Kaiapoi Domain (Kaiapoi)

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Kaiapoi Domain is setup as an Arboretum of mixed deciduous trees, predominantly oaks.
Currently the north-west corner is given over earthquake relief temporary housing.

From "A History of the Parks and Reserves of Kaiapoi" located at libraries.waimakariri.govt.nz/Libraries/Local_History_-...
"The Kaiapoi Domain was gazetted in 1873 under a Domain Board, and was the first
such reserve in North Canterbury. It is situated opposite the Kaiapoi Woollen Mill
buildings. Before 1873, it was the site of Kaiapoi’s first cemetery, pound and rifle
range in a waste of fifteen acres of sand dunes, wild Irishman and manuka. The
pound was removed and then the cemetery site changed. The area had not been
suitable as a burial ground since water was met five feet below the surface and the
loose sand shifted with each northwest winds.
George H. Wearing, a Borough Councillor, boatbuilder, and later a hotel proprietor,
was a tree-planting enthusiast who moved in 1873 that `a committee be formed to
arrange for the planting of trees in various parts of the town.’ His interest led him to a
term as Chairman of the Domain Board.
In 1894, the Board offered to give the Kaiapoi Borough Council control of the Domain
if the public wanted it, and after a public meeting, the change was gazetted in
November.
In 1923, the Kaiapoi Beautifying Association decided to erect entrance gates to
commemorate the domain’s golden jubilee. The Council made a grant of £10
towards the project. The concrete pillars are inscribed for the jubilee and in memory
of Mr. Wearing. The double jarrah gates and smaller ones for pedestrians are no
longer there. Mr. J. Lothian Wilson, one of the original board members, officially
opened the gates with a gold key on October 21, 1923, before a large gathering of
residents. The Beautifying Association’s secretary, the Rev. W. B. Scott, said, “the
gate posts were a memorial to Kaiapoi’s first beautifying association, which consisted
of an ideal committee - an executive of one. The many beautiful trees in the domain
were the result of George Wearing’s enthusiasm, and much of the early planting had
been at his own expense.”
The flat area was once swamp and bulrushes, surrounded by scrub. Members of the
Kaiapoi Model Aero Club began restoring the area in 1952, the result being a fine
sheltered ground. Through the club’s efforts, the town gained an asset for passive
recreation and special occasions. The annual Christmas carnival was held on the
ground for several years. The domain was also an ideal spot for mill workers to
enjoy their lunch break.
Early on, the Domain featured a small lake, which was fed by a well that was funded
as part of the Diamond Jubilee Committee’s celebrations for Queen Victoria’s 60-
year reign.
Until recently the Domain featured a set of whalebones forming an archway at one of
the entrances. Isaac Sanders found the bones at Kairaki Beach in 1857 and he and
his wife Jane dragged the bones more than two miles to their cottage on the North
Road where they were set up. Their house became known as Whalebone Cottage.
The bones were shifted to the Domain about 1911. They have been removed and
stored because they were deteriorating and subjected to vandalism. "