New tech captures historic Whangaroa shipyard

New technology has been used to capture one of Northland’s oldest industries so it will survive in digital form even as the buildings themselves fall into ruin.

The former shipyard and sawmill at Tōtara North, beside Whangaroa Harbour, has been videoed and photographed using a drone. Its physical dimensions and sub-structures have also been recorded.

Once the center of a thriving kauri-milling operation and boat-building enterprise, the mill and shipyard have stood silent for almost 20 years.

Since then the 150-year-old mill had deteriorated to the point where it was no longer feasible to preserve it, Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Northland manager Bill Edwards said.

“Options for restoration or rebuilding have been explored but at the end of the day it just wasn’t practical to preserve these structures. Because they were beyond the point of repair we had to focus on the best way of recording them in detail,” Edwards said.

“Given the dangerous condition of the mill and shipyard, recording the interiors and exteriors of the buildings presented some challenges, although it was important to record the structures so that people in the future will be able to see how the mill and shipyard functioned.”

Technology provided the solution with video and photos shot by a drone flying through the interior of both structures, operated by Bay of Islands-based Aerial Vision.

“Lane and Brown Shipyard and Sawmill was established in Whangaroa, close to a plentiful supply of kauri. The shipyard was large for the time – the equivalent of just under 1400 square meters of floor space,” Edwards said.

“By any standards that was a sizeable operation, and the complex was an important part of the Far North economy.”

The covered sheds were capable of handling 350-ton ships. More than 50 vessels were built there including the 320-ton topsail schooner Rainbow in 1890 and the Government’s Pacific Island trader Countess of Ranfurly in 1901.

Lane and Brown vessels were highly sought after with the builders taking great care to select and season the wood that went into them.

“The partnership ended in the early years of the 1900s because there wasn’t enough work to keep the Lanes and the Browns employed. The Browns built a shipyard at Te Kopuru on the Kaipara while the Lanes remained at Tōtara North,” Edwards said.

“Eventually they founded the Lane Motor Boat Company in Auckland, although the Tōtara North mill continued to operate, eventually being purchased by Te Rūnanga o Whaingaora in 2004. Prior to that point it was being used to store timber rather than for milling.”

Listed as a Category 2 historic place, and understood to be the only remaining kauri mill in the world, the rarity of the mill and shipyard meant it was important to record it.

“Given the physical danger posed by the unstable buildings, however, the use of drone technology was the most practical means of doing this,” Edwards said.

“The result is a permanent, visual and highly detailed record of this important part of New Zealand’s kauri industry and boat-building heritage.”