This article includes references and extracts from a previous publication researched by John Subritzky in 2021 about the history of Jomac Place, which was published by the Rosebank Business Association.
“Life begins, adapts, learns, adapts, grows, adapts, matures, adapts, grows old, adapts then eventually ends, leaving a tiny ripple in space-time”, Singh
Over 100 years ago, an English Oak tree and NZ native Pohutukawa tree started their lifelong journeys. They have been growing side by side on the site that is now Chrysalis Early Learning Centre, at 1 Jomac Place, Avondale. A fan of the famous astronomer Carl Sagan would state something like: “Think of everything that humanity has been through since their young days as saplings in the early 1900’s – world wars I and II (and over 260 other wars between nations on Earth!), the first aeroplane, the first assembly line automobile, eradication of smallpox, invention of the atomic bomb, rise and fall of governments and empires, inventions from computing to internet to artificial intelligence, five landings on the Moon (USA – manned, and Russia, China, India and Japan – unmanned), and three unmanned landings on Mars, just to name a few! All through this time, these two guardians of Earth have stood together, witnessing the greatest progress and changes of any species in the 4.6 billion-year history of our planet!
Pre-European Origins
In pre-European times on this site, Maori had lived for a while here, on the shore of the Whau River. Shell middens with traces of charcoal from their fires were mapped by archaeologists. They tell us that cockles were the main shellfish eaten, but a range of other sea creatures were also locally sourced and on the menu, likely eaten between 1540 and 1670AD. This would have contributed to the rich nutrients to be found in the soil 300 years later!
1920’s
There was a succession of European owners before the Connell Family bought the property in 1921 and planted the Oak and Pohutukawa trees around that time too. All that was left from that period for the archaeologists to find was the remains of a small brick house or hut, and a scattering of early 20th century bottles, broken bricks, and other debris visible on the foreshore.
The Connells were market gardeners on the 10ha site that is now Jomac Place. They grew potatoes and kumara for many years. Bob Connell claimed that for a while after WWII, they were probably the biggest kumara growers in the country. The three brothers and their sisters grew up on the farm, playing in the Whau River. Their niece recalled the site being “like an oasis and paradise for children and a wonderful experience for them”. She also mentioned that the site was frequented by Monarch butterflies in the winter with cocoons found everywhere (even inside the house). Unknowingly, this would resonate a century later with an early childhood centre in the exact same location, named “Chrysalis“!
1950’s
The original homestead was pulled down by the Connell brothers in 1951. After that the site was farmed as part of the market garden, and a new house was built. The house was located approximately where the street is now (see aerial photograph of Jomac Place).
1965
Parcels of the farm were then sold to give way to industrial buildings and the subsequent development of Rosebank and Avondale business district regions.
1993
In 1993, Neville Exler filmed the Connell brothers on his Sony Handicam, giving an insight into their last few years market gardening in Jomac Rd. This film was made just as the Connells, the last farmers on Rosebank Road, were negotiating the sale of their farmland for development, and so ending the last chapter of Rosebank Road as the fruit and vegetable basket of Auckland. In 2012 this video was given to the Unitec research collective to convert to digital format. Bob Connell stated, “We don’t have much compost in the soil now; we have worked it out. We have mined the soil; we haven’t put back in what we took out for many years now. There used to be a lot of worms in the soil, now we hardly ever see any. We know it’s going to factories and we won’t last much longer. It’s like the house. It’s going to be pushed down in a year or two. It’s not worth spending money on.”
2008
By the time the land was sold to Jomac Properties in 2008, it was no longer being actively farmed. Jomac Properties developed and subdivided the land. For several years, the space surrounding both Oak and Pohutukawa trees had been unfortunately used as a convenient rubbish dump site by the public, containing unknown quantities of chemicals, paints, plastics and just about anything else. Over 20 skip bins were needed to clear the bulk of it. The rubbish had penetrated so deep into the soil that a special permeable geomat surface had to be placed below the bark by Playscape Ltd to prevent anything from surfacing into the (present-day) playground for children.
