Colonial Ammunition Co Shot Tower

Colonial Ammunition Company
Shot tower, bluestone building and company office
Normanby Rd, Mt Eden

By Celia Walker

The former Colonial Ammunition Company shot tower (1916) is a curious iron structure that towers over the industrial/commercial area of Normanby Road, below Maungawhau/Mt Eden. The Company's history in the area dates right back to the 1885, when they went into production to boost ammunition stocks in case of a Russian Invasion. The land which was initially part of Maungawhau Pa, was at that time gazetted as 'gaol reserve'.

The shot tower had a narrow escape during the demolition-happy 1980s, fortunately a public protest at its proposed destruction resulted in being granted permanent protection through a Heritage New Zealand Category 1 listing, which claims it may be the only one of it's type in the southern hemisphere. Although the manufacture of lead shot might not seem the most noteworthy industry, this is definitely the only structure of its type in New Zealand as it always was. The steel framed structure housed a kiln at the top, from this molten lead was dropped through a sieve to cool, forming the tiny balls for shotgun pellets. This gravity driven technology was pioneered in the 1780s in Europe, and they all took different forms, the three in Australia all being brick chimneys. Shot made here was also exported to Australia at times.

The Colonial Ammunition Company’s bluestone building that was once its bulkstore sits alongside it, slightly disguised by its restaurant attire, but with enough of its weighty mass of stone visible inside and out to retain a heritage presence. Sadly, nondescript commercial and residential development all around both buildings has reduced their impact, the shot tower sits behind security gates so cannot be accessed up close. Despite this, the area still has a character feel to it, helped by the retention of the CAC’s former offices that date from 1916-7, an attractive brick complex on the other side of Normanby Road. Industrial history was layered upon this site too, with the company turning to making plastic extrusion products, aluminium foil trays, and then lipstick cases. In another world first, the factory was used for canning Toheroa, a native shellfish from west Auckland beaches, but that had wound up due to low stocks a few years before manufacturing left the building for good in 1982. After a stint as a gun shop it is now occupied by a vet practice.

Image Credits: Celia Walker