Donovan's Store at
ÅŒkÄrito
ÅŒkÄrito is a small coastal settlement on the west Coast, New Zealand, West Coast of New Zealand's South Island, southwest of Hokitika, and from . It is built at the southern end of the ÅŒkÄrito Lagoon at the mouth of the ÅŒkÄrito River. Th ...
on the
West Coast of New Zealand is the oldest wooden building in Westland. It was built in the 1860s as a hotel and converted to a general store in the 1890s which operated for over 60 years. It is now a Category 1 listed historic place.
History
The Donovan's Store building was originally the Club Hotel, built on The Strand in 1865 or 1866 during the
gold mining rush at ÅŒkÄrito.
The hotel was converted to a general store in the 1890s and run by James Donovan (1867–1960) and his wife Eva Donovan for about 60 years.
As well as the ÅŒkÄrito port the store serviced the gold dredge workers and flax cutters and Donovan was known for delivering supplies to isolated gold prospectors.
The store mainly sold foodstuffs but many household and other items were sold such as fabric and tools.
Donovan ran the store until the 1950s, selling it to Keith (Robbie) Robertson of
Whataroa
Whataroa is a small township in southern Westland on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. It is located on alluvial flats to the west of the Whataroa River. passes through Whataroa on its route from Ross to Franz Josef / Waiau. Hari ...
who ran the store part–time until 1965.
In 1987 the building was bequeathed to the
Historic Places Trust by Robertson. The Trust passed the building to the
Department of Conservation
Department may refer to:
* Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility
Government and military
*Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...
(DOC) in 1988.
In 1990 the Trust gave the store a Category 1 listing, which designated it as a significant building meriting preservation.
It fell into disrepair but the local community decided in the 1990s to restore it to a usable building, with a library premises being one of the possible uses and in 1994 DOC began a five-year restoration programme.
The ÅŒkÄrito Community Association contributed $100,000 towards the renovation.
It owns and maintains the hall in partnership with DOC.
In the 1990s the grounds surrounding the store were surveyed by botanist Elizabeth Woods who found roses, a holly tree, grapevine, oak tree and a mixture of other plants.
In 2009, the
governor-general
Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...
,
Anand Satyanand
Sir Anand Satyanand (born 22 July 1944) is a New Zealand lawyer, judge, and ombudsman who served as the 19th governor-general of New Zealand from 2006 to 2011.
Satyanand was chair of the Commonwealth Foundation for two 2-year terms, ending in ...
, visited the store while on the West Coast.
Construction
The front part of the building is the oldest with a lean-to at the back added later. Reconstruction work on the store showed it was built with a mixture of native timbers including
kauri
''Agathis'', commonly known as kauri or dammara, is a genus of evergreen coniferous trees, native to Australasia and Southeast Asia. It is one of three extant genera in the family Araucariaceae, alongside '' Wollemia'' and ''Araucaria'' (being ...
,
rimu
''Dacrydium cupressinum'', commonly known as rimu, is a species of tree in the family Podocarpaceae. It is a dioecious evergreen conifer, reaching heights of up to , and can have a stout trunk (botany), trunk up to in diameter. It is endemis ...
,
kahikatea
''Dacrycarpus dacrydioides'', commonly known as kahikatea (from MÄori language, MÄori) and white pine, is a Pinophyta, coniferous tree endemism, endemic to New Zealand. A Podocarpaceae, podocarp, it is New Zealand's tallest tree, gaining hei ...
and imported
Baltic pine, the latter possibly scavenged from shipwrecks.
The sides and back of the building are clad in corrugated iron.
Current status
Since 1990 the building has been registered by
Heritage New Zealand
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (initially the National Historic Places Trust and then, from 1963 to 2014, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust; in ) is a Crown entity that advocates for the protection of Archaeology of New Zealand, ancest ...
as a Category I structure, with registration number 5008.
The building is now used as the ÅŒkÄrito Community Library with some of the book stock supplied by the Westland District Library.
References
{{Reflist
Further reading
* Bishop, Jane and Malcolm Walker. 1977. ''Westland Country: a centennial album 1876–1976''. Pegasus Press. p. 156–157.
Heritage New Zealand Category 1 historic places in the West Coast Region
Buildings and structures in the West Coast Region
1860s architecture in New Zealand