The former Paekākāriki home of Captain Val Sanderson, founder of Forest & Bird, is shortly to go on the market, according to real estate company Harcourts. Nestled in the bush at the top of Pingau Street, both the house and the surrounding trees have significant historic and scientific value. In an article about the life of Val Sanderson, Paekākāriki writer Judith Galtry describes the cottage and the garden
His cottage with its peaked roof and surrounding bush, resplendent with native plants and birds, sits on the eastern curve at the top of Paekākāriki’s Pingau Street where it forks southwards.
Most of the trees were planted by Sanderson himself almost a century ago to test whether natives could thrive on seemingly inhospitable sand dunes. The very success of his experiment has meant that his house, built sometime around 1930, has remained hidden away and shrouded in mystery.
The current owner has put considerable effort into looking after the cottage and its trees, keeping the character of the original building and the Sanderson plantings. But there are no legal protections in place to prevent the house being demolished and the trees removed.
The cottage is not scheduled as a heritage place in the Kāpiti Coast District Council’s district plan; nor is it protected by a heritage covenant through the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Act. A heritage covenant is a legal agreement between a property owner and Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (HNZPT) that requires owner consent to proceed. The cottage has been nominated for entry on the New Zealand Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero (administered by HNZPT), but while listing is an important recognition tool, it does not provide protection.
Until recently, Captain Sanderson has had little recognition in his own village. There is currently no blue heritage plaque outside the house. But as part of the 100-year celebrations over Forest & Bird’s founding in 2023, we now have ‘Sanderson Way’ linking the village and the Paekākāriki-Pukerua Bay escarpment track by way of a beautiful bush lined trail. There is also a sign on this track celebrating Sanderson’s life and his contribution to conservation.
Sanderson is best known for founding Forest & Bird and his work to support conservation efforts on Kapiti Island. But he also undertook local conservation efforts. Fellow Paekākāriki resident AT Clarke established Clarke’s reserve on Paekakariki Hill Road.
In 1929, a decade after Mr Clarke’s death, Hutt County Council, which then administered the reserve, appointed Sanderson as an honorary supervisor. This is now a Kāpiti District Council Reserve with the Kohekohe Loop track running through it.
But few people know about Sanderson’s garden. As Judith Galtry noted, Forest & Bird in its 1946 obituary to Captain Sanderson stated:
“The easy way held no attraction for him,” writes Forest & Bird magazine in 1946, “and on dry, barren sand dunes at Paekākāriki he demonstrated his ability by transforming them into a patch of native bush. Many of these trees are already assuming forest status, an effort which is considered by some to be little short of a biological wonder. He proved at his home at Paekākāriki that native trees could be grown on a sand dune and the beautiful native tree plantation that he established is today a monument to his efforts.”
During the 2023 Forest & Bird 100 year celebrations, a group formed to consider whether the house could be purchased and preserved. They suggested that the house could become a writers’ residence, perhaps to work on some aspects of New Zealand conservation. But this would have required a major fund-raising effort.
The group then approached Forest & Bird’s National Office to provide support for this effort, not through money but simply through backing the campaign. Surprisingly, Forest & Bird declined this request.
Without any legal protections for the property or support from Forest & Bird, all we can hope is that any future owners of Sanderson’s cottage will recognise the house and garden as a national taonga and honour its memory by continuing to look after it. However, there is no guarantee that a private buyer will do this.
Saving the cottage and garden requires a significant community effort that would also benefit the entire country. How might the Paekākāriki community come together to facilitate this? Any ideas?