Tuesday, 31 July 2018

Myer's Park in Auckland

Jeanne and I started off our day by taking the bus in to Auckland and hopping off on K' Road. From there, we descended several flights of steps, ending, as you see, in front of this statue. I thought as I walked up to it that it might be some Greek character, but found instead that it is Moses. It was placed here by the city in 1973. 





Myer's Park is long and narrow. By starting on K' Road, our walk today will all be downhill. 


I've turned around here and am looking back up the hill, back toward Moses. 


Even after living here for six years, I love to look at palm trees. 


This is the KiNZ Myer's Park Early Learning Center. 


The people in those buildings have a great view.


We are now at the other end of the park...
When Jeanne and I walked by this statue, we wondered about it's significance. There is no identifying plaque. Why a bunch of goats?  What I found upon looking it up later was impressive. This is a very cool statue indeed with powerful meaning. 

'A herd of goats discover a bleak valley and survive eating the rough vegetation. Their feeding prunes the spiny plants and their droppings manure the soil. Contained in their droppings are the seeds of plants from outside the valley. Over a period of time the valley is transformed into a fertile place due to their quiet diligent activity.'


In 1999, Auckland's sister city in China, Guangzhou, (Canton) presented this statue to Aucklalnd for Myer's Park. It is a scaled down version of the one in Yiexiu Park in Guangzhou. 
Before1949, most Chinese immigrants to New Zealand came from around the Guangzhou region. As immigrants, with little knowledge of English, at first, most filled the most menial positions, laboring where others might not want to. With time however, their efforts helped to build New Zealand into what it is today. These goats remind us of that effort and perseverance. I like that.                                                 -djf


2 comments:

  1. I always love seeing the VERY green lawns in some of the city parks you show us. And I love how the walkway in this one is flanked by the green slopes and the very TALL straight palms and the occasional bench along the way to enjoy it all. Did you find out the significance of the Moses statue being there like you did for the goat statue? Maybe because the park is sort of shaped like a parted Red Sea? hmmmmm

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  2. Moses arrived in the park in 1973. Because of the angle of the grass to the sides of the walkway, it almost does appear as though they are being parted. Good call, Dianne.

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