Dunedin council considering scrapping tradition of commissioning mayoral portraits

At least one New Zealand council is reviewing how it recognises the service of former mayors in the form of an official portrait.

The Dunedin City Council Civic Affairs committee will meet on Monday to review its recognition of former mayors, which included their names on the council honours board, the commissioning of a civic portrait, and the inclusion of a gold link in the mayoral chain.

A summary noted the escalating cost of both a painted and photographic portrait, the challenge of engaging a portrait artist, and the tradition of the outgoing mayor in suppling a link to the mayoral chains.

Three other large city councils were contacted on whether they still commissioned a painted portrait of their former mayor.

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In Wellington, the mayor’s office advised that council still commissioned mayoral portraits, which had a budget of $10,000, and ‘’there are no plans to review this’’.

In Auckland, photographic portraits of the mayor were hung in the Auckland Town Hall, and were taken by the council’s in-house photographer at the beginning of the electoral term.

The only cost associated with the portraits, which measured about 43cm high and 35cm wide, was the photograph printing and framing. Framing costs of around $120 were covered by existing budgets.

In Christchurch, Civic and International relations manager Duncan Sandeman, said: ‘’This hasn’t been a thing during my time (since 2011 and three mayors) and I have no idea if it was in the past.”

Last year Stuff reported that a portrait of former Porirua mayor Mike Tana was unveiled after he evaded the council’s attempts to get it painted for three years.

The Dunedin report writers noted staff had spoken to former mayor Aaron Hawkins, ‘’as he is directly affected by this matter’’.

He advised any decision to discontinue such traditions is better made in principle and on that basis offered no preference.

An official portrait of each Dunedin mayor, which would be hung in the Municipal Chamber, has been a tradition since the late 1940s.

The tradition was formalised in council policy around 1992, and reviewed in 2005, but staff were unable to locate a copy of any policy relating to the mayoral portrait.

But the policy was discussed on June 16, 2008, where it was noted the paintings should be in the same style as previous portraits.

All of the Dunedin mayoral portraits were oil paintings, apart from a photographic portrait of former mayor Sukhi Turner.

In 2019, a separate council committee considered a report about commissioning a photographic portrait and that the new mayoral links, which had been previously paid by, or on behalf of, former mayors, would be funded by council, but was not agreed upon.

Now the process would be formally reviewed, and a future report on the matter recommended.

A council spokesperson said there was not a specific budget for a mayoral portrait.

‘’The money comes from other approved budgets as required.”