A Wairoa urupā sits in the path of both an airport expansion and a flood mitigation scheme, and the whānau who whakapapa to it say they haven’t been consulted.
Te Kopua Urupā lies on a bend of the Wairoa River, northwest of the township, where ancestors have been laid to rest for more than a century.
Te Whetu Marama Morrell has lived on the land her whole life and is a successor to the urupā.
“We have Māori battalion in there, the second war battalion; we have our whānau who had tuberculosis. There’s quite a few.”
For the Morrell whānau, the prospect of those graves being disturbed has been distressing.
The proposed works come as Wairoa District Council and Hawke’s Bay Regional Council move to shield the district from another Cyclone Gabrielle, which cut Wairoa off from the rest of the country and left large parts of it underwater.
However, the whānau say they aren’t opposed to flood protection, but want to be consulted on anything near the urupā, and say the works should be shifted if that’s what it takes to leave the graves undisturbed.
Flood mitigation project
Like many regions around the country, Wairoa is becoming a danger zone for more frequent severe weather events, endangering the 5000 residents in the district.
In 2023, Cyclone Gabrielle left many whānau displaced from their homes, businesses flooded, and communications were lost for weeks after.
This has led the government to dedicate $70 million to a flood mitigation project in the district, aimed at preventing outcomes similar to those previously experienced by the community.
The project includes the creation of a potential 190m-wide, 1,100m-long floodway that temporarily allows excess water to flow through only when river levels reach a certain height.
Furthermore, to execute the project under Hawke’s Bay Regional Council’s proposed comprehensive flood mitigation scheme, the council requires access to Paeroa 1E14—a 2.0093-hectare block of Māori freehold land that houses Te Kopua Urupā.
The proposed plan involves a temporary three-year lease over 1.0674 hectares for construction, alongside a permanent easement over approximately 0.3683 hectares to build a stop bank between the urupā and the adjacent river.
However, according to the Crown manager for the project, Lawrence Yule, that is an option to ensure the urupā is kept safe from further damaging weather events.
“If the trustees do not want us to use the urupā land or try and protect the urupā, then that’s fine by us; they just have to tell us, and we can carry on.
“We’re not trying to restrict access; all we’re trying to do is protect the urupā. We don’t have to; we would like to. If the trustees don’t want us to take this course of action, we won’t.”
The whānau took the matter to the Māori Land Court in January, seeking an interim injunction to halt the $70 million project until mana whenua consented. Judge Milner dismissed it in June, finding the land’s status was already settled and court-appointed trustees held authority over it.
For the Morrells, the proposed stop banks as referred to by the Crown manager will sever their customary access to the water and spiritual connection to their pepeha.
Airport expansion
Alongside the Wairoa flood mitigation project, whānau are also battling the expansion of the Wairoa airport.
The Wairoa Airport will receive a $4.2 million upgrade funded through both the government’s Regional Infrastructure Fund and the North Island Weather Event fund.
According to the Wairoa District Council, which are spearheading the project, upgrades will see the current runway extended from 914 to 1,200 metres, enabling a wider range of aircraft to use the facility in difficult weather conditions.
However, the Wairoa Airport Plan specifically includes an appendix for a “Land Requirement Plan” and “Runway Extension Drawings,” which whānau believe will overlap with or come dangerously close to the boundaries of the Paeroa 1E14 block (Te Kopua Urupā)
The whānau argue that the expansion, both the runway and the broader commercial developments, will “affect access to and the sanctity of Te Kopua Urupā.” They view the airport project as part of a larger, coordinated effort by local authorities to utilise ancestral land that should be treated as inalienable, due to its status as a Māori Reservation.
Morrell says current airport expansion processes are leaving her in a state of distress.
“We’re quite pōuri about it. But we’ve been quietly fighting; we’ve been getting slammed.”
However, despite potential encroachment over the urupā land block, Morrell says she is interested in seeing an expansion, as long as they are involved in planning, and any expansion is shifted to ensure access and the sanctity of the urupā remains undisturbed.
“I need our whānau and people here to have jobs. I’m not opposing it, I never have, just work with us.”
Te Ao Māori News has reached out to the Wairoa District Council, which is leading the works for the proposed airport expansion, and is awaiting a response.
