United stand for land

More than 100 people gathered in Marlborough to discuss how to protect archaeologically significant iwi land near Wairau Bar, with one attendee saying he didn’t to want to see it disappear for a ‘‘bottle of wine’’.

The land at Kowhai Pā – is the earliest known Māori settlement – dating from about 1250 – and has been called the ‘‘birthplace of Aotearoa’’. It belongs to three iwi: Rangitā ne, Ngāti Toarangatira and Ngāti Rārua.

Rangitā ne o Wairau member Keelan Walker said the reason for Saturday’s hui was to talk about the history of Kōwhai Pā and the significance of its wā hi tapu or sacred sites.

‘‘We thought about breaking out big charts and handouts and getting into archaeological reasons as to why this is Ko¯ whai Pā ,’’ he said.

‘‘It’s Kōwhai Pā because we say so because we are the ones who have lived here for 800 years,’’ Walker said.

Walker claims new grapevines that have been planted are in a ‘‘red zone’’, set out by Heritage NZ Pouhere Taonga, and he believed owner Montford Corporation did not have permission to disturb the site.

‘‘I have a sense of pride in this area, I don’t want to see it destroyed . . . I don’t want to see that disappear, just for a bottle of wine, it’s not worth it.’’

Heritage NZ made a promise in ‘‘our Treaty settlement to us’’ and it was really important to honour that promise, he said.

‘‘They are our Treaty partners, they made us a promise, they said they would protect these areas, that’s why it’s important,’’ Walker said.

Kōwhai Pā is a Māori settlement where archaeologists have found evidence of urupā (burials), stone ovens, and tools dating back to 1840. It is known as ‘‘New Zealand’s most significant archaeological landscape’’.

Much of Kōwhai Pā is owned by Montford, and any work in the historically significant ‘‘red zone’’ requires Heritage NZ permission.

Heritage NZ said last month it was investigating the claims that grapes had been planted in a red zone.

Rangitā ne ki Wairau member Paora Mackie said the iwi needed to take charge on its own instead of waiting for Heritage NZ.

‘‘I believe that iwi need to step up and they need to take action, no more waiting, this has been going on for too long,’’ Mackie said.

Mackie has been spending time with his family in this land since he was 6, he said.

His role in Saturday’s event was purely from a tikanga perspective to open up with karakia (evocation) and mihi (welcome) to everybody and then at the end of the day to close it again.

A former Māori Heritage Council member Richard Bradley said the hui was not about blaming others but to protect ‘‘what we value’’.

‘‘This is all of us coming back to something that we value and try and figure out, not who is to blame, but how we are going to make sure that this last piece of land that we all have doesn’t disappear,’’ Bradley said.

Montford director Haysley Macdonald declined to comment.

Macdonald was also an elected trustee at Te Rūnanga a Rangitāne o Wairau, and director of te Pā Wines, which described its land at Wairau Bar as ‘‘the backbone of our family for 800 years’’, referring to the archaeological finds in the area.

Macdonald was charged in 2016 under the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Act 2014, which makes it illegal to destroy or modify an archaeological site without permission, after he and his father cleared scrub and used machinery on the other side of the Wairau Bar property in 2015.

Those charges were dropped in exchange for a $15,000 donation to Heritage NZ.

He also had to commission an archaeological survey of the property to guide their future use of the land.

‘‘I have a sense of pride in this area, I don’t want to see it destroyed.’’ Rangita¯ ne o Wairau’s Keelan Walker.