Nelson City Council

From Church Hill, the Christ Church Cathedral overlooks the city business district. Built mainly of Takaka marble, the cathedral is set in a garden with many outstanding trees.

The Cathedral is open to visitors, and interpretation panels tell more of the history. Look for the remnant of Fort Arthur, built after the Wairau affray in 1843. It was named after Captain Arthur Wakefield, the settlement’s leader and one of 22 settlers who lost their lives at the Wairau in retaliation for the killing of the famous Māori chief Te Rauparaha’s daughter.

The Church Steps

The first steps on this site were built of wood in 1858. In 1913, wealthy Nelson merchant Thomas Cawthron donated £1,800 to build the Church Steps, made from New Zealand’s only construction granite, quarried from Tonga Bay in what is now the Abel Tasman National Park. They were designed by Arthur Reynolds Griffin. In 1942 the sculpted marble Centennial Memorial was added on the first landing.

Church Hill

Church Hill is rich in the history of Nelson. The Maori name for the hill is Piki Mai (climb up here) and had been the site of a pa. Newly-arrived immigrants were housed there, as was the Post Office, the New Zealand Company's storerooms and barracks, the Examiner offices, the courthouse, and the hospital tent.

There has been a church on the site since 1851. The present cathedral is the third building, replacing an earlier wooden cathedral, demolished as an earthquake risk in 1925.

Notable trees on the hill include the Hoop pine, Himalayan Cedar, Californian Redwood, a group of Turkey Oak and a Pin Oak.

Organic Piki Mai

There’s been a quiet organic revolution happening in the centre of Nelson for just over a decade.

Back in 2000 organic management of the Piki Mai (Church Hill) Reserve was introduced as a trial project and it is still going strong today.

The trial got off to a good start as the gardens were in great health at the time. A number of different strategies have been in use:

• Composting is done on site using organic waste.
• Lawns are mulch mowed and the grass is kept longer to discourage the growth of some broadleaf species.
• Some plant species have been changed to more disease resistant varieties so only some organic spraying is required.
• The Nelmac gardening team hand weed throughout the reserve and use mulch as a weed suppressant.
• All garden beds are now hand dug so there is no rotary cultivation damaging the soil structure.
• Organic fertilisers such as fish meal or blood and bone are used.

Rob Fryer from NelMac says “We’ve certainly learned a lot about the transition from traditional to an organic regime from this project.”

Several of the techniques used at Piki Mai, such as using high health plants, deep mulching and minimal use of chemical sprays, are now being used on other Council reserves.

Nelson City Council’s Horticultural Supervisor Peter Grundy says “Many of the techniques used are the same as you would use for organic gardening at home – just on a larger scale.  Cutting out chemical sprays, composting, mulching and hand weeding can take a bit longer until you get into the habit of it, but we feel the health of the gardens on Piki Mai shows this approach is well worth the effort.”

Go here for more information on getting started at home.