Auckland's Albert Park is located on a dormant volcanic cone
filled with natural lava caves. With the entry of Japan into the
Second World War, the Auckland City Council panicked and set about
using the caves to construct an air-raid shelter tunnel system to
shelter civilians in the event that the Japanese came.
Exploring the
tunnel system. Photograph from The New Zealand Herald.
Over five years, more than 3.5km of interconnecting tunnels were
dug out to accommodate up to 20,000 people. 1946 saw the completion
of the tunnels, but due to the end of the war the year before, the
tunnels were no longer of any use, and most of the network was
filled with bricks and rubble. The tunnels have been reinforced in
recent years when areas of the park started to subside into the
cavernous spaces below.
There have been various proposals to revamp the tunnels over the
years – in 1996 an ambitious developer suggested building an
underground tourist attraction and shopping mall under the park
including blackwater rafting and a glowworm grotto, while a group
of architecture students wanted the tunnels to be used to solve
parking and transport problems in central Auckland.
View of
Albert Park in 1909, showing the cannons. It's surprising how
similar it looks more than 100 years later. Photograph taken by
Albert Percy Godber. From the National Library of New Zealand.
(Link)
Because of its volcanic geology, the site is considered
unusable, and will most likely remain hidden.
Of the nine tunnel entrances, two can still be seen today.
There are two cannons in Albert park which point over the city.
They were brought to New Zealand in 1879 during the Russian threat
and were originally set up at North Head and Point Resolution. They
were mounted in the park in 1905 along with a number of other
artillery pieces.
During the construction of the air raid shelters it was believed
the cannons might attract attention of enemy aircraft and so they
were buried or shifted. They remained buried until 1977 when the
present cannons were dug up and restored.
Please bring your own pen. The
easiest way to get the log out is to pry it with a twig or other
pointy object. Good luck!
Check out these sites for more detailed information about the
tunnels:
Albert Park
Air Raid Shelters
Albert Park
Tunnels – Wikipedia
Albert
Park Tunnels – Archaeopedia
The tunnel
entrances:
Tunnel
entrances 3, 4 and 5 are sealed behind the stone retaining wall
beyond the Gateway sculpture at the end of Victoria Street
East.
S 36° 50.970 E 174° 46.012
Tunnel
entrance 6 on Kitchener St.
S 36° 50.902 E 174° 46.081
Tunnel
entrance 7 at the bottom of Constitution Hill.
S 36° 51.027 E 174° 46.431