Pathway built on community support
We turn back the pages of the Matamata Chronicle for our Back in the Day series to 1984 and the opening of the Tower Rd Walkway. Rexine Hawes reports.
‘‘The walkway opening was a unique occasion made possible by the public generosity as well as input from the government.’’
In 1984, the Matamata Chronicle reported that at least two octaganarians (people aged 80-89 years-old) were among the large crowd of people using the Tower Rd Walkway for the very first time at its official opening in November of the same year.
Plans for the walkway date back to the late 1970s. Both the Matamata County and Borough councils wanted a mown walkway on Tower Rd.
Estimated costs including labour timber edging, metal for the path, trees and shrubs was $16,000.
A budget allowed for 1.5m wide footpath, with metal finish, applied at a later date of $8000.
It spans two-kilometres, from the borough boundary to the Firth Tower.
Beautiful New Zealand Scheme provided the bulk of the funds for the project, along with The Minis- try of Works, planning officers and landscape architects.
The commissioner approved a sum of $2800 for Firth Tower Reserve and $12,200 for the Tower walkway.
Beautiful New Zealand Scheme also enlisted the Project Employment Programme (PEP), as a way to offer work to the unemployed.
The article stated the people of the district responded ‘‘magnificently’’ to a Matamata County Council appeal for funds to place seating and a water foun- tain along the track and a water wheel at Firth Tower, visible from the walkway.
More ‘‘aesthetically pleasing’’ additions were made to the walkway from public donations of goods and services.
It was officially opened on November 24, 1984, by Matamata County Council chairman Bert Temm, who said in his address: ‘‘the walkway opening was a unique occasion made possible by the public generosity as well as input from the government’’.
Mark Madill, Matamata County councillor and president of the Firth Tower Historical Reserve committee, said the completion of the project would not have been possible without the generosity of the public saying ‘‘it has been a great effort’’.