Mural to add colour to MAZ

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Visitors to Mangawhai’s popular playground in the recent school holidays were curious to see activity of another kind take place, on top of the park’s roadside hills.

Cosmetic work has begun on the Mangawhai Activity Zone’s (MAZ) water tanks in the form of a mural, depicting Mangawhai’s natural environment including beaches, sand dunes, plant life and… skateboarding dinosaurs?

“They were going to be tuataras but kind of morphed into dinosaurs,” local artist and mural designer, Milly Brown, says. “Although someone who was watching me the other day asked if they were Pokemon… Now I’m not really sure what they are?”  

Chair of MAZ committee, Colin Gallagher says a colourful mural would further establish the nice feeling in the park ‘instead of a concrete monster that water tanks tend to be’. 

“Also a lot of people don’t know what MAZ actually stands for so this will make it easier as it will have ‘Mangawhai Activity Zone’ entwined in the mural,” he says.

Brown, an art teacher at Albany Middle School, also believes frescos and other forms of outdoor art discourages graffiti and vandalism.

She started to create draft sketches of the painting scene five years ago when pregnant and an active member of the MAZ committee. 

Brown also spent countless hours helping with administration tasks, gathering prices, filling in submission forms and proofreading documents to ensure the correct legal wording.

“There’s a massive mountain of work that goes on behind the scenes of the MAZ,” she says. “The members dedicate many voluntary hours, they just want the park to be an amazing thing and try to do everything really well. They all seem very proud to introduce themselves as members of MAZ… I’m very proud to be involved.”

In August this year the MAZ committee kicked off a fundraising drive to gain the $800,000 required to get the park completed by the end of 2017. 

With forest tracks, tennis courts, BBQ sites, children’s playgrounds and an international standard skate park, users know the park’s worth and crowd funding, when many give a little, is one way MAZ is trying to gather the necessary funds.

n If interested in donating or helping out, visit mangawhaiactivityzone.co.nz 

- BY JULIA WADE


COLOUR: Artist Milly Brown with helping hand and MAZ committee member Fred Roberts, in the beginning stages of the mural. 


“I would love to see Mangawhai itself have more street art, be a bit more bold and express itself more artistically.”

- Milly Brown