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 with a membership of around 20,000 people that advocates for the protection of ancestral sites and heritage buildings in New Zealand. It was set up through the Historic Places Act 1954 with a mission to "...promote the identification, protection, preservation and conservation of the historical and cultural heritage of New Zealand" and is an autonomous Crown entity. Its current enabling legislation is the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Act 2014. History Charles Bathurst, 1st Viscount Bledisloe gifted the site where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed to the nation in 1932. The subsequent administration through the Waitangi Trust is sometimes seen as the beginning of formal heritage protection in New Zealand. Public discussion about heritage protection occurred in 1940 in conjunction with the centenary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. The purchase of Pompallier House in 1943 by the government further raised the issue of how historic buildings should be cared for. Duncan Rae, the MP representing the electorate, suggested that a heritage organisation should be set up and put in a private member's bill. Whilst this did not proceed, the First National Government of New Zealand (of which he was a member) took responsibility of the issue and the Historic Places Act 1954 was passed, which established the National Historic Places Trust as a non-governmental organisation (NGO). The trust was governed by a 12-member board plus a chairman, and they first met in 1955. The National Historic Places Trust came under the responsibility of the Minister of Internal Affairs. The composition of the board was defined in the legislation and the board was appointed on the recommendation of the minister. The name of the organisation was changed to New Zealand Historic Places Trust in 1963. Early work undertaken by the trust included the recording of Māori rock paintings, as some sites were to be submerged, e.g. through the Waipapa Dam and Benmore Dam. In 1961, the trust bought Te Waimate mission, the second-oldest building in New Zealand. In Akaroa, the trust enabled the Akaroa County Council via a significant grant to buy the Eteveneaux cottage, which serves as a link to Akaroa's French past.