Last updated 18:30, May 18 2018
LAINE MOGER/STUFF
Siblings Tate left, and Helena Gotty and their family were among the community members who battled to save the popular play boat.
Siblings Tate left, and Helena Gotty and their family were among the community members who battled to save the popular play boat.
A beloved children's play boat sparked a community mutiny when council hauled it out of the water, but now it is getting a second shot at life thanks to a local board grant of $280,000.
Last year, Frank Larking's Boat in Auckland's Beach Haven was deemed too dangerous for use, despite there never having been an accident there in more than 40 years of use.
The community fought back with a petition signed by 1700 but the council saw the boat removed from the water. Now the Kaipātiki Local Board has voted to spend $280,000 restoring the boat and installing it in a reserve next to a beach known as "Larking's Landing".
"All of us have been upset that the boat has been on the beach for so long, so it is a relief to get to this point. This is the next life for the boat," Kaipātiki Local Board chairman John Gillon said.
The board, voted to fund the restoration at a May 16 meeting, will involve the community in the project through a steering committee.
The Beach Haven play boat will not return to the water, but will still be available for children to play on in it's new location in a park next to Larking's Landing.
Dad Ian Gotty, who campaigned with his children to help save the boat, had mixed feelings about the solution.
"It would have been tragic if the boat had to be gotten rid of altogether, but I would be lying if I didn't say I am a bit gutted that the boat can't be kept in the water," Gotty said.
"But the more investigation we did into it, the amount of money that would have to be spent to get the boat back in the water really wasn't a good use of community money. However, that the boat can be kept somewhere close by [to the original spot] is super cool."
Frank Larking was well-known for his feats in the Beach Haven community.
The Beach Haven Placemaking Group was involved in advocating for the boat to remain in the community and attended a site visit with council last year regarding the future of the boat.
"The whole point of restoring the boat was to keep the history and love the community has for the boat and for Frank," group chairwoman Lisbeth Alley said.
"We will do whatever we can, no matter what is required, to help with the project."
The cost to restore and re-home the play boat is estimated to be $150,000.
However, when the boat was removed from the water last year it was placed on the beach and continued to deteriorate, to the point where there were widening cracks in the hull and pieces of concrete falling off.
To account for the possibility of the boat breaking up during the relocation, $280,000 was included in the 2018/2019 Kaipātiki Local Board Community Facilities Work Programme to complete the project.
Heritage of Beach Haven honoured
Frank Larking's play boat has been a favourite spot for children in Beach Haven for the past 40 years.
In its new location signage will be installed to explain the heritage of Larking's Landing and the boat.
The beach, Larking's Landing, was created by Frank Larking. He reportedly worked for 10 years carting mud, tyres and sand to build the beach from a rocky shelf in the area.
Larking transported the materials around the Waitematā Harbour in hundreds of trips in a dinghy.
The play boat, a different vessel, was given to Larking to repair by a man at Herald Island, according to records of the The Birkenhead Heritage Society.
It was believed to be a concrete cast of a lifeboat from the HMS Niagara, which was sunk by a German mine in Northland in 1940.
Larking died 10 years ago this coming October.