy trees also present.
There is also a broad range of native undercanopy trees and other undergrowth plants. While it has been subject to some human modification, Barton's Bush still gives a good indication of the sort of lowland forest that the European settlers encountered when they first moved into the Hutt Valley.
References
Further reading
* Upper Hutt City Council Information Board at Trentham Memorial Park, near the children's playground carpark, entrance off Brentwood Street.
External links
Tracks.org.nz Barton's Bush retrieved 28 December 2010.
Outdoorz.co.nz: Upper Hutt: Bartons Bush in Trentham Memorial Park retrieved 28 December 2010.
{{coord, -41.130800, 175.029148, region:NZ-WGN_type:forest, display=title
Forests of New Zealand
Upper Hutt
Parks in the Wellington Region