‘Jewels in the Crown’ Arnold Turner & the legacy of Auckland’s regional parks

by Mike Lee · 08/09/2026

On a recent wintry Sunday morning, rising early, leaving my home at Onetangi, Waiheke Island, I journeyed from one side of the Auckland region to the other. To the mist-shrouded Mount Donald McLean, in the Waitakere Ranges overlooking the rugged splendour of the Tasman Sea and the Manukau Heads on Auckland’s west coast.

I had been invited by the family of the late Judge Arnold Turner, to speak at the unveiling of a memorial seat in his honour.

Arnold Turner, a founder elected member of the Auckland Regional Authority (ARA) is recognised as the architect of Auckland’s regional parks network. Of course such an achievement took more than the efforts of one man. Arnold was supported by visionary post-war ARA politicians like Dove-Myer Robinson, Jim Holdaway, Hugh Lambie and others, inspired by the visionary planner FWO Jones and the legendary waterworks engineer Arthur Mead.

These visionary Aucklanders were aware that the nearest national parks were some 400 km away. They were concerned that Auckland’s growing population, young people in particular, should have ready access to the great outdoors – the countryside, bush and beaches – they believed to be the birth-right of all New Zealanders. At the same time they were anxious to preserve Auckland’s outstanding coastal landscapes from the suburban sprawl starting to occur at that time.

Building from the Waitākere Ranges Centennial Memorial Park, from 1963 Arnold supported by fellow ARA members began a race against time to secure prime areas in public ownership, notably Wenderholm, Long Bay, Mahurangi and Shakespear. With the sheer hard work of uniformed rangers led by Bill Beveridge they created the popular regional parks we know today.

In 1968 having appointed Phil Jew as general manager of regional parks and satisfied the parks, so popular with Aucklanders were in good hands, Arnold returned to law, building a distinguished career, becoming a chief Judge of the Environment Court.

But Arnold always stayed involved with regional parks, especially as trusted adviser to Phil Jew, undertaking important voluntary roles.

In 1991 there was ill-advised attempt by the National government to break up the regional parks network, requiring parks to be sold or leased. A campaign organised by Arnold Turner, Phil Jew and Jim Holdaway rallied the people of Auckland to defend the parks, resulting in such a public outcry that the government backed off.

I first met Arnold soon after I was elected to the recently renamed Auckland Regional Council (ARC) in a by-election in February 1992. A few months later by pure luck, I became chair of regional parks, a position I was honoured to hold from late 1992 to late 1995.

I saw a lot of Arnold in those years. I was to find then and later when I became the chairman of the ARC from 2004 to 2010, he could always be counted on for wise advice especially when it came to regional parks.

Despite advancing years, Judge Turner’s commitment to the regional parks mission never wavered.

As recently as 2022, he, along with his daughter Bronwen (chair of the Friends of Regional Parks), Sandra Coney and myself, joined forces to speak out against an outrageous council scheme to transfer 20 coastal regional parks into the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park while concurrently lobbying the government to abolish the Marine Park and to transform the Hauraki Gulf Forum into an unelected, co-governed ‘Hauraki Gulf Authority’. Thankfully with the support of thousands of Aucklanders this was stopped.

Arnold Turner was one of what I call the ‘post-war builders of Auckland’. In a remarkable span of 20 years, they built the harbour bridge, the motorways, regional roads, Auckland International Airport, the Māngere wastewater treatment plant, four water catchment dams in the Waitākere and Hunua ranges, NZ’s biggest publicly owned bus company, Auckland’s container port – all within budget. And of course the ‘jewel in the crown’, the regional parks network which now covers 41,000 hectares including 226 km of coastline, owned in perpetuity by the people of Auckland. It was the greatest honour as an elected representative, as chair of regional parks and later the ARC, to be able to make my own contribution in expanding that legacy.

We must, as Arnold always was, remain on guard to defend it – from threats from within or without: from the privatisers, the country-sellers, and the money-driven philistines who dominate public life today. Our regional parks are a precious legacy, owned by all the people of Auckland, to be held and handed on for future generations.