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From Heritage New Zealand Winter 2006

The Road More Travelled

by Miles Erwin

There are heritage choices to be made in deciding the new route to take motorists in and out of Wellington.

Illustration: Anthony Ellison

The long and bitter struggle over the route in and out of Wellington has been extremely divisive for the region. But amid the claims and counter-claims over earthquake risks, traffic disruption and skyrocketing costs, one thing stayed under the radar – the heritage of the area.

From the tikanga and kawa of the tangata whenua, the pa of Te Rauparaha’s last stand and the expansion of European settlement and seaward defences against World War II enemies, much history is entwined with the area.

For those not versed in the debates and machinations that are Wellington regional politics, the dispute centres on the Western Corridor – the route north of Wellington. Horribly congested at Pukerua Bay and Plimmerton roundabout northwards every weekend, the route is in desperate need of an upgrade.

There are two options. Widen the current route, the Centennial Highway, originally built in 1940, by using clip-ons that extend out over the sea. Or go through Transmission
Gully, a fault line valley running north, bypassing the sea route and many historical sites, and linking up just north of Pauatahanui – a length of 25 kilometres.

The debate has been raging for years. Transmission Gully has the suppport of regional transport authorities – reluctantly in the case of Wellington City Council – but awaits funding support from Transit, a matter which may take some years to resolve.

It also has local support. Submissions on the plans were overwhelmingly in favour of the gully. A total of 96.3 per cent of submissions were against the Centennial Highway and 82.6 per cent in favour of Transmission Gully. The main reasons were the disruption that would be caused to local communities by the coastal route and the benefits of a second route north – for emergencies as well as to relieve traffic congestion.

The Historic Places Trust is keeping a watchful eye over the road developments. Its submission to Transit was brief, insisting on proper heritage and archaeological assessments on the routes before any decisions are made. Despite the years of debate, it’s still early days yet.

But there is less debate on which route has more impact on heritage. Choosing Transmission Gully would be
of far greater benefit to heritage than widening the Centennial Highway. The reason is simple – much of New Zealand’s most important heritage, both Maori and Pakeha, comes from the coast.

Maori have always had strong links to Taungaroa, god of the sea, and kai moana is especially important to Maori culture.
And the harsh forests of the hinterland kept the fledgling European settlements clinging to the coast, and with them, some of our most important sites.

Wellington’s wild east coast, buttressed by the Tasman Sea, is no different. From Te Ana o Hau, the cave Tangaroa blasted through the rock to provide a pass for an ancient tupuna in search of his adulterous wife, to the gun emplacements of the 1940s, set up to fend off Japanese attack, the route of the expanded Centennial Highway is littered with precious monuments to our past and culture.

The historical significance of the hinterland of Transmission Gully is something of an enigma. That's one reason the Trust would like to see a proper survey of either route. The gully option runs near Battle Hill, site of an 1846 engagement between Maori and Pakeha. And there is also the site of a camp of American soldiers during World War II. But military historian Peter Cooke says the importance of events in Plimmerton far outweighs those in the gully, which has little left of the American camp.

Indeed the development of the area means there are few historical sites on either route that are in good condition.
But that’s not the point says Miria Pomare, Treaty claims
manager for Ngati Toa, the tangata whenua. Little is left of Te Rauparaha’s famed Taupo Pa, where he was arrested by Governor Grey’s troops, but she says that’s even more reason to preserve what is left.

Pomare says there are at least 17 sites critical to Ngati Toa’s culture throughout the length of the coastal highway. Not only would that route obliterate some especially important sites bt it would further cut off Ngati Toa from the sea – a situation that Pomare says would have great effect on her iwi’s standing among Maori.

“If the Centennial Highway [upgrade] goes ahead, it will seriously undermine the mana of Ngati Toa. It causes so many effects, from the loss of waahi tapu to the health and wellbeing of the community.”

The loss of important kai moana gathering sites, such as Kapukapu Ariki rocks, and further encroachment of flax areas like Taupo swamp would call Ngati Toa’s mana into question whenever it welcomed manuhiri (visitors) onto the marae.

“That whole area was absolutely pivotal to Ngati Toa’s economic, social and spiritual survival,” says Pomare.

But it’s not just her heritage Pomare is concerned about. She says that because most of Ngati Toa live within their traditional rohe, and most of those live in Porirua, Ngati Toa would be the most affected group if the Coastal Highway goes ahead. She isparticularly concerned about the effects on the Hongoeka Bay community that would be severed from their people and their tupuna.