2009
By 2009, it was a very dire situation as the magnificent Pohutukawa and Oak trees were destined to be felled, launching a protest that generated a petition with over 1,200 signatures. The battle was led by Sigrid Shayer, a former Avondale resident who was chair of the Tree Council at the time, Imi Tovia, and Nina Patel, with support from Catherine Farmer. The conflict continued, coming close to the time when the end of tree protection was in sight. Auckland Council had granted non-notified consent to fell the trees, then backtracked and sought to protect them. In late 2010, Jomac Construction was asking the courts to call off the Tree Council’s crusade against them felling the Pohutukawa and Oak.
2013
A few short years later, the site was purchased by kiwi husband and wife team, Dr Darius and Nikeeta Singh who are educators with three generations of teaching in both their families. They held a vision for children to be completely immersed in a nature-filled backyard under the canopy of giant trees, but finding such a rare treasure in Auckland had become a dream too good to be true. In fact, it was the Oak tree and Pohutukawa tree standing alone in the field, surrounded by industrial buildings, that inspired them to protect the 5000sqm site forever by creating a unique nature-immersed childcare centre “hugging” the trees. Working with the Tree Council of NZ and community, they proposed to turn the site into a world class education facility. With constraints such designing and constructing outside the root-zone and dripline of both trees, Darius and Nikeeta worked closely with award-winning architect Phil Smith (CASA) to adopt a design process called biomimicry (i.e. solutions inspired by nature). They came up with a world-first concept to emulate the nurturing and protective embrace of a mother swan for her chicks.
This biophilic design and environment would set the scene for precious memories to be created for years to come such as children seeing their preschool in the moon (!), to children being lofted into the canopy to see the world from a tree’s perspective for the first time during regular arborist inspection visits.
Their unwavering commitment to nature-immersed education and sustainability won the Chrysalis Group the coveted award of “Most Sustainable Business” at the 2018 Westpac Business Excellence Awards, and they received the “Matariki Tu Rakau” award by the Ministry for Primary Industries for planting 120 native trees (part of NZ’s 1 billion tree programme) in their new Gaia (Earth) Forest Preschool.
The education group’s novel teaching and learning philosophy was inspired and launched from Chrysalis (Jomac site) which is the Gaia (Earth) Education Philosophy, which has been published and presented at education conferences in eight countries (i.e. NZ-2018, Australia-2018, Spain-2018, Sweden-2019, China-2019, USA-2019, Fiji-2023, United Arab Emirates-2024). The philosophy simply states “Earth inspired environments, buildings, values, teaching, curriculum & outcomes for children”. This is a way of education by immersing children into nature to benefit from the healing, calming, nurturing, comforting, understanding and slowing down of life to simple terms and times that we all had while growing up in the pre-internet days of the 70’s and 80’s.
“Our children learn ‘from’ nature, not just about it”, Singh.
2015
After a carefully monitored construction programme by Chrysalis, Auckland Council planners and arborists, and Tree Council of NZ, there was new life returning to the land through the sounds and pitter-patters of preschool children as well as a new fruit orchard for children, new vege / flower gardens on the site, and a worm farm to restore nutrients into the soil, that been stripped away over 30 years ago.
2023
Then it hit early in the year of 2023 – reportedly the worst storms in NZ’s living history struck our trees and flooded our preschool playgrounds (https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/weather-news/131264955/cyclone-gabrielle-officially-one-of-worst-storms-in-nzs-living-history). Arborists (Urban Arborists Ltd) were quick to the scene to inspect and ensure the safety of the playground for children the next day, as they have done after every storm since opening in 2015, but little was evident in terms of visible damage to the trees, other than noting the flooded waters and debris and possible contaminants which would have floated from the nearby roadsides and other industrial sites into the playground (i.e. rootzone).
As a precautionary measure to ensure health and safety for the children, all the sand and bark was replaced by the childcare centre.
