Sir Barry Curtis' speech from the opening event at Barry Curtis Park held on Sunday, 5 April 2009.

John Key, Prime Minister of New Zealand

His Worship the Mayor of Manukau, Len Brown and Mayoress Shan

Pansy Wong

Councillors

Former Mayoress Ann

Staff of the Manukau City Council

Distinguished Guests

Young People

Ladies and Gentlemen

• Firstly may I pay my respects to the tangata whenua, the Ngai Tai people and especially the late matriarch of Ngai Tai Ngeu Ngeu Zister who passed away at 104 years of age some years ago. She was a long time and dear friend of mine, and I like to think that during her life time we achieved greatly on behalf of her people in Manukau.

• Today your Worship, I also am pleased to acknowledge and greet our Prime Minister, John Key.

• Thank you Prime Minister for gracing this place with your presence today.

• May I extend my congratulations to you on the outstanding leadership qualities you have displayed thus far on meeting the major challenges that presently best this small nation – Aotearoa NZ. You can be very proud of your achievements.

• Your Worship, I wish to honestly and sincerely thank council for naming this magnificent park after me.

• May I presume it serves to honour my achievements with the support of councillors and staff after 39 years of service to the people of this great city.

• Prime Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen, I was privileged to serve firstly as a councillor for 15 years, then as Mayor for 24 years. Whilst a councillor I also served 12 years on the Auckland Regional Authority, six of those as Chairman of the Auckland Regional Authority Planning Committee. I learnt much from this unique experience.

• As a surveyor and town planner by profession I was fortunate to be given the opportunity at a young age to perform a major leadership role in the planning and development of this city from infancy.

• Today Manukau is only 44 years old. It has had only four Mayors, the late Hugh Lambie from 1965 – 1968, my predecessor the late Sir Lloyd Elsmore from 1968 – 1983, myself from 1983 – 2007 and of course my able successor Len Brown from October 2007.

• Moreover Manukau has only had three Chief Executives, the late Ron Wood from 1968 until 1985, Colin Dale from 1985 to 2006 and Leigh Auton from 2006 to the present time – both Colin and Leigh are here today.

• I am pleased to say we all believed in the need to pursue a philosophy of social justice and social equity. After all, we have always seen ourselves as ordinary people trying to achieve extra-ordinary things on behalf of a rapidly expanding and multi cultural community.

• However Prime Minister, what made Manukau unique was our focus on people and involving the community in taking responsibility at a local level to address vital community development issues.

• Moreover we were all determined to vigorously promote excellence in city planning and development, as rural lands were rapidly transformed into major urban developments supported by vital infrastructure on a scale un-precedented in New Zealand local government.

• We were indeed trail blazers promoting new and innovative economic and community development policies, supported by sound environmental management.

• During my long reign as Mayor of Manukau I realised early on that sound and wise planning was one thing and making it happen was another.

• Therefore from the outset we built a strong relationship with the private sector. Together we attracted investment into the new city and very importantly provided employment and prosperity for our people.

• However I realised that the best way to energise the city during its formative years was for the council to purchase large tracts of privately owned land in strategic locations and to plan and develop them for residential, business, community and public open space purposes.

• Therefore part of my vision for the city was based on the need to acquire land well ahead of development at an affordable price and earmark it in the planning process for passive and active recreation purposes.

• This vision was enthusiastically supported by a very fine staff – the best serving local government in New Zealand.

• Today this city boasts a magnificent parks initiative

· Totara Park in Manukau

· Murphys Bush – just over there

· Mountford Park – 188 acres in Manurewa

· Lloyd Elsmore Park 186 acres in Pakuranga

· David Lange Park in Mangere

· Centre Park in Mangere

· Puhinui Park and Colin Dale Park by Auckland International Airport

· Ngati Otara Park in Otara

· The Mangemangaroa Walkway in Howick

· McLeans Park in Bucklands Beach

· Pukaki Lagoon in Mangere being the last Park purchased before leaving office in 2007.

• And of course the list goes on, reaching out across the urban and rural lands of Manukau.

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• And now this superb 235 acre park amidst urban development has been added to that network.

• I wish to acknowledge the wonderful contribution made by an outstanding staff in all activities of the council. They provided me and successive councils over the years with welcome advice and strong support as we marched together to achieve our aspirations in the fields of leisure and public open space.

• I wish to particularly make mention of the former Director of Community and Economic Development, Bob Lang.

• I remember back to 1996 when he and I set out to identify suitable rural land here in the then back blocks of Flat Bush for the purposes of a major park.

• Much of our work in land acquisition for parks was done behind closed doors as we sought to purchase at a reasonable price without the knowledge of others in a stable property market.

• After an exhaustive analysis we identified 290 acres of land with long road frontages to Stancombe Road, Chapel Road, Ormiston Road and Flat Bush School Road as being ideal for the future park.

• The land was owned by the Anglican Church Trust Board. We managed to negotiate a fair and reasonable price of $2.9million for 290 acres. This at a time when the landscape in this valley reflected and image of town supply diary farms. Later on council facilitated the construction of Te Irirangi Drive which set alight planned urban development in this corridor.

• The lawyers acting on behalf of council and the vendor were so eager to facilitate the agreement for the sale and purchase that they inadvertently included the historic St Pauls Church and its grounds in the transaction. We of course handed the Church back to the rightful owner.

• Today as we look out onto part of this idyllic park I am reminded of all the work completed under my leadership to create the Flat Bush Town Centre as an integral part of the total land area purchased by council.

• Your Worship, I do hope construction will commence soon because I believe this city in these challenging times requires employment for the people and sense of place for the surrounding community.

• May I say I am also very impressed with the bridge over the stream, for which I advocated very strongly to provide an impressive and stimulating entrance to the Flat Bush Town Centre, sitting amidst this beautiful park.

• Finally, Prime Minister, Your Worship, Young People and Distinguished Guests, thank you for inviting us to this ceremony today, it is very much appreciated.

• To our young people – please use, protect and respect this place. In many respects it serves to link the diverse communities of Otara, Papatoetoe and Mangere to the West; Howick and Pakuranga to the North; Whitford, Beachlands and Maraetai to the East; and Manurewa to the South.

• Best of luck for the future and I look forward to the continuing unveiling of many special projects on the park which will cater for all our diverse communities, young and old.

• The park will also provide opportunities to support the “Field of Dreams” programme being sponsored by former great Olympian Cr John Walker whom I understand has had a large role in promoting the development of this park. Thank you John for all your efforts.

ENDS

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