Throughout the Coastal Highway route, a number of sandhills that have a huge amount of value for heritage would be encroached upon – many of them contain urupa and other important archaeological sites. Pomare says the expansion of the Centennial Highway would deal a psychological blow to the tribe as it would no longer be practising kaitiakitanga (guardianship) over the resources and taonga it still retains.

Roger Beauchamp, a Porirua representative of the Historic Places Trust’s Wellington Branch Committee, is a passionate supporter of Transmission Gully and made two personal submissions against the coastal route.

“I objected strongly in the submission,” said Beauchamp. “Once it’s there, it’s there forever.” Chief among his concerns are the effects on the Ngati Toa domain, an area of high spiritual importance to the iwi.

Moa bones and important archaeology have been found in the domain, which is is also the site of the Paremata Barracks, an especially important historical site that would be in the middle of an off-ramp.

The domain is also the guardian of an important historical eccentricity – it is where the only non-Maori signed the Treaty of Waitangi. Beauchamp says a Ngati Toa chief, Nohorua, refused to sign the Treaty unless his friend, the sailor Joseph Toms, did so as well. Toms became the only non- to put his signature to the Treaty.

Beauchamp is also especially concerned about the possibility of attempts to relocate any sites of importance.

“I’m not tolerating having bulldozers and hotshot engineers coming in and telling us if we don’t like it, relocate. They will have a major battle on their hands if they think they can go through Ngati Toa domain.”

But Transit disputes these claims. Transit central region manager Graham Taylor says the domain will not be affected, but he can’t stop people saying what they think

.“It depends who you talk to,” says Taylor.

Taylor says there are plans to reconvert Ngati Toa domain back into cultural open space, with joint management by the iwi and the Department of Conservation.

“We make sure there’s nothing there that’s going to be a stumbling block for our project. All the [sites] that had been identified have been avoided.

”The new coastal route would affect some sites of important historical European settlement. The most important is the Paekakariki railway station and its surrounding buildings. Built in 1909 the station is a Category I registered site and of national significance as one of the oldest stations in the country.

The proposed coastal route would run straight through the station and its surrounds. The only option would be to relocate it – although quite where to put a whole railway station has not been decided. Beauchamp says without doubt the station would be a serious loss to the community.

And Plimmerton is home to a part of our history that has been long overlooked, according to Peter Cooke. He says the World War II era, when the government erected coastal defences against a feared Japanese invasion, isn’t valued history any more, and important sites in the path of the coastal route would be lost forever.

Cooke is most concerned about gun emplacements on the beaches of Plimmerton that would be demolished by widening the highway. He says they are an important monument to nervous times. “Not many people know about them. They represent a very insecure time in our history. The fear was genuinely held – there were Japanese submarines sniffing around. The defence preparations were elaborate and I think they should be preserved.”

But historic heritage is just part of the impassioned debate around this controversial project. Locals are concerned their peaceful seaside community would be forever divided as the widened highway permanently severed Plimmerton from the rest of Mana. Many can’t understand why the route couldn’t be put through the gully, where it would have little community disruption.

Centenial Highway is effectively the one way out of town for Wellingtonians, and storms in the past few years have cut the city off from the rest of New Zealand. To Plimmerton resident Bernadette Comerford, having another way out of the capital seems the only logical option – especially if the route is away from the sea: “It’s like the gully is just waiting for a road to go through it. Why would they build near the water when we can have tsunamis and earthquakes?”

But Taylor says community fears can be placated. The plans are not set in concrete and important sites can be avoided. “It’s just one consultant’s view on life at the moment. We don’t just plough through communities with disregard to what’s there – you try to work a way through things.”

Supporters of the gully option are not rejoicing just yet. The twists and turns of this tale have been too many for anyone to guess the final outcome. The next stage is forging on with Transmission Gully. No more funding will be allocated to the Centennial Highway plans for the moment. And a heritage assessment on the gully route will be conducted before any work takes place.

“It’s about being sensitive to the issues and being able to work through it,” says Taylor. “There are always impacts, but we’ve worked through these issues many times on many jobs. A coastal expressway in Wellington is quite a difficult job, naturally.”

The whole problem could have been solved years ago. In 1942 the encamped Americans offered to build the gully route for free. While the offer would have saved years of bureaucratic wrangling, Beauchamp says, “the government just didn’t see the need for it. Now we have to pay the price for it.”

Taylor insists Transit will do this job right – working with the Trust, environmentalists, locals and anyone who wants to be involved. “We know the local people anyway – they’re just a phone call away, they’re just down the road.”