A replica of the retro-style Panmure sign is set to return seven years after the original was removed and put into storage.
By Torika Tokalau of Local Democracy Reporting
But not everyone is happy.
The Maungakiekie Tāmaki Local Board confirmed the replica Panmure sign would be at the entrance of the Te Horata cycleway on the Ellerslie Panmure Highway, which some locals considered to be in Mt Wellington.
Resident Kerry Brady said it wouldn’t be the same.
“I’m happy the sign is going up but I’m not happy that the sign is going up at another place,” he said.
“The sign is not going back to its spiritual location ... it’s not going back to its home.”
The sign bearing the suburb's name has been an important landmark in the east for Aucklanders since 1994, when it was first placed in the middle of a roundabout.
At 15m tall, the replica would be 2m shorter than the original but have the same features, including the name on seven turquoise-coloured discs and parts salvaged from the original sign. It is set to go up in late November.
James Hita, whose family grew up in the area, said the sign meant a lot to people.
“The current scope and location of the sign is a perfectly appropriate compromise that allows us to maintain a connection to the past, while being realistic about what money should be spent where.”
Discussion on a community Facebook page garnered opposing views.
“Not highly visible and not everyone that comes into Panmure even drives past there,” one person said.
“They actually listened to us. I’d have put diagonally across the road, but hey it’s a start,” said another.
'An important landmark'
Local board deputy chairperson Tabetha Elliott said they compromised with the location, because it was a highly visible gateway site.
She said it reinstated the sign as a local landmark for Panmure.
“[It’s] a bit of give and take sometimes, we’re really lucky that we can get the sign up and AT came to us with a budget to make it happen,” Elliot said.
“We kind of got to take advantage of the good parts.”
The Panmure sign was originally built to reflect the growth of the township between the 1940s and the 1960s, designed with a 1950s space-exploration theme and painted turquoise blue.
In 2019, it was taken down to make way for the Auckland Manukau Eastern Transport Initiative, put into storage by Auckland Transport, where it was left to deteriorate.
Since 2021, attempts to get the sign reinstalled failed despite community advocacy, until now.
Elliot said the new site would be an important gateway into Panmure, like the old site.
“It’s pretty exciting, it’s quite an important piece of Panmure, an important landmark for our community.”
– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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