The Ng King Brothers Chinese Market Garden Settlement in Ashburton won high praise at the Canterbury Heritage Awards as an exceptional cultural heritage landscape.

The former market garden settlement was one of four finalists in the outstanding contribution to heritage award category. The buildings of the former settlement are currently being restored in a joint project involving the Ng King descendants, Ashburton District Council, and Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga.

The Allens Road site, which is protected as a post-1900 archaeological site and listed as a Category 1 historic place, impressed judges in the Canterbury awards, who said it was an exemplary partnership that would promote understanding of the early Chinese settlers’ contribution to the Canterbury region over 100 years.

“The site was more than a business, it was where those settlers lived, learned and socialised, a meeting place for South Island Chinese communities and a base where Chinese newcomers transitioned into New Zealand life,” the judging panel said.

The market garden settlement operated from the early 1920s until 1964 and was the largest Chinese community in the South Island during that time.

Once restored, the grounds will be open to the public as a community heritage park and will tell the story of Chinese immigration to New Zealand, as well as how the buildings were used and what it was like to live on the settlement.

In addition to restoring the heritage buildings, picnic areas, walkways, and open spaces for informal recreation are planned.

Ashburton District Council Community Services Group Manager, Steve Fabish said that it was an honour for the Ng King project to make it to the finals of these prestigious awards alongside such a high calibre of entrants.

“This is not only an acknowledgement of the contribution these early Chinese settlers made to New Zealand’s history, but also a wonderful recognition of all the hard work that is going into saving and restoring the site,” he said.

The site is regarded as the last remaining example of a 20th Century Chinese market garden settlement in New Zealand.