It’s a pocket handkerchief patch of grass, right at the end of an inner city cul-de-sac. Underwhelming.  

A nightingale might have famously and romantically sang in Berkley Square, but only seagulls squawk and caw over Tunks Reserve.

Generations of Tauranga folk have wandered over it, around it, sat on it, and given it little thought. No! Tunks Reserve hasn’t figured large on the cityscape.

The vision for Tunks Reserve – connect with Awanui Tauranga Harbour and fondly remember ‘Alf’. Photo: Tauranga City Council.  

“I don’t know who Tunks is,” admits one passerby who has lived and worked nearby for a few years.

At a stretch she could have lobbed a crust for the seagulls onto the reserve from her kitchen window.

“Should I know? I am curious now.”

She’s not alone. No-one The Weekend Sun spoke to knew Tunks or Tunks Reserve. Just lots of shrugging and vacant stares.

Knowledge gap

So we took this gap in our local knowledge to the Heritage and Research team at Tauranga City Library.

“Tunks was a former Mayor,” the researcher offered up immediately.

Impressive.

“I think he was Mayor. Now, where did I read that?”

I don’t know, but we are all learning something together.

Tunks – Alfred Francis Daly Tunks, aka Alf or Alfie – Mayor of Tauranga between 1933 and 1935, the first Tauranga-born Mayor, a one-term Mayor and two-term councillor.

Holder of the Mayoral chains. One-term Mayor A.F.D – Alf or Alfie – Tunks. Photo: Tauranga City Libraries.

We know he was gritty – he contested the mayoralty four times before he finally got his hands on those chains. Obviously Alfred Francis Daly Tunks didn’t accept rejection. And he was also renowned for his “sterling qualities as a Christian gentleman”.

So a fine, upstanding chap.

He was industrious during his 66 years – sheep farmer, stock auctioneer, Public Trust agent before WWI service in Belgium, France and Egypt as a captain with the Tauranga Mounted Rifles. He was even presented to King George V at Buckingham Palace.

Memorialised

And for that, and his service to the citizenry, the ‘burgomaster’ was memorialised with his own patch of grass, albeit a postage stamp patch, in the cul-de-sac right at the top of Elizabeth St, just off Devonport Rd.

The area is a war zone at the moment – machines, metal barricades, road cones, a ‘NO ENTRANCE’ sign. But that’s a good sign, a sign of progress because when all that’s pealed back one day soon, the streetscape on Elizabeth St East, and Tunks Reserve, will have had a classy makeover.

It’ll be a little oasis at the top of town – grass, seats, trees, plantings and sweeping views of Te Awanui Tauranga Harbour from high above the rail bridge. Also new steps linking Elizabeth St to The Strand Extension below.

“We’re committed to acknowledging the rich history of the area,” says Tauranga City Council’s Gareth Wallis, the man driving the project.

“It has made our city what it is today.”

And all the time the spirit of A.F.D Tunks – Alf or Alfie – will be swirling. And those of his Mum and Dad. After all, this is their patch too.

Times were formal in 1916, the year Mum died – her obituary celebrated a Mrs E.F Tunks. But her name was Elizabeth, and this “well educated, cultured lady of the old school” would graciously give her name to Elizabeth St in our city.

The obit also suggests she was generous, never had an unkind word and enjoyed a chuckle. I will reflect respectfully on Mrs E.F Tunks when next stuck at the Devonport Rd lights. She’d probably get a ‘chuckle’ out of the bizarre, newfangled Barnes Dance traffic lights and the department store and apartments soaring on her strip.

In the centennial document ‘Gazetting of Tauranga as a Borough’ there’s also mention of Tunks Point at the eastern end of First Ave. It’s probably a nod to a “gallant officer” Captain Thomas Tunks – husband of Elizabeth and father of A.F.D Tunks, the former Mayor.

Tunks senior

Tunks senior was an Imperial Army officer who joined the 68th Durham Light Infantry at just 16 and served in Crimea. The career soldier couldn’t put his sabre or musket down.

And, after arriving in New Zealand in 1861, served with the 1st Waikato Militia during the ‘native war’.

On several occasions Captain Tunks served as chairman of the Town Board and the Borough Council. But in September 1886 he was suddenly “seized by a spasm of pain in his chest, causing him great agony until he became unconscious and died in his bed” early one morning. Uptown Tauranga had apparently lost “a good man and true”.

His son had a more ignominious end, which was also publicly recorded in great detail. Alfred Frances Daly Tunk was cycling into town from his Fraser St home one day when he apparently “found the exertion too much”. He collapsed and died on the street.

And there’s a thought, a vague thought, that Tunks Reserve may have been named for Dad, Captain Thomas Tunks of the 68th Regiment. After all he was lauded as “a favourite with all, a man of strict integrity”.

Give us something to think about as we’re hooking into a kebab or Korean fried chicken for lunch on Tunks Reserve in a few weeks.