Eight mayors, around 90 councillors, major infrastructure investment, facility upgrades and cultural, iwi, and Treaty settlement growth, constitute Nelson City Council’s last 50 years.
Nelson and Tākaka-based historian Paul Christoffel signed the contract in April last year to compile content for a book about NCC’s events between 1974 and 2024.
The book is part of the council’s sesquicentennial taskforce which was established in early 2023 for events to commemorate its 150-year history.
One of the taskforce’s key responsibilities is putting together a third history book chronicling the last 50 years of NCC which follows two earlier books - The Jubilee History of the Nelson City Council and Unfinished Business, that document the first and second 50-year periods of its history.
Paul, whose previous historic research was principally the Treaty of Waitangi, says a Nelson Tramping Club trip led to him authoring the book when one of its members, who also works at one of the council’s libraries, learned he was an historian.
“I had only lived in Nelson for less than two years and suddenly I had to find out an awful lot about [NCC]… it has been a great opportunity to find out a lot about the area I had moved to, so I’ve really enjoyed that aspect of it,” he says.
“The main thing would be my astonishment about the enormous range of stuff that councils do, from running arts festivals to museums, art galleries and musical events, and all the involvement in sports and recreation.
“Back in the day they use to employ huge numbers of staff to do the physical work, and particularly since the 1989 local government reforms, stuff gets contracted out to a very large extent.”
Paul says civic projects like the Tantragee Water Treatment Plant, which officially opened in 2004, would be covered in the book.
“That was a very controversial project because it was so expensive… but back in the 70s and 80s when the council did water testing it was rated very poorly by national standards, so even though it was very controversial, it was a worthwhile project,” he says.
The council estimates the book will be launched in April 2025 and it is expected the book will cost between $140,000 and $150,000.
The council has earmarked a $20,000 contribution from the City of Nelson Civic Trust for the publication costs.
