Building momentum for Peter Sergel’s ultimate vision
Published on 14 May, 2025
From the Momentum Waikato Annual Report 2024 - see full report in PDF.
Hamilton Gardens is both a much-loved recreational park and festival venue for the city’s residents, and a major star amongst the Waikato’s tourism attractions. It is everywhere you want to visit all in one place!
If you’ve been visiting the Gardens over the years, your sense of wonder will have grown as each new fascinating space has been added, most recently the astonishing Ancient Egyptian Garden. What was once a city rubbish dump is now a pastoral museum of the civilisations of the world, an undertaking of huge ambition that is only two-thirds towards realisation.
The ultimate vision of founding Gardens Director Peter Sergel will one day see some 31 theme gardens in total, each telling a tale through its design of the key historical developments that created the modern world. This astonishing concept is outlined in Peter’s book The Time Travellers Guide to Hamilton Gardens, which was published in mid-2024.
Thirteen of the gardens are yet to be built, but initial plantings and formwork for three of them, the last at the western end, began a few years back – the Medieval, Baroque and Pasifika Gardens.
As with all the previous gardens, the structural concrete and long-term plantings for all three happened years before their intended opening, with the main costs expected with the final build and decoration.
Hamilton City Council as the Gardens owner meets the costs of running and maintaining the grounds, but since the early days the development of the new theme spaces has always required fundraising by supporters in the community.
Early in 2023 Momentum Waikato took on the ‘Let’s Grow the Gardens’ fundraising mission, to generally support the planned new gardens, and to specifically find $1.7 million of the $2.8 million budget required to complete the Medieval Garden.
Its design is specifically based on the ruins of the St John of the Hermits Monastery in Sicily, although such courtyards would have existed across Europe. As such, it will be made up of a ‘Cloister Garth’ designed for prayer and meditation, and an ‘Apothecary Garden’ intended for growing medicinal herbs and healing plants, all of which will be perfectly geometrically aligned to the points of the compass.
Peter Sergel said the chapter in the story of human civilisation represented by the Medieval Garden is the spread of Christianity.
“Three particular aspects will be reflected in the Medieval Garden, one is piety, study and prayer, second is protection and looking after strangers, and third is superstition, particularly around geometry and maths and numbers.”
“The Medieval era has inspired all sorts of fiction, including science fiction films, because it was a strange brutal world with all sorts of magic and mystery,” said Peter.
The 610sqm Medieval Garden will be the third of four planned gardens reflecting the philosophies of the world’s major religions, the others being Islam by the Indian Char Bagh Garden, Buddhism by the Japanese Garden, and Hinduism by the future Vedic Garden.
Through 2023 and into 2024, Momentum Waikato’s fundraising for the Medieval Garden was via direct approaches to potential donors. The most significant contribution came from “the Zuru team” of the Mowbray family, who wanted to honour the memory of their grandmother Betty Mowbray, who was a strong supporter of the Gardens from its founding in the 1980s.
The Donny Fund held by Momentum Waikato, formerly the Donny Trust, also made a sizable ‘cornerstone’ donation, as a long-term partner of the Hamilton Gardens Development Trust.
Margo and David Connell, the directors of successful local firm Connell Contractors, were proud to donate to the Medieval Garden. They remember the rubbish dump they visited as youngsters and are amazed by how the Gardens site has been transformed in the decades since.
“I just love seeing people out enjoying themselves at the Gardens, there’s always lots of smiles,” said Margo. “We go to concerts there during the Hamilton Arts Festival, it is great to have the best outdoor summer entertainment in such a lovely location.”
“When I look at the acknowledgement board, it’s neat to see the contributions made to Hamilton Gardens by those local families that have been here in Hamilton a long time,” said David.
“People who’ve built family businesses here, inter-generational enterprises that aren’t going to be sold off. By supporting the Gardens they’ve left a legacy here for the city and region. It’s a lesson to our grandchildren – it is important to give back. They can be proud that our family played a part in realising the Gardens’ amazing vision.”
Support also came from the fundraising efforts of the Friends of the Gardens, and from the Hamilton Gardens Development Trust through the sale of the Time Travellers book.
In July 2024, with $300,000 still to raise, Momentum Waikato launched the public phase of the Medieval Garden fundraising campaign. Publicity in the Waikato Times created a positive buzz around the push and, despite the challenging current economic environment, numerous donations were received from everyday fans of Hamilton Gardens.
The final piece of the funding puzzle was a contribution from the WEL Energy Trust’s inaugural Capital Beneficiaries Project Fund grant round.
That completed the fundraising campaign, with the HCC publicly announcing in late October 2024 that the target had been reached and that the completion of the Medieval Garden build would soon be getting under way, with the goal of it opening in spring 2025.
Momentum Waikato heartily thanks everyone who helped make the Medieval Garden a reality.
With the addition of just a few more of the planned themed spaces, and then ultimately the full 31-garden vision, it will take a full day or two for visitors to take it all in, meaning the Gardens becomes an ‘overnight destination’, with all the accommodation, hospitality and other economic activity that will generate for the city and region.
The Medieval Garden campaign may be over, but Momentum Waikato continues to support the ultimate vision for Hamilton Gardens, please get in touch if you would like to help make it happen.
To find out more about the full plan for Hamilton Gardens and how to support it, see momentumwaikato.nz/hamiltongardens.
