Heritage NZ Māori Council decline destruction of ancient urupā site

Thursday, 2 July 2020

The design of the Waikato Regional Theatre has been altered following a decision by Heritage NZ Māori Council declining the trust's application to destroy an ancient urupā site.

Waikato Regional Theatre Trust will challenge a decision by Heritage New Zealand Māori Council after it declined part of the trust's application to destroy an ancient urupa.

The decision, which was made during the nationwide Covid-19 lockdown, will be mediated at the Environment Court later this month.

The council granted permission for the remainder of the construction.

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The point of contention centres on a historic burial ground Hua o te Atua Urupā in the southeastern corner of the former Hamilton Hotel site on Victoria Street, where the new 1300-seat theatre is due to open in 2022.

Momentum Waikato, which is leading the theatre project on behalf of the trust, has changed the rejected design of the complex to protect the urupā.

Since developments for the theatre began in 2018, Momentum Waikato has consulted with Te Haa O Te Whenua Kirikiriroa, which represents all five hāpu in Hamilton.

The site of the historic urupā is in an area once inhabited by local hāpu Ngāti Wairere before the land was confiscated during the New Zealand Land Wars.

Ngā Mana Toopu is the representative group of Ngāti Wairere and opposed the original design, pointing out the impact on the urupā.

The original development plans involved building an open-air courtyard deck and access ramp over the urupā.

The ruling by the council noted that no evidence was produced in the application to confirm that there are no human burials within the identified area of Hua o Te Atua Urupā.

The Trust had argued that the development should be allowed because the majority of the urupa would not undergo any earthworks, but the council disagreed stating that the removal of 9m x 9m area of an urupa was not considered a minimal disturbance.

Momentum Waikato chief executive Kelvyn Eglinton said the design of the theatre was redeveloped to avoid the urupā entirely (file photo).

In its decision, the council said: 'The construction of the courtyard deck, ramp, and drainage work all have the potential to cause the destruction of individual human grave sites and, cumulatively, will impact significantly on the integrity of the whole urupā.'

Robert Bidois, a spokesman for Te Haa, said he had been part of the advisory group since 2018. Efforts were made to preserve the area in question during the application process.

Changes to the design made since the original plan was submitted were supported by Te Haa and Ngā Mana Toopu.

'Any remainder of what might have been the urupā has been disaffected now by the redesign of the regional theatre,' Bidois said.

'Initially, there were pylons going into the urupā. Now the developers have redesigned it and there are no pylons or anything going into the urupā. We support this.'

Ngā Mana Toopu spokesman Boris Samujh said the group became part of the consultation process in February 2020 to ensure the preservation of urupā site.

Samujh said elderly leaders within the hāpu were not aware of the build when they were informed in June this year, despite a Ngāti Wairere spokesperson speaking out about the issue in November 2019.

'Ngā Mana Toopu individually visited (four) kaumatua, kuia, the representative of their people,' Samujh said.

“Not one of the (four) had been aware of the proposed build of the theatre which had been going since 2018 … Kuia (and) kaumatua did attend the Ngā Mana Toopu initiated blessing on-site to lift the tapu.'

Samujh said the group was working with Momentum to come up with solutions that would enable Ngāti Wairere to support the advancement of the theatre.

Momentum Waikato chief executive Kelvyn Eglinton said they had worked diligently with both groups to remedy the situation.

Since the ruling, Momentum had gone back to the drawing board and made adjustments to the design which would see no impact on the urupā at all.

The design has been distributed to all parties involved.

'Once we got the decision, which was received during lockdown, we made the decision right there and then to redesign the theatre to avoid the urupā,' Eglinton said.

Takitimu Marae and urupā in Wairoa are at risk of erosion by the river, so the whanau are planting 5000 native trees to future-proof the riverbank and save the marae and tūpāpaku. Video first published in July 2020.

'Why would you have a community theatre when you are in conflict with one of your partners? It was the right thing to do to listen to one of your partners, and we did that straight away.'

Eglinton said Momentum was still in talks with Ngā Mana Toopu and there were plans to show the new design to the descendants of Ngāti Wairere at marae hui over the coming weeks.