Although this was another negative impact on the tree, other effects over the decades could have been in play too, including possible Chronic Oak Die-back which has been a major issue in UK and North-west America for decades, or a phenomenon reported by NZ Ministry for Primary Industries, called Sudden Oak Death. A scientific publication by Biosecurity NZ and Landcare Research (published in the 2007 NZ Plant Protection Society Journal) investigated Oak tree decline in the Auckland region, including One Tree Hill Domain. “It was concluded that some significant primary and secondary pathogens that are capable of causing severe defoliation, dieback and thinning of tree canopies were found infecting the Oak trees in which decline symptoms were observed. Repeated infection over several years may be a major contributing factor to this decline. Similar conclusions have been reached by researchers investigating oak decline in other parts of the world. The decline is apparently restricted to Q. robur (English Oak) and this raises questions about the suitability of this species as a long-lasting specimen tree for the Auckland region”.
2024
Since the first day of spring in September 2023, teachers and children have been observing the (lack of) growth of their Oak tree. Sadly now (Jan 2024), only half of the tree has blossomed and now the south-west half appears lifeless. Professional arborists were called in October to inspect when it became evident that there were no new leaves emerging. They stated, “a lot of English Oaks have been experiencing a delay with regards to coming into full leaf due to the climate this year”. A plausible explanation at the time was that due to the cyclone and severe flooding earlier in the year, this could have affected (delayed) the seasonal cycles of the tree and so the plan was to continue to observe the growth throughout summer.
In mid-December 2023, the Tree Council of NZ contacted Chrysalis after observing the same fate unfolding. All correspondence, plans and actions to date were shared for more guidance and advice.
In mid-January 2024, Chrysalis called the Auckland Council Heritage Arborist (Mr West Flynn) to conduct a site inspection of the Oak tree and his statements were as follows:
“The Oak tree has some significant deadwood areas in it particularly on the south and western sides, with the remainder of the tree having somewhat yellow and sparse foliage. The dead branches can form a hazard whereby parts can and will over time break off and fall particularly the smallest parts but not necessarily starting with those. Dead branches can be removed without prior resource consent, and therefore this work can be undertaken immediately, by professional arborists. However, I would suggest that whilst some of that can be done first, it is best that ultimately, and as a minimum, that the tree is reduced significantly in size overall”.
Subsequently, Urban Arborists were given the go-ahead to undertake significant dead-wooding work on the first available weekend in February. Chrysalis also submitted a resource consent application to reduce the size of the tree, as advised by the Council Heritage Arborist.
New chapter – New cycle
This has come as sad news for the children and teachers at Chrysalis – who have developed a close affinity with their giant Oak tree and enjoyed its cool protective shading during hot summer days. Countless art and craft projects have been beautifully adorned with acorns, oak leaves and twigs. Earth’s seasons have been visibly illustrated by the Oak tree and appreciated by Chrysalis children. 
Over the years, children have planted many acorn seeds around the centre gardens and hundreds of families have taken seeds away for their own garden projects too. These stories will no doubt continue to write more pages into the history of our Oak tree.
At this mature phase of a century-long journey, the Oak tree finally got to touch its life partner this year – the giant Pohutukawa standing next to it. A beautiful symbol of bi-culturalism that aligns perfectly with the Ministry of Education’s ECE curriculum and the centre’s own approach of “preparing children for a multi-cultural world, with respect to and guidance from our bi-cultural heritage”.
A poem was etched into a bronze cast plaque by the Singhs to honour the life of these trees in 2015 when Chrysalis was first opened by Lady June Hillary and Hon. Phil Goff, Mayor of Auckland. The childcare centre community, built by over 1000 local families over the years, is saddened by the reduction of the Oak tree. However, we find comfort in knowing that it will remain a part of our history. It will live on in the memories of thousands of children and continue to act as a steady and safe guardian in a rapidly changing future. To us, this future is one where a humble vision of a safe and sustainable “Gaia Earth” environment has persisted for over 100 years, and on this site, generations of children will continue to learn about life directly from nature, just as they have for centuries.
