Takapuna community members are calling for a reversal of a decision to remove a 400-year-old pōhutukawa, considered a “living cemetery” by local iwi.
The ancient tree is one of the few remaining in Te Uru Tapu, Sacred Grove, near Takapuna Beach. It has been the centre of a long-running dispute since it fell onto the private lawn of The Sands apartment complex in 2022, yet it continued to grow. The Resource Consent lodged by Takapuna Sands Body Corporate and apartment owners was approved in September.
The cultural significance of the rākau can be traced back to funerary practices before settlers arrived in New Zealand.
Zane Catterall of Restoring Takarunga Hauraki Charitable Trust is standing with Pupuke Bird Song to advocate against the approval and believes that private financial backing helped secure it while iwi voices, limited by resourcing, struggled to be heard.
“It’s no way that’s a fair fight”, says Catterall.
“If you’re asking 4-5 mana whenua rōpū what their opinion is, by my rules, they have the first say, right? But if you just keep asking and then keep ignoring those requests, of course, you’re going to get a lack of engagement because they’re going to be like, “What’s the point? You’re not listening”.
The groups believe that not enough was done to uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi, noting that specialist recommendations were sidelined despite their significance
“All of the advisory has said to leave them be. They’ve had multiple arborists comment on the health of the trees, the best thing for the trees or be the best thing for the public, and unanimously they said to leave them alone and separate the area off,” says Catterall.
Although the final call was made by independent commissioners acting for Auckland Council, a council consultant planner had recommended declining the application. That advice was supported by five council specialists, including a heritage arborist, ecology expert, and biosecurity advisor.
One of those voices was Nico Donovan-Pereira, Auckland Council’s Senior Specialist for Māori Heritage, who believed feasible alternatives, like realigning paths or reshaping the landscape, could have allowed the tree to remain. Donovan-Pereira says the landowners followed the correct formal process, but acknowledges that the limited capacity of iwi may have also impacted the result.
“They [apartment owners] have applied for a resource consent, and that’s enabled everyone to provide their view and their input, and that’s a really important message to get across,” says Donovan-Pereira.
“The thing in terms of iwi perspectives and engagement is it’s hard because it’s seen throughout the country and especially within Auckland Council that iwi are very pressured and under resourced, and it’s a matter of not everyone can get the level of engagement that they want, and it’s trying to make the best of each circumstance.”
Thirteen iwi have interests in the area, and all those who participated opposed the removal. Among them was Te Kawerau ā Maki CEO Edward Ashby, who deeply opposed the removal.
“We didn’t think that a bit of lawn was worth killing a 400-year-old sacred tree for,” says Ashby.
“This really comes down to the case of some of the wealthiest property owners in the city getting rid of sacred ancient trees, essentially a cemetery, to make way for their pétanque sets.”
The Body Corporate has proposed planting three new pōhutukawa trees in its place, but Ashby says that gesture ignores the irreplaceable history embedded in the original.
“It’s a wāhi tapu, a place of tapu or spiritual significance. The trees played a role in the preparation of deceased bodies, the trees have absorbed tūpuna into their bark and timber... if it’s taken a hundred years of burial practices and preparation, it’s not saying you just pick up and grow another one”.
The grove is said to have been much larger, but over the years, some of the trees were cut down to make way for the developments, and some even poisoned.
Ashby fears that the outcome will pave the way for future developers to do the same.
“We’re focused on trying to protect what’s left so that when I’m long gone, our mokopuna’s mokopuna will still have these trees there to acknowledge, to celebrate, to look after,” says Ashby.
Te Ao Māori News reached out to the Body Corporate, who did not comment.
The date for the removal of the tree is still unsettled, but there is hope that there is time to reverse the decision.
