Bones of Ngapuhi chief Hone Heke to be moved

The bones of the great Ngapuhi chief Hone Heke are about to be moved from their secret burial cave amid fears they could be disturbed by a nearby housing development.
Descendant David Rankin, chairman of the Hone Heke Foundation, said the chief's remains were in an unmarked cave in the Pakaraka area, between Kawakawa and Kaikohe.
Their exact location had always been shrouded in secrecy to stop other chiefs taking his bones to boost their mana.
But surrounding farmland was being divided into 4ha blocks and developed, raising concern about his resting place.
Mr Rankin said his hapu, Matarahurahu, had sold the land to the missionary Henry Williams and his descendants. But some of the land had been on-sold in the 1980s and was now being developed for housing.
People who had bought land "a stone's throw" from the cave did not know the bones were there, and Hone Heke's descendants wanted his remains moved before they were disturbed or affected by septic tank run-off.
Mr Rankin said he had no issue with the people who had bought the land, as they had done so in good faith.
The remains would be moved next month under cover of darkness to a secret place in Kaikohe, the chief's birthplace.
Then it would be up to all of Ngapuhi to choose his final resting place.
The location would be debated by the iwi's kaumatua and kuia but Mr Rankin's preference was the family cemetery in central Kaikohe which dated back to 1810.
It might seem an odd place for a cemetery (near the town council and Kaikohe's memorial hall). but it showed Hone Heke's descendants still mattered today.
"We're still at the heart of Kaikohe, which is the heart of Ngapuhi," Mr Rankin said.
This would be the fifth time Hone Heke had been shifted.
Mr Rankin said his ancestor's ongoing fame was due to his character - "everyone likes a charismatic trouble-maker" - and what he stood for.
"He wanted a fair deal, and to hold on to his culture and traditions. He was a political player, the only person to lead a revolt against the British Empire and get away scot-free."
Hone Heke was born around 1807 and died in Kaikohe in 1850. The first chief to sign the Treaty of Waitangi, he was also the first to reject it, starting the Northern War of 1845-46 with the felling of Russell's flagstaff a fourth time.
Historian Paul Moon has called for a public ceremony once the chief is re-interred.