Erebus ‘monstrosity’ all wrong: Opponent
A prominent Ma¯ori leader opposes the about-to-be-built national Erebus memorial, vowing to take action to stop it, saying the land has significance for iwi and consultation with tangata whenua was inadequate.
Ma¯ori Heritage Council member Dame Rangima¯rie Naida Glavish (Nga¯ti Wha¯tua) and several kauma¯tua oppose the memorial in Parnell’s Dove-Myer Robinson Park near the former Mataharehare Pa¯ site.
Glavish said communication with local Ma¯ori had been unclear, work posed threats to a 180-year-old po¯hutukawa, views would be blocked and the park had no association with the tragedy.
“I question the validity of the information given to O¯ ra¯kei marae for approval,” she said referring to the Ministry for Culture and Heritage Manatu¯ Taonga saying Nga¯ti Wha¯tua O¯ ra¯kei expressed support for the project in 2018. “We’ve spoken to kauma¯tua who live in O¯ kahu Bay and live next to Mataharehare who are not happy with what will be a huge monstrosity that looks like a flight path in the middle of a park.”
In November, Waitemata¯ Local Board granted landowner approval for the $3.5 million Te Paerangi Ataata — Sky Song and work is expected to begin next week, but Glavish said it was not too late to stop it.
“No one is going to tell me that po¯hutakawa — it’s like standing next to an ancestor — is not going to be affected . . . and what for? A memorial to Erebus that happened how many years ago and Mataharehare has nothing to do with Erebus at all,” she said.
“You stand there and that memorial will block the vision of the Waitemata¯ and Rangitoto.”
Asked about Glavish’s stand, local board chair Richard Northey said it was up to the ministry when work started: “I doubt it would be as early as Monday”.
The ministry said Naylor Love construction would start in the first week of March. The ministry acknowledged the park site was “in the vicinity of two known archaeological sites: Mataharehare Pa¯ on the northern end of Campbells Point, destroyed when the headland was cut down in 1910s/20s and Sir John Logan Campbell’s former residence Kilbryde House, demolished in 1924”.
An information session is planned on-site at 11am tomorrow to show the proposed structure. It will start with a karakia led by Nga¯ti Wha¯tua.