Awhi Farm : Construction : The Shacks

If you visit Awhi farm, you'll notice lots of tiny huts scattered about the place.

These shacks have been recycled from a local prison that was replacing some of it's prisoner accommodation. A tender was published for their removal and the farm won the rights to several.

Most of the shacks had graffiti hidden under the bunk-bed frames, out of sight of anyone who didn't lie down in the bed. We painted over the markings which were mostly personal tags, and Mongrel Mob (a local bikie gang) shout-outs.

One shack was marked with Neo-Nazi symbols and had a swastika scratched into the single small window set into the front of the building.

We discussed options for hiding the symbol such as stickers or painting it over, finally deciding that the best way to obscure the design was to add scratches to change the shape.

A young German woman who was spending her gap year travelling New Zealand, volunteered to modify the offensive marking. She was at it for more then an hour and marvelled at the effort that was made to etch the original symbol.

I passed by her at one point and commented that 'the person who scratched it probably had lots of free time' and that 'it must be weird to be German sometimes' to which she agreed.