Farnley Reserve Timeline

Water Services Unit of CCC reports on the project to the Spreydon Community Board and seeks its support.

The Soroptimists perform a leaflet drop to the neighbourhood seeking comment on the concept.  Largely favourable comments are received from seven locals.

The Spreydon Community Board…

• approved the plan in principle
• approved that it have both a Maori and European name with the European name being “Farnley Reserve”
• requested that a Maori name be decided following further consultation with “Tangata Whenua”
• approved a grant of $600 from its Discretionary Fund to be made for the provision of a seat on the Eastern Terrace riverbank overlooking the reserve.

Read the report to the Spreydon Community Board from Christine Heremaia of the CCC Water Services Unit,  and also the Community Board response.

Quote from one local who submitted on the proposal:

“…It all looks very exciting and lovely, but we are a little concerned about the “forest” of cabbage trees….Please tell us that it will not be the big, ugly type that drops dry leaves all year round!”

Water Services Unit of CCC draws up detailed plans of Farnley Reserve landscaping and planting.   CCC applies to ECAN for Resource Consent for alteration of land.

Staged construction commences with tree removal/pruning, earthworks, ducting for lights and construction of boardwalks, paths and waterfall feature by CCC and contractors. The paved area is not commenced due to prolonged negotiations with owners of the shopping area about the path.

Water Service Unit meeting minutes – February, 1996

Water Service Unit memo – August, 1996

The Soroptimists hold their first planting day on 30th March with 1000 plants put in the ground by 36 people aged 11 – 60+ from Soroptimists (and husbands), local scout and guide groups, locals.

The Soroptimists held another planting day during April, followed by several events in May where helpers barrowed and spread mulch to cover almost the entire area, certainly all the areas that had been planted at this time.

The paved area remained unfinished, although Bing Dawe had been engaged to create a sculpture for it and had produced a proposal by June.

The embankment and grassed area towards the Scout Den also remained to be completed.

During this period, CCC Works Operations completed the water feature at the Palatine Terrace end of the reserve, sowed grass areas near the paved area-to-be and completed the jetty.

The Soroptimists and their helpers completed the mulching of the planted areas.

By the end of the year, only the paved area and the paving of the connection through the shops remainded to be completed.

During this period, the Soroptimists held a couple of low-key weeding events.

While much of the planting was complete, the eel circle remained unpaved and the section nearest the Scout Den had been grassed and remained unplanted.

These photographs were taken in July, 1997.

It was time for the installation of Bing Dawe’s sculpture, “Migrating Eels” which was closely supervised by Christine Heremaia and Louisa Davies.

In May, the final planting took place around the eel circle and up towards the Scout Den.  The path at that end was completed with compacted crusher dust finish.

Official Opening by Oscar Alpers, Chairman of the Spreydon/Heathcote Community Board assisted by Diana Broughton, President of Soroptimist International Christchurch Club and Elaine Moffat, NZ Soroptimists representative, Lesley Fursdon (Soroptimists) – M.C.

By now, three years after the first plantings, the reserve was starting to look truly exceptional and was being mentioned in landscaping and gardening circles as an example of excellent urban park design.

And then, after decades of relatively mild winter weather, a succession of floods smothered the reserve with silt, each flood taking out more of the hebes and grasses particularly those on the flat areas and in the eel circle.

Each time, silt was scrapped from the paved area and paths cleared, but the loading of silt, as well as the grasses and weeds that it brought, added to the degradation of the plantings, particularly the native grasses and hebes.

Over time, with minimal deliberate maintenance of the plantings, convolvulus started to smother bigger hebes, ivy began to climb trees and spread, and the tradescantia smothered parts of the reserve floor.

After 19 years of minimal care and progressive growth, the reserve was a very different place from that of 1998.

Genevieve & Malcolm Long, members of OHRN, decided that Farnley Reserve should get some community love as part of World Rivers Day, 2019.  They worked in conjunction with CCC Urban Park Ranger Heidi Wilton to begin the restoration.

50 people, including some of the Soroptimists who had helped create the reserve in 1996,  turned out on 22 September, 2019 to remove tradescantia, ivy and convolvulus, and to plant about 50 new shrubs.  This was the beginning of the Friends of Farnley Reserve, an ad hoc group of locals that has met monthly to continue the restoration and re-planting process.

With 26 years of growth, the trees that were planted in 1996 have grown considerably and have changed the reserve from what was a sort of planted garden park in 1998 to the beginnings of a bush remnant: this has largely been the fulfilment of the planting plan of Lousia Davies.  The shade of the larger trees has changed what will survive closer to the ground.  The more shade, the better it will be for the river water quality.  Now, the maintenance of this reserve is an on-going process of suppressing weed species and grasses, planting in-fill natives and allowing bird-dispersed seeds to take root and grow.

The Friends of Farnley Reserve meet at the reserve on the third Sunday of every month. We work 9.00am – 10.30am and then enjoy a cuppa.  Come and join us!  Just turn up – bring your gloves, maybe some gardening tools, wheelbarrow.