Partnership will shape park
Rangita¯ne o Manawatu¯ representatives will sit alongside Palmerston North city councillors on a committee set up to manage Te Motu o Poutoa, the cliff-top reserve also known as Anzac Park.
In a demonstration of partnership that has taken some 170 years to come to fruition, Ma¯ ori will be appointed to the committee. The two parties have signed a kawenata, or treaty, to work as partners caring for the reserve identified as the most culturally significant in Palmerston North.
Rangita¯ ne o Manawatu¯ Investment Trust chairman Ruma Karaitiana said Te Motu o Poutoa was probably the longestoccupied Ma¯ ori site in the city, with centuries of pre-european settlement history.
Rangita¯ ne spokesman Wiremu Te Awe Awe said the kawenata was a significant development.
Mayor Grant Smith said it was appropriate the first task for the committee should be management of such an important site.
Cr Lorna Johnson said the council was grateful for the goodwill and patience of Rangita¯ ne in arriving at an agreement about the reserve.
Poutoa, after whom the site was named, was the ancestor of Rangita¯ ne, including the Paewai, Te Awe Awe and Te Rangiotu families. The urupa¯ was attacked and destroyed by Nga¯ti Apa ki Rangitı¯kei about 1820.
The ridge was lowered to form a cliff-top plateau and car park in the 1960s.
The area has been vested in the council as a reserve since 1968. Council staff said it had fallen into relatively poor condition, with rubbish dumping and anti-social behaviour.
‘‘As a key cultural site that boasts the best geographical highpoint in the city, it is essential that council and Rangita¯ ne come to an understanding on moving forward at this site.’’
Council parks and reserves manager Kathy Dever-tod and principal Ma¯ori adviser Todd Taiepa said creating a new council committee gave the partnership the appropriate level of mana. It would help the council achieve its desire to incorporate Rangita¯ne in the history and aspirations of modern-day Palmerston North.
There was scope for the committee’s work programme to grow to include identifying, protecting, preserving and managing wa¯ hi tu¯ puna and other places of cultural significance in Palmerston North’s open public spaces.