Pauatahanui Burial Ground Bill - Ururoa Flavell
te-pati-maori
Fri Jun 29 2007 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
Pauatahanui Burial Ground Bill - Ururoa Flavell
Friday, 29 June 2007, 9:48 am
Speech: The Maori Party
Porirua City Council (Pauatahanui Burial Ground) Bill
Te Ururoa Flavell; Treaty Spokesperson for the Maori Party
Wednesday 27 June 2007
“A revolution is not a bed of roses. A revolution is a struggle between the future and the past”.
Kia ora tatou.
Madam Speaker, it is always a good opportunity to stand in this House to acknowledge the importance of our cultural heritage and to consider ways in which we can demonstrate that.
The Porirua City Council (Pauatahanui Burial Ground) Bill gives us such an opportunity.
The immediate history to this Bill dates back some fifteen years ago, when five local women became concerned about the disheveled state of the burial grounds at Pauatahanui, and set about clearing the overgrown lands as Mr Robertson referred to.
As other speakers have noted, the land gifted by Thomas Hollis Stace in the 1850s, preserves the graves and the memories of some 190 pioneering ancestors of this region.
The five local women set about a rose-planting project – connecting to the pioneers of yesteryear who had brought plants from England with them, to remind them of home when they first established themselves in the colony. When a family member died, a cutting apparently was often planted on their grave.
There are now some 160 traditional blooms, I’m told, of some 90 different varieties, which provide apparently, a beautiful tranquil space to literally take time to smell the roses.
I was interested in reading one of the comments from Pauatahanui resident, Sharon Evans, a member of the Pauatahanui Burial Ground Committee which has been advocating for the preservation and protection of this beautiful historic site.
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She said, and I quote:
“Descendants from the Stace family, local residents, and the Council have all been concerned about the care and upkeep of the burial ground because of its historic significance. It would be one of the oldest non-Maori historic sites in the region”.
Now, the comment interested me, Madam Speaker, in this perception that Pauatahanui could be considered a “Non-Maori historic site”.
And it made me think too, about that comment of Fidel Castro:
“A revolution is not a bed of roses. A revolution is a struggle between the future and the past”.
And so the Maori Party comes to the Porirua City Council (Pauatahanui Burial Ground) Bill, acknowledging and recognizing the brave efforts, the valiant efforts of the local women towards ensuring these urupa are properly cared for.
We recognize the commitment to preserve the honour and protect the memorials to the descendants of the Stace family and the living relatives of the people buried in those grounds.
Those women are caring for the future by preserving the past.
But we want to also place on record the not insignificant issue of the importance of this site, Pauatahanui, to mana whenua, the people of Ngati Toa Rangatira.
Madam Speaker, contrary to the view above, this site is actually very much a Maori historic site.
While we take nothing away from the significance of this site for the Stace family; and the other residents of Pauatahanui, and those descendants of loved ones buried on this land, we would of course raise the issue of those who were the kaitiaki of this land, long before the Deed of Trust for the burial ground was signed in December 1856.
It could be, of course, that the Pauatahanui Burial Ground Committee in referring to this site as being‘non-Maori’ were in actual fact meaning it was a site which is a valuable context for European history.
For indeed, the location of the Pauatahanui Burial Ground is the location of the Pa site of the well known Ngati Toa leader, Te Rangihaeata, referred to earlier by other speakers. Through his father, Te Ra-ka-herea he was a junior relative of the senior Ngati Toa leaders of his time. His mother, Waitohi, was the elder sister of Te Rauparaha.
So far from being a site which was not significant to Maori, this site, is actually a very important place in the history of Ngati Toa and indeed, the iwi of my co-leader, Tariana Turia, that of Ngati Apa.
Te Rangihaeata in a celebrated peace accord, married Te Rangipikinga, who was the sister of Ngati Apa rangatira, Aperahama Tipae.
What we know then, from our tribal histories, is that in 1846 Te Rangihaeata was building a new pa at Pauatahanui, on the eastern inlet of Porirua Harbour. The site was ideal in providing inbuilt fortification, being protected from a sea attack by mudflats.
They named the pa, Matai-taua, and it remains of central importance to the history of Ngati Toa – and to their future. Indeed of such significance that it is listed in the Porirua City Council plan as a site of cultural significance and is also registered with the Historic Places Trust.
But importantly, Madam Speaker, the site is a very important context in the Treaty of Waitangi claim being advanced by Te Runanga o Toa Rangatira.
It was at this pa, that Te Rangihaeata was forced to retreat against the onslaught of some 600 troops marshalled together by Governor Grey to attack Ngati Toa.
Governor Grey then proceeded to capture Te Rauparaha and held him captive for a period of 18 months, applying pressure to the people of Ngati Toa to sell their lands in Porirua and Wairau in return for their rangatira, their chief.
I refer again to the korero, a revolution is a struggle between the future and the past.
In protecting the future anticipated by those early trustees of the Burial Ground and the Stace plot; we must struggle to ensure that we do not lose sight of the past. A past that leads us into the future, in the ongoing journeys of Ngati Toa, and the European residents alike.
We understand that the residents of Pauatahanui and the descendants of those early Trustees would like to see the Burial Ground cared for and maintained in perpetuity.
And we also understood, that the Council have consulted Ngati Toa about this process and that Ngati Toa respect the principle of ensuring these sacred burial grounds are managed and cared for.
But this is where the struggle of the revolution resides for me.
For as I understand the case to be, Ngati Toa gave particular emphasis in their consultations with the Council to the importance of this site.
They advised the Council that according to their knowledge that none of their tupuna are buried in the cemetery.
But they stressed that the history of Pauatahanui must be acknowledged in this Bill. And that it is not just a non-Maori history.
It is very much a Maori history – a history in which Te Rangihaeata and Matai-taua Pa are uppermost in tribal memories.
And yet here we are again, debating a Local Bill, where Local Maori unfortunately, do not even rate a mention.
In the struggle between the future and the past we can not simply obliterate the fact that there were people living on this site, long before William Bromley, Edward Bolton, Thomas Hollis Stace, William Jones and James Mitchell formed a Trust.
In the struggle between the future and the past we can not simply ignore the reality of Ngati Toa – and indeed a rich history of association recalled by Ngati Raukawa, Ngati Apa, Ngati Kimihia, Whanganui, Muaupoko, Rangitikei, Ngati Ira, Te Ati Awa, Ngai Tahu, Waikato, Ngati Rangitahi, Ngati Tama, and indeed many others.
These iwi all have inter-connected stories which relate to Te Rangihaeata, and to Matai-taua. We must not wipe out their stories by covering up the history of the land.
Madam Speaker, inevitably when history is involved, there will be different interpretations, varying perceptions of the roles of key people and dynamic memories of significant events. That is not denied. This is the richness of history. Indeed all of the different stories need to be told – the fullness explored, if we are to mature as a nation.
All that Ngati Toa Rangatira have asked for, is to acknowledge this history in the Bill before the House. It is not a big ask.
In the later years of life, Te Rangihaeata, is reputed to have told Governor Grey“That the spirit of the times was for peace, and now men, like women, used their tongues for weapons”.
We must invest in his aspiration, to retain the spirit of the times as a spirit for peace.
The Maori Party will support this Bill through to select committee, to ensure that the full story can be told. To make space for the beds of roses to sit alongside the struggle between the future and the past.
And in that way, we will truly be doing something to honour, to preserve and protect the memories of all of the ancestors, who gave life to the land immortalised in the Pauatahanui Burial Ground.
ends
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