Court rejects Maori claims

By ANNE GIBSON

The Environment Court has thrown out Maori evidence about an historic block of land north of Auckland and allowed a major commercial sand-mining venture to go ahead.

Auckland criminal lawyer Barry Hart has won the right to extract sand for construction over the next decade from an 8ha pastured site at Kopironui, near Woodhill on the Kaipara Harbour.

He has been fighting since 1998 to mine 30,000cu m of sand annually, and said this week he was delighted with the outcome, but that the case raised worrying issues.


Mr Hart's Serenella Holdings took the Rodney District Council to court in March, appealing against its earlier decision to stop his venture due to iwi cultural issues and the site's historic and cultural significance.

The Historic Places Trust registered the site 20 years ago.

But Environment Court presiding judge Laurie Newhook granted Mr Hart's appeal, delivering a hard-hitting judgment that attacked evidence by Maori witnesses.

Sir Hugh Kawharu of Ngati Whatua, giving evidence as a Reweti Marae kaumatua, said the site was once the area of his iwi's settlement.

The area was "redolent of the spiritual, and not merely because of the existence of unmarked graves. It is a waahi tapu in the fullest, traditional sense."

Sir Hugh had been chairman of the Ngati Whatua o Orakei Maori Trust Board almost continuously since 1978 and was a former head of the departments of anthropology and Maori studies at the universities of Massey and Auckland, the court noted.

He and other witnesses told how the area was used for ritual song and speeches but under cross-examination, Sir Hugh said he had made no mention at the council hearing of the song and speech rituals.

Consultant archaeologist Dr Wynne Spring-Rice and Sir Hugh's daughter, Margaret Kawharu - a Reweti resident - also presented evidence that the site was waahi tapu, testifying about long-standing grievances, objections to forestry operations and that the land had been used by Maori for their gardens.

But the Environment Court questioned witnesses' reliability and said there was inconsistency in evidence presented.

Dr Spring-Rice had "unashamedly formed a close attachment for the local Maori people" and had assisted them with Waitangi Tribunal claims. The court was not criticising that, but she had become so motivated by the associations that she had lodged a submission in her own right, opposing Mr Hart's application.

Archaeological evidence presented did not favour allegations about the presence of graves, the court found.

Maori had a strong presence in the South Kaipara Peninsula area, particularly throughout the 1700s and 1800s and there may have been burials in the extensive sand dunes.

But "everyday activity and widespread but long-lost random burials" should not prevent new endeavour on the land.

The court set aside the council's earlier refusal of the sand-mining, which will be carried out with a bulldozer and a front-end loader.

Margaret Kawharu said she was disappointed by the decision and concerned about non-tangata whenua Maori providing evidence that contradicted local iwi submissions.

Mr Hart proposes to reinstate the area with grass and trees when the mining is finished.

He said yesterday that the venture was in response to the construction industry's desperate shortage of the raw material, particularly near Auckland.

Following the Environment Court decision, Mr Hart said a set of protocols would be drafted which would stipulate what would happen if bones or taonga were found. Work would stop and the correct parties would be notified.

SAND-MINING ISSUES

* Maori claimed land was urupa (a burial ground) and sacred.

* The land is registered by the Historic Places Trust, and Rodney District Council has scheduled it as significant.

* The court decided the land was not waahi tapu (sacred). It heavily criticised some Maori who gave evidence.