Ihumatao being ‘occupied’

Newly discovered shell midden and fire remains next to Mangere’s Ihumatao Special Housing Area has got an activist group refuting the adequacy of a report by Fletcher Building.

The campaign group, SOUL (Save Our Unique Landscape) has set up an online ‘Virtual Occupation’ on its website to boost public support across the country.

SOUL spokesperson Pania Newton says they ‘‘haven’t given up hope’’.

‘‘Our answer is a virtual occupation,’’ says Brendan Corbett of SOUL.

Those visiting the site can register with the occupation and are represented by a place-marker. It then reflects their name to appear on an early New Zealand map. Over 600 people have already signed up.

‘Virtual Occupation’ follows the group’s latest concerns about the conclusions of a Fletcher Building report presented to Auckland Council consent hearings in February of 2016.

According to SOUL, Fletcher’s report concluded that the ‘‘only feature of archaeological interest worth protecting was the concrete farm- house built in 1906’’.

However, the new midden discovery has led archaeologist Dave Veart to think of it as ‘‘culturally significant’’.

Midden is a word used by archaeologists to describe rubbish that can give an insight about diet, habitat and dates.

Veart goes on to explain that it ‘‘could have been the heavy rains that washed away the area near the tree for the shell midden to appear’’.

‘‘I haven’t double checked. It’s outside the fence and not on Fletcher’s block ... that could be why it was not in the report,’’ he says.

SOUL member Waimarie McFarland says this is a ‘‘sign from our tupuna [father] that we must carry on fighting‘‘.

She adds that the construction firm has employed a number of ‘‘expert archaeologists... how could they miss something like this?’’.

Fletcher Residential and Land Development Chief Executive Steve Evans says there has been a ‘‘real commitment to identify all areas of cultural significance’’.

‘‘We are respectful of the site’s cultural history having worked with representatives of the two iwi with mana whenua. We believe Auckland can have history and housing.’’