WHAREROA FARM – Kāpiti and Coast Independent

A Beautiful day in the Dell

17th May 2012

Major gorse clearing has been completed on a beautiful day in the Dell on Whareroa Farm, near Paekakariki.

The work removed flowering gorse, and thus seed sources, from above the already-cleared southern slope and provided space for native planting around the perimeter of the Dell to connect it to Kamahi Bush.

The floor of Kamahi Bush is covered with small seedlings including nikau. Theo & Alex also cleared old tyres from the Marines’ Recreation Hall site, adjacent to the farm race, tidying up before the upcoming celebrations.

Many thanks to: Dawn Bush, Ruby & Kieran Durrant-Bush, Peter Kentish, Tony & Helen Griffiths, Don & Mary Beggs, Ian & Penny Redward, Fred & June Rowland, Liffet Stewart, Jan Nisbet, Jean McCallan, Bill Jansen, Theo & Alex Barsanti and Ann Evans.Pests. Goats and possum numbers are being reduced.Dell path. This has been finished and grass sown, it will be ready for use next summer. Many thanks to Bernard Cammack. Work to flatten a small area for a couple of picnic tables at the bottom of the amphitheatre has been approved by DOC and will start soon. This can then also double up as a small stage for use at picnics.Farm Plan – the draft is due out this month. This will be distributed and a public meeting for consultation called. We hope lots of supporters will be able to attend this important meeting as it will determine the future direction of Whareroa, details to come.

The emphasis of this year’s plantings will be on consolidation – filling in gaps and extending the range of plants in earlier planting sites, ie “secondary planting”, including trees which need shelter such as kohekohe, tawa and miro

There will not be planting on 26^th May.

The next Guardians’ event and first 2012 Whareroa Planting will be Sunday 17th June, in the Dell. Members of the Kapiti Pateke Lions will join us. BBQ hotdogs afterwards as well as morning tea!.

Whareroa Guardians Community Trust Officers for 2012/13. At the last meeting of the trust the following were elected: Chairperson – Rachel Kiel-Taylor, Treasurer – Michael Keith, Secretary – Ann Evans and to a new position, Deputy Chair – Liffet Stewart.

Marines’ 70^th celebrations. A reminder that all are welcome to join in these. See the www.marinenz.com website for more information. The main event is a ceremony at QE Park on Monday morning May 28^th. If any supporters are free to assist with this eg ushering and helping visitors, please can they phone John Porter at 905 8210. Another event will be a re-enactment of the Marine’s training route on June 10^th (information was distributed with the last update). Look out for a new Marines’ information display in the entrance bay, coming soon (compiled by John Porter and Anthony Dreaver).

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STORY OF THE WEEK

Kāpiti Coast councillors have toured of one of Aotearoa's unique buildings, the heritage - listed Rotunda at the former Otaki Health Camp, the country’s first.

Jeremy Smith reports that the 105-year-old, eight-sided rotunda predates the Health Camp.

It wasn't actually built in Otaki, but was one of two built in Rotorua in 1915 as part of a military hospital, on the site of Rotorua’s present public hospital.

Later they were taken to Otaki for the opening of the health camp in 1931.

Full story in the main column (December 19).

100 Years Ago — and the Maori Long March begins

Māori politics was dominated by the influential MPs (and sometime Cabinet ministers) Māui Pōmare ( Waitara statue photo above) and Apirana Ngata.

The 1920's also saw the rise of Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana’s religious movement, and the emergence of Te Puea Hērangi in Waikato.

Ngata worked hard to foster Māori scholarship and education and preserve traditional arts and culture.

He convinced the government to establish a Board of Maori Ethnological Research (1923), a Maori Purposes Fund Control Board (1924) and a School of Maori Arts and Crafts in Rotorua (1927).

The Reform government also took the first, tentative steps towards settling longstanding Māori grievances.

Agreements with Te Arawa in 1922 and Ngāti Tūwharetoa in 1926 recognised their respective rights over the Rotorua lakes and Lake Taupō, and led to the establishment of trust boards with some government funding.

Commissions of inquiry which examined Ngāi Tahu grievances (1920–21) and the Waikato and Taranaki confiscations (1926–27) recommended that modest compensation be paid.