Albert Park, Auckland - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Albert Park is a scenic park

Park

A park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state, or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment, or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. It may consist of rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas. Many parks are legally protected by...

in central Auckland

Auckland

The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...

, bounded by Wellesley Street East, Princes Street, Bowen Avenue and Kitchener Street. From the entrance at the corner of Bowen Ave and Kitchener St, sealed footpaths climb steeply through native trees to the large flat area at the summit, where flower garden

Flower garden

A flower garden is any garden where flowers are grown for decorative purposes. Because flowers bloom at varying times of the year, and some plants are annual, dying each winter, the design of flower gardens can take into consideration to maintain a sequence of bloom and even of consistent color...

s encircle a fountain

Fountain

A fountain is a piece of architecture which pours water into a basin or jets it into the air either to supply drinking water or for decorative or dramatic effect....

.

To the north of the cast iron fountain (1881) is the bronze statue of Queen Victoria (1897); to the south is a bandstand (James Slator 1901). A large floral clock

Floral clock

A floral clock or flower clock is a large decorative clock set into a flower bed in a park or other public recreation area.The floral clock was a form of carpet bedding set onto an operational clock-face, invented in 1903 by John McHattie of Edinburgh Parks in Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh and...

, constructed in 1953 with funds donated by Robert Laidlaw

Robert Laidlaw

Robert Laidlaw was a New Zealand business man who founded the Farmers Trading Company, one of the largest department store chains in New Zealand. He was also a Christian writer and philanthropist.-Biography:...

, founder of the Farmers

Farmers (department store)

The Farmers Trading Company is a New Zealand mid-market department store chain. Based in Flat Bush in Auckland, Farmers operates 56 stores across New Zealand, specialising in fashion, beauty, home-wares and furniture.- History :...

department store chain, lies near the Princes Street exit in front of the University of Auckland

University of Auckland

The University of Auckland is a university located in Auckland, New Zealand. It is the largest university in the country and the highest ranked in the 2011 QS World University Rankings, having been ranked worldwide...

clock tower pictured here.

There are other artworks and memorials in the park, including the marble Boer War

Second Boer War

The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State...

memorial and a statue of Sir George Grey

George Edward Grey

Sir George Grey, KCB was a soldier, explorer, Governor of South Australia, twice Governor of New Zealand, Governor of Cape Colony , the 11th Premier of New Zealand and a writer.-Early life and exploration:...

(1904), relocated to this spot from its first location outside the Auckland Town Hall

Auckland Town Hall

The Auckland Town Hall is a historic building on Queen Street in downtown Auckland, New Zealand, known both for its original and ongoing use for administrative functions , as well as for its famed Great Hall and its separate Concert Chamber...

. Many of these memorials and artworks can be seen in the numerous images of Albert Park printed as postcards since the early 20th century.

Albert Park occupies much of the site of the Albert Barracks, one of Auckland's early European military fortification

Fortification

Fortifications are military constructions and buildings designed for defence in warfare and military bases. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs...

s, which in turn was built on the previous site of Te Horotiu pa

Pa (Maori)

The word pā can refer to any Māori village or settlement, but in traditional use it referred to hillforts fortified with palisades and defensive terraces and also to fortified villages. They first came into being about 1450. They are located mainly in the North Island north of lake Taupo...

. The barracks were converted into a public park in the 1880s, which originally had commanding views over the city and harbour. The view would now be of modern office blocks, except the mature specimen trees of the park have grown up and hide most of the buildings. A portion of the barracks wall survives on the university campus nearby.

Beneath the park are the Albert Park tunnels

Albert Park tunnels

The Albert Park tunnels are found largely beneath Albert Park, in central Auckland, New Zealand. The tunnels were constructed as air raid shelters during the Second World War...

. This extensive series of tunnels was built in 1941 to be used as air raid shelters, but they were sealed up after World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, and generally forgotten.

Albert Park lies beside the site of one of the earliest volcano

Volcano

2. Bedrock3. Conduit 4. Base5. Sill6. Dike7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano10. Throat11. Parasitic cone12. Lava flow13. Vent14. Crater15...

es in the Auckland Volcanic Field

Auckland Volcanic Field

The Auckland volcanic field is a monogenetic volcanic field in the North Island of New Zealand. Basaltic in nature, it underlies much of the metropolitan area of Auckland....

, which erupted beneath the current Victoria Street carparks and the 'Metropolis' hotel/apartments entrance building (the former Auckland District Court). While primarily a very small scoria

Scoria

Scoria is a volcanic rock containing many holes or vesicles. It is most generally dark in color , and basaltic or andesitic in composition. Scoria is relatively low in mass as a result of its numerous macroscopic ellipsoidal vesicles, but in contrast to pumice, all scoria has a specific gravity...

cone, it also sent a lava

Lava

Lava refers both to molten rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption and the resulting rock after solidification and cooling. This molten rock is formed in the interior of some planets, including Earth, and some of their satellites. When first erupted from a volcanic vent, lava is a liquid at...

flow into the Queen Street

Queen Street, Auckland

Queen Street is the major commercial thoroughfare in the Auckland CBD, Auckland, New Zealand's main population centre. It starts at Queens Wharf on the Auckland waterfront, adjacent to the Britomart Transport Centre and the Downtown Ferry Terminal, and runs uphill for almost three kilometres in a...

valley, and coated the pre-existing sandstone Albert Park ridge with ash (Albert Park is not itself the location of a volcano). The lava flow temporarily dammed the stream running down the Queen Street valley creating a swamp upstream. This flat sector of the valley can now be recognised between Wellesley and Victoria Streets.

The diminutive scoria cone was substantially quarried away for roading and building material during the establishment of the city in the late 19th century, although a slight rise in Kitchener Street adjacent the carparks remains as the only physical remnant now visible.

External links

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