November 27, 2012
Road plan threatens waahi tapu
Writer Patricia Grace is fighting a bid to take a waahi tapu on her family land for the planned Kapiti expressway.
The author of Potiki and Tu yesterday told a board of inquiry hearing at Whakarongotai Marae that the New Zealand Transport Agency had served her with a notice to take her land north of the Waikanae River.
The land was part of the Tuku Rakau village where her ancestors established homes and gardens, made birthing units and buried the whenua or placenta of their offspring.
She says her great-great-grandfather Wi Parata, who lived and had cultivations around the village, donated land to allow the railway to go through Waikanae, as well as for a church and school.
Mrs Grace says there should be no further alienation of Māori land, particularly sites of cultural and historical importance.
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