Custom-built travelling gantry arrives to begin boardwalk spans
An important milestone
Our travelling gantry, Te Kōwhai Nui, was launched at Te Atatū Boating Club recently, on a site adjacent to where the first boardwalk section will be laid. Te Kōwhai Nui means “The Big Yellow”.
Freyberg Community School students named Te Kōwhai Nui in September 2022. Classrooms across the school created names, then voted. Amy O’Donnell and Alex Mullane from HEB Construction presented certificates to the winners to thank them.
Engineering feat
Perhaps not surprisingly, Te Kōwhai Nui is very, very yellow! And big. But it is, in fact, the Mini-Me version of a travelling gantry. Travelling gantries are popular in large-scale bridge construction. The engineering challenge for HEB Construction was to scale it down to fit, move and turn on a 4-metre wide pathway while having minimal effect on the beautiful Whau awa.
The story of Te Whau Pathway Project’s beginning
At the launch, a few memories were shared about the highs and lows of the ten-year journey that have led to Te Kōwhai Nui’s arrival.
The project started a decade ago by former Councillor and now Whau Local Board member Ross Clow. Ross and others had the idea of joining the Waitematā and the Manukau harbours via a path along the banks of the Whau River, after visiting Taranaki’s Coastal Walkway in 2012. The idea was to restore access to the Whau River for everyone, and create alternative transport options between several communities, parks and schools.
“When consulting about the project, we discovered that Gilbert Brakey also had a vision of doing a walkway along the Whau River, albeit on the eastern side, not the western side,” said Ross Clow. Gilbert Brakey, from the Whau River Catchment Trust, wanted to reinstate the Whau River’s status as a greenway – an ecological corridor – in West Auckland.
Iris Donoghue, the Founding Chair of Te Whau Pathway Environment Trust in 2015 was followed in 2017 by Tony Miguel, the current Chair of Te Whau Pathway Environment Trust.
“We were sort of putting lines on paper and describing how things would happen and what would happen, and generally formulating ideas, and then Tony Miguel took over as the Chair of the Trust. And he’s a person you should never say no to,” said Trustee Dai Bindoff, with a wry smile.
A community project with involvement at many levels
Many individuals were thanked at the launch of Te Kōwhai Nui. It was evident that getting the pathway to the boardwalk-building phase was a joined-up community effort crossing many organisations and lives.
“Success has many parents, right? And we’ve had, I don’t know, probably hundreds of people involved across this entire 10-year process to get us to where we are today,” said Auckland Councillor Shane Henderson.
Acknowledgements at the launch included:
- Chris Carter, Henderson-Massey Local Board Chair
- Kay Thomas, Whau Local Board Chair
- Phil Twyford, MP for Te Atatū South
- Kerrin Leoni, Auckland Councillor
- Shane Henderson, Auckland Councillor
- Iris Donoghue, the Founding Chair of Te Whau Pathway Environment Trust, and Ross Clow Patron
- Current and past members of Te Whau Pathway Environment Trust: Cathie Powell, Dai Bindoff, David Kenkel, David Nelson, Derek Battersby, Earl Barretto, Gilbert Brakey, Dr. Graham Campbell, Greg Presland, John Dragicevich, Joseph Erceg, Peter Chan, Richard Thomas, Sharon Davies, Tim Livingstone and Tony Miguel.
- Whau Local Board members: Catherine Farmer, Ross Clow, Dr Sarah Paterson-Hamlin.
- Henderson-Massey Local Board members: Brooke Loader, Ingrid Papau, Peter Chan.
- Freyberg Community School
- Whau River Catchment Trust
- EcoMatters
- Auckland Transport
- The Trusts
- The Trusts Community Foundation
- Transpower
Ngā mihi nui to tangata whenua Te Kawarau ā Maki and Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei were also made. Malcolm Davis (Ngati Ruanui, Kai Tahu) and Ropata Paora (Te Taoū, Ngā Oho) opened the morning with karakia and waiata. Dai Bindoff emceed.
What next?
While Te Kōwhai Nui is busy building boardwalk spans in the current section for the next year or so, our next challenge is to secure funding for the Avondale-Kelston and Macleod Park Connections. Te Whau Pathway Environment Trust wants to ensure the pathway goes into Auckland’s Regional Land Transport Plan. Find out how you can help on our Throw us a Bone! post.
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About this event
| Date | Friday 31st May 2024 |
| Location | Te Atatū Boating Club, Te Atatū South |
| Type | Events, Construction |
| Who | People involved in funding and building Te Kōwhai Nui |
| Funders | Te Whau Pathway Project |
