Uncovering the past: How NZ’s first prison tells a complex story of colonial identity

New Zealand’s first prison was a simple, symmetrical four-room log building built in 1840 at Okiato in the Bay of Islands, not far from present-day Russell.

But its history, especially its forgotten parts, can tell us a lot about how we have constructed our colonial past, especially in relation to architecture.

New Zealand’s first non-Māori architecture was usually portrayed as having a direct lineage to imperial Britain. Our earliest history of architecture (written by Christchurch architect Paul Pascoe and published on our centenary in 1940) states that ‘our architecture is of English origin’.

However, as my recent research has revealed, this is not all there is to it. In fact, it obscures another important element of New Zealand’s early development, revealing how the evolving colony wanted to see itself.

“More than a hut”

At the time the first prison was built, Okiato was the administrative center of the colony, close to Kororareka, which Governor William Hobson renamed Russell.

The building consisted of two windowless cells, with a central kitchen and a back room for the guards. The building is in a garden surrounded by a 3m high log wall and was built by members of the 80th Regiment at a cost of £420.

Architectural historian John Stackpool (1919-2018) describes the building as one of a series of buildings that are “nothing more than shacks” and on the surface they don’t seem all that special. It lacked the Victorian grandeur typical of civic buildings, and was not built of brick and stone like British prisons of the time.

And there was a reason for this. The prison was designed by the Office of the Colonial Architect of New South Wales. As such, it was a direct import from the Australian prison system.

Most New Zealanders probably think of their country as a British colony at the time. However, before it became its own colony, Britain expanded the boundaries of New South Wales to include New Zealand.

This arrangement lasted almost a year, but is often forgotten or overlooked. This was partly due to the great efforts made to distance New Zealand from the ‘stain’ of Australian penal colony convicts.

australian design

Further confusion surrounds the prison’s architect. The architect usually credited is William Mason (1810-1897), who was employed by the New South Wales Colonial Architectural Office before arriving in New Zealand.

Mason is best known for buildings such as Government House in Auckland (1856), All Saints Church in North Dunedin (1865) and the Stock Exchange Building in Dunedin (1868, demolished in 1969).

However, the design of Okiato Prison was not Mason’s. In fact, this was also a standard plan designed by Ambrose Hurren of the Colonial architecture firm.

Harren’s period as a colonial architect from 1832 to 1835 coincided with the government’s policy of territorial sprawl in New South Wales, which included the development of judicial and penal infrastructure. I did.

The policy required designing what Australian prison historian James Kerr calls a “master plan”. This applied throughout the state as guardhouses, jails, and prisons for more than half a century.

One example is the Goulburn Plain design, which incorporated a wooden clapboard court straddling a fence surrounding a log prison. Another version added a guard’s room behind the fireplace in the kitchen. It was this design that Mason built at Okiato.

When and how history is told

The forgotten influence of the New South Wales Colonial Architectural Office on New Zealand’s oldest prison architecture is certainly partly related to the apparently rudimentary nature of the building.

The simple log building fits the pioneering, frontier myth of architecture of ephemerality and impermanence. This was at odds with the technological sophistication already evident in Aotearoa in the 1840s, such as Māori expertise and the craftsmanship of British and American shipwrights.

But it may also have to do with how we communicate the history of colonial architecture. Consistent with Paul Pascoe’s claim that local architecture was of “British origin”, our first prison buildings probably proved inadequate compared to British prison architecture.

But Okiato’s prison was not a makeshift temporary thing, but a deliberately designed structure that connected the young colonies of New South Wales and New Zealand in a way that helps us understand early European history. It was a thing.

Unfortunately, it no longer exists. Ten months later, Hobson left Okiato and established a new capital at Tamaki Makaurau, Auckland. References to this prison suggest that it operated until about 1844.

Okiato Prison may not have been a huge part of New Zealand’s architectural history, but its origin story is still instructive. This is a healthy reminder that history has a complicated relationship with “truth” and that we need to constantly revisit it.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.