Flavell Te Ururoa: Porirua City Council (Pauatahanui Burial Ground) Bill — First Reading 
Flavell Te Ururoa: Porirua City Council (Pauatahanui Burial Ground) Bill — First Reading 
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TE URUROA FLAVELL (Maori Party—Waiariki) 
: 
 Tena koe Madam Speaker. Kia ora tatou. Kia ora Mr Robertson mo tera korero i tenei po. 
It is always good to have the opportunity to stand in this House to acknowledge the importance of our cultural heritage and to consider ways in which we can demonstrate that. The Porirua City Council (Pauatahanui Burial Ground) Bill gives us such an opportunity. 
The immediate history of this bill dates back some 15 years when five local women became concerned about the dishevelled state of the burial ground at Pauatahanui and set about clearing the overgrown land as Mr Robertson referred to. As other speakers have also noted the land gifted by Thomas Hollis Stace in the 1850s preserves the graves and the memories of some 190 pioneering ancestors of this region. The five local women set about a rose-planting project connecting to the pioneers of yesteryear who had brought plants from England with them to remind them of home when they had first established themselves in the colony. When a family member died a cutting apparently was often planted on the grave. There are now some 160 traditional blooms I am told of some 90 different varieties which provide apparently a beautiful tranquil space to literally take the time to smell the roses. 
I was interested in reading one of the comments from a Pauatahanui resident Sharon Evans a member of the Pauatahanui Burial Ground Committee which has been advocating for the preservation and protection of this beautiful historic site. She said and I quote: “Descendants from the Stace family local residents and the Council have all been concerned about the care and upkeep of the burial ground because of its historic significance. It would be one of the oldest non-Maori historic sites in the region.” The comment that interested me was the perception that Pauatahanui could be considered a “non-Maori” historic site. It made me think too about a comment from Fidel Castro: “A revolution is not a bed of roses. A revolution is a struggle between the future and the past.” 
So the Maori Party comes to the Porirua City Council (Pauatahanui Burial Ground) Bill acknowledging and recognising the brave efforts the valiant efforts of the local women towards ensuring these urupa are properly cared for. We recognise the commitment of the descendants of the Stace family and the living relatives of other people buried in those grounds to preserve the honour and protect the memorials of those buried there. Those women are caring for the future by preserving the past. 
But we want to also place on record the not insignificant issue of the importance of this site Pauatahanui to mana whenua the people of Ngati Toa Rangatira. Contrary to the view above this site is actually very much a Maori historic site. Although we take nothing away from the significance of this site for the Stace family the other residents of Pauatahanui and the descendants of loved ones buried on this land we would of course raise the issue of those who were the kaitiaki of the land long before the deed of trust for the burial ground was signed in December 1856. 
It could be that the Pauatahanui Burial Ground Committee in referring to this site as being “non-Maori” was in fact meaning it was a site that has a valuable context for European history. For indeed the location of the Pauatahanui Burial Ground is the location of the pa site of the well-known Ngati Toa leader Te Rangihaeata who was referred to earlier by other speakers. We know that through his father Te Ra-ka-herea he was a junior relative of the senior Ngati Toa leaders of the time. His mother Waitohi was the elder sister of Te Rauparaha. So far from being a site that was not significant to Maori this site is actually a very important place in the history of Ngati Toa and indeed the iwi of my co-leader Tariana Turia—that of Ngati Apa. Te Rangihaeata in a celebrated peace accord married Te Pikinga who was the sister of the Ngati Apa rangatira Te Arapata Hiria. 
We know from our tribal histories that in 1846 Te Rangihaeata was building a new pa at Pauatahanui on the eastern inlet of Porirua Harbour. The site was ideal in providing inbuilt fortification being protected from sea attack by mudflats. They named the pa Matai-taua and it remains of central importance to the history of Ngati Toa and to their future. Indeed it is of such significance that it is listed in the Porirua City Council plan as a site of cultural significance and is also registered with the Historic Places Trust. 
But importantly the site is very significant in the context of the Treaty of Waitangi claim being advanced by Te Runanga o Ngati Toa Rangatira. It was at this pa that Te Rangihaeata was forced to retreat against the onslaught of some 600 troops marshalled together by Governor Grey to attack Ngati Toa. Governor Grey then proceeded to capture Te Rauparaha and held him captive for a period of 18 months applying pressure to the people of Ngati Toa to sell their lands in Porirua and Wairau in return for their rangatira their chief. 
I refer again to the korero: “A revolution is a struggle between the future and the past.” In protecting the future anticipated by those early trustees of the burial ground and the Stace plot we must struggle to ensure that we do not lose sight of the past a past that leads us into the future in the ongoing journeys of Ngati Toa and the European residents alike. We understand that the residents of Pauatahanui and the descendants of those early trustees would like to see the burial ground cared for and maintained in perpetuity. We also understand that the council consulted Ngati Toa about this process and that Ngati Toa respect the principle of ensuring this sacred burial ground is managed and cared for. 
But this is where the struggle of the revolution resides for me. As I understand the case Ngati Toa gave particular emphasis in their consultations with the council to the importance of this site. They advised the council that according to their knowledge none of their tupuna are buried in the cemetery. But they stressed that the history of Pauatahanui must be acknowledged in this bill and that it is not just a “non-Maori” history; it is very much a Maori history a history in which Te Rangihaeata and Matai-taua Pa are uppermost in tribal memories. Yet here we are again debating a local bill where local Maori unfortunately do not even rate a mention. 
In the struggle between the future and the past we cannot simply obliterate the fact that there were people living on this site long before William Bromley Edward Bolton Thomas Hollis Stace William Jones and James Mitchell formed a trust. In the struggle between the future and the past we cannot simply ignore the reality of Ngati Toa and indeed a rich history of association recalled by Ngati Raukawa Ngati Apa Ngati Kimihia Whanganui Muaupoko Rangitikei Ngati Ira Te Atiawa Ngai Tahu Waikato Ngati Rangitahi Ngati Tama and indeed many others. These iwi all have interconnected stories that relate to Te Rangihaeata and to Matai-taua. We must not wipe out their stories by covering up the history of the land. 
Inevitably when history is involved there will be different interpretations varying perceptions of the roles of key people and dynamic memories of significant events. That is not denied. That is the richness of history. Indeed all of the different stories need to be told the fullness explored if we are to mature as a nation. All that Ngati Toa Rangatira have asked is that this history is acknowledged in the bill before the House. We think it is not a big ask. 
In the later years of his life Te Rangihaeata is reputed to have told Governor Grey “That the spirit of the times was for peace and now men like women used their tongues for weapons.” We must invest in his aspiration to retain the spirit of the times as a spirit for peace. The Maori Party will support this bill going to a select committee to ensure that the full story can be told and to make space for the beds of roses to sit alongside the struggle between the future and the past. In that way we will truly be doing something to honour to preserve and to protect the memories of all of the ancestors who gave life to the land immortalised in the Pauatahanui Burial Ground.