Government Ups Contribution For Otuataua Purchase

Conservation Minister, Nick Smith, today announced a further Crown contribution of $300,000 towards the purchase of the Otuataua volcanic stonefields, on the shores of Manukau Harbour, west of the airport. This brings the total contribution from the Department of Conservation to $800,000.

"These stonefields are a precious record of Auckland's past. Unlike the fortified pa on the volcanic cones, this site records Auckland at peace, in prosperity, technologically innovative and socially stable - half a millennium ago."

The Minister was speaking at a luncheon hosted by Manukau City Mayor, Sir Barry Curtis, to pay tribute to the four farm families who have negotiated the sale of their land to the City. The farms will now become an Historic Reserve, held in trust in perpetuity for all New Zealanders.

"In the first week of the founding of the Department of Conservation, the then Director-General visited these farmers to talk about this proposal. It has taken twelve years, almost to the day, to conclude the deal. It has not been an easy time for the farmers nor for those seeking to save this piece of our urban and agricultural history."

"The final purchase has been possible only through the energy and commitment of Manukau City and its Mayor. I am pleased that I have been able to join with the Auckland Regional Council (ARC) in making significant contributions, reflecting the national and regional significance of the site."

"I am especially excited that representatives of the farmers, who have managed the land for the last 135 years, will join with tangata whenua, DoC and ARC in assisting Manukau to protect and interpret the history of half a millennium of continuous agricultural occupation of this place."

Otuataua was a famous and successful agricultural centre, for the subtribes of Te Akitai and Te Waiohua, five centuries ago. A century ago it became a centre of grasslands farming innovation and famous for its milk production. In few other places in the world can the archaeological record tell such a long, intricate changing story of agricultural richness and social condition.

Te Tai Hauauru MP Tukoroirangi Morgan said "Otuataua holds an important place in the history of New Zealand - both Maori and Pakeha. Today it has a future which binds those two threads together. It also symbolises the mutual respect between the two cultures and the necessity for them to work together at the dawning of the new millennium."