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Top Attractions in Wanganui

Moutoa Gardens

Moutoa Gardens, also known as Pākaitore, is a park in the city of Whanganui, New Zealand. Named after the Battle of Moutoa Island in the Second Taranaki War, it contains a memorial to the battle inscribed "To the memory of the brave men who fell at Moutoa, 14 May 1864, in defence of law and order against fanaticism and barbarism." It also contained a statue of John Ballance, organiser of a volunteer cavalry troop in Titokowarus War and later Premier of New Zealand. Historically, Pākaitore was a traditional fishing settlement for hundreds of years and later became a marketplace. The area was considered a sanctuary where all tribes were equal and the police could not enter. Between 1839 and 1848 the New Zealand Company purchased Wanganui lands on behalf of the crown from people and tribes who may have had little or no claim to it. The park was occupied for 79 days in 1995 in protest over a Treaty of Waitangi claim, an action which split the town and the nation and garnered significant attention from police. Local iwi claim the site was the location of a pa and trading site, left to Māori in the 1848 sale of Wanganui. Leading up to the protest the statue of Ballance was beheaded; a replacement Ballance statue was commissioned in 2009 and placed outside the Wanganui District Council buildings. The most prominent monument at Moutoa Gardens today honours Te Keepa Te Rangihiwinui NZC, a Māori military commander and noted ally of the government forces during the New Zealand Wars. First known as Te Rangihiwinui and later as Major Kemp, he led the government allied Māori forces who defeated the rebel Māori at Moutoa Island. The inscription on the plinth says the monument was erected by the people of New Zealand to honour the "high-born Maori chief, brave soldier and staunch ally of the New Zealand Government".

Ward Observatory

The Ward Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Whanganui, New Zealand. Built in 1901 and administered by the Wanganui Astronomical Society, it is named after Joseph Ward, the societys first president and longtime director of the observatory. It houses a 9½ inch telescope, the largest unmodified refractor telescope in use in New Zealand. The Observatory was designed by A. Atkins to Joseph Wards specifications, cost £290 to build, and was formally opened by Premier Richard Seddon on 25 May 1903. The telescope had been bought second-hand in England for £450, and with its mounting weighed three tons. In the Astronomical Socieys heyday before and during WWI, Joseph Ward was Honorary Director of the Observatory and Charles Whitmore Babbage, grandson of Charles Babbage the President, Secretary, and Treasurer. At this time Ward and his assistant Thomas Allison catalogued over 200 double stars, 88 of which are still recognised as “Ward doubles”. In 1926 the observatory was gifted by the Astronomical Society to the Wanganui City Council, debt free. After Joseph Wards death, his son William Herschel Ward was honorary director of the observatory from 1927 to 1959. Since 1984 the Ward Observatory and its telescope have had a Heritage New Zealand Category I rating. Located in Cooks Gardens, access to the observatory is from St Hill Street. Public viewing is on Friday evenings after dark, or by arrangement with the Astronomical Society. School groups can attend by appointment.
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