Komonga Point Resistance

Mana (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 6, 15 September 1977, Page 6

Komonga Point Resistance

by

Anaru Raihman

The Porirua City Council is pushing ahead with its plans to build a $2 Im. sewage treatment plant at Komanga Point, despite the objections of the local Maoris. The Ngati Toa people, who are the tangata whenua of the Porirua region, point out that the proposed siting of ths plant, and the sewer outfall at sea, will be a health hazard and will pollute their last remaining ancestral fishing grounds. The waters surrounding Komanga Pointcontain plentiful supplies of kaimoanajseafood): paua, kine (sea eggs), and mussells. Support for the local stand of the Ngati Toa and objections to the proposed sewer outfall, have come from different environmental groups and sporting bodies. They include ths Titahi Bay Fishermen's Club, Mana Cruising Club, Action for the Environment. and Ecology Action. Dan Stevenson, legal counsel for the objectors, described the area of water from Open Bay to Mana Island to Plimmerton as “the only sheltered recreational area between Plimmerton and. Island Bay". Particularly welcome has been the support of the Wellington Drivers Union, which has placed a ban onthe site. This stand has been endorsed by the Wellington Trades Council. Long history of struggle. The struggle of the Ngati Toa against pollution and encroachment on their fishing grounds has been a long and bitter one. Komanga Point istself was originally a summer fishing settlement for them, and remains of several early fishing settlements can be seen there today. In 1819 and 1820, the Ngati Toa paramount chief, Te Rauparaha,

made a migration from Kawhia to Porirua and acquired ownership of the harbour and surrounding area by conquest. Pas were established at Plimmerton and Takapuwahia, Komanga Pt., Mana Island Pa’s also, because of the abundance of kaimoana in the Porirua harbour and on the western coast opposite Mana Island. This was the major source of food for the surrounding tribes. In 1883 the Ngati Toa brought a case in the local Native Land Court, claiming ownership of the land between the high and the low water mark, that is, they sought title to the mudflats and shellfish beds which they traditionally used.

At that time the Court had already given water rights to Maoris at Thames, and the Te Aro (Wellington) Maoris had received compensation for the loss of their traditional kaimoana through harbour reclamation. The Court declared that the Ngatitoa had an “incorporeal hereditament” which entitled them to fish and gather shellfish from the tidal mudflats. However, the Court did not deal with the question of ownership of the tidal mudflats on the grounds that it had no jurisdiction over the matter, and refused to reopen the case.

During the depression of the 19305. the tribe relied almost exclusively on Porirua harbour for its food supply. The kaimoana was also used by the tangata whenua for trading with Maoris further north, and for huis and tangis held by other tribes. Mrs Harata Solomon, from the Takapuwahia Marae; “In the depression years a lot of the locals did relief work on the roads. Everybody was paid a low wage

for four days work. But the pakehas were paid for four days, and the Maoris were paid one less and told to supplement their wages from kaimoana from the harbour." Porirua harbour ruined From 1937, sewage from the Porirua Mental Hospital was discharged directly into Porirua harbour. In 1941 the hospital established a plant to pulverise sewage before it was flushed into the Porirua stream leading to the harbour. The effect of this was to thoroughly pollute the harbour and the kaimoana in the area. In certain weather conditions a film of sewage could be seen covering the entire harbour and shellfish beds. . In 1949, the government encroached on the shellfish beds by reclaiming part of the mudflats for the purposes of building a radar station for Wellington airport. The Ngati Toa people were not consulted over this, and the radar itself was never used anyway. As Harata Solomon puts it. “Those radar becons were used as a smoke screen to cover up the beginning of taking over and filling in the harbour.” The Ngati Toa repeatedly protested against the destruction of their fishing frounds, but the local authorities and the government were deaf to their complaints. Eventually, in 1957, the Porirua hospital sewerage was joined with the main trunk sewerage system. But by then it was too late; pollution of the harbour, added to by silt and mud from earthworks in the area, had completely destroyed the mudflats. Once an area abounding with a variety of kaimoana - flounder, tuangi (cockles), pupu, and pipi - the shores are now lined with signs warning the public that the taking of shellfish is a danger to human health. Ngati Toa fight back.

The Ngati Toa people at Takapuwahia marae have objected to the proposed sewerage scheme on the grounds that it endangers the health of the public and of the marae. Most of all they feel that the proposal shows a wanton disregard for the tribal traditions and customs of the Ngati Toa people, who will be this scheme be dispossessed of their fishing rights guaranteed them by the Treaty of Waitangi. The Wellington District Maori Council has expressed strong disapproval of the scheme, and in its submissions to the Water Resources Council it declared that “the kine and paua beds in the area of Komanga Point and Open Bay should be preserved, and the sewerage plant would be a threat to the environment and the preservation of a natural, healthgiving food resource.” Further disapproval has been voiced on the grounds that the proposed site for the dewerage plant borders the urupa, the traditional burial ground of the local Maoris. The kaumatua (elders) feel that to build the plant so close to land that is tapu adds insult to injury. Komanga Point has further historical value in Maoridom as the reputed landing site of Kupe. Maori locals feel that the area should become a reserve.

Matu Solomon, secretary of the Takapuwahia marae, expressed it this way: “Kupe landed at Komanga Point and while he was still aground his canoe, Matahourua went out to sea on the outgoing tide. Then his canoe came back to him on the incoming tide. Matahourua was returned to him by the tides. He left his anchor stone at Komanga Point, on the shore as a remembrance of that occurence, and in thanksgiving. This story in Maoridom confirms our fears that the sewerage dumped out there will come back to the shore and pollute our kaimoana.”