City fined $18,000 for damage to pa sites

Mt Wellington. Photo / Richard Robinson

The Auckland Council has been fined $18,000 for seriously damaging archaeological sites on three volcanic cones.

Parts of Mt Wellington, Mt Roskill and Mt Taylor were damaged last year by fencing workers using tractors or graders to level areas to make it easier to put new fences in.

The council pleaded guilty in the Auckland District Court to three charges under the Historic Places Act of causing damage.

Judge Roy Wade fined the council $8000 for damage to Mt Wellington and $5000 each for damage to Mt Roskill and Mt Taylor. The council was also ordered to pay $4000 costs to the Historic Places Trust.

The company that managed the contracts, Frame Group, also pleaded guilty and was fined $4500 and $500 in costs. The contractor, Ferguson Fencing Contractors, was not charged.

Between March and May last year, the contractor damaged archaeological features on the three volcanic cones. The work was done without an archaeological authority from the trust, despite the cones being recorded as archaeological pa sites with a number of visible features.

The sites were scheduled as archaeological and geological features in the former Auckland City Council district plan.

Judge Wade said it was clear the sites were of significance and importance to iwi and the wider community and the council should have known consent was required and consulted local Maori.

He took into account the council's early guilty plea and that work halted as soon as the council became aware of the damage.

In a victim impact statement, Ngai Tai Ki Tamaki Trust spokesman Dave Beamish said the battle sites were as sacred to Maori as Gallipoli was to the Anzacs or Culloden to the Scottish.

Ngati Whatua o Orakei heritage manager Ngarimu Blair said the maunga (volcanic cones) were of profound significance to local iwi. Their human-made features were a tangible reminder of the industry and innovation of ancestors.