Take a closer look at historic heritage

Elizabeth Marenzi —  24/10/2013
Kea yawning. Photo: Herb Christophers.

Underwhelmed? A real yawn? Think again!

The Department of Conservation’s Annual Report for 2012/13 has recently been published. If this news underwhelms you, then I hope you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

It’s actually chocka full of fascinating facts and information that’ll give you a better understanding of what we do and what we’ve been up to in the past year.

For those of you who don’t want to read the full report, we’re going to take a short sweet peek at some bits and pieces from it on the blog over the next few weeks (mostly pretty pictures people, don’t panic!).

So, without further ado, let’s take a closer look at:

Historic heritage

Not everyone knows that DOC manages the single largest collection of historic heritage in the country.

This visual from the Annual Report gave me a better appreciation of our work in this area:

Historic heritage infographic.

20 iconic places that reflect the New Zealand identity. 600+ buildings Historic places cover a wide ranger of historic herigage features including: 147 items of machinery. 93 historic roads and tracks. 53 earthwork features. 44 structures. 18% increase in visitation to Denniston compared with 2011/12. 28% increase in visitation to Karanghaka Gorge compared with 2011/12. Over 75% of the 607 historic places actively being conserved can be visited. Increase in inventory of historic sites on public conservation land (from 12000+ to 13000+) 300 + features 438 archaeological sites and collections. 607 heritage places actively conserved. Our history is protected and brought to life. Historic heritage

There, you’ve just digested a whole page from DOC’s Annual Report! It wasn’t so bad was it? I hope you’ve learnt something new.

Let’s regroup next week for another instalment. I know—a cliffhanger finish—can you stand it?


Check out the DOC website for more information about:

DOC’s Annual Report

DOC’s work caring for and protecting historic and cultural heritage

Icon heritage sites
Icon sites tell a range of great stories about kiwi identity. DOC started developing these sites ten years ago, in collaboration with local councils and communities.

Karangahake Gorge
The Karangahake Gorge is rich with history and is located on State Highway 2 between Waihi and Paeroa, at the southern limits of the Coromandel Peninsula.

Historic Denniston
Denniston was the main township of a unique collection of mining towns built to service the coal mines on the Denniston plateau. It is one of New Zealand’s most significant industrial sites and is a 25 minute drive north of Westport, on the West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island.

Elizabeth Marenzi

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Elizabeth is part of the communications team at DOC. She enjoys reconnecting the urban desk jockeys of the world with nature—believing it to be the best anecdote for “tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people.”