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Ngapuhi chair Sonny Tau says a tribal maverick has acted in a traditional manner by secretly reburying the bones of Hone Heke.
David Rankin removed the remains of the Ngaphui warrior chief from a cave near Pakaraka two years ago because he said they were threatened by a nearby housing development.
They were to be reburied on Putahi near Kaikohe on October 28, the anniversary of Ngapuhi signing the 1835 Declaration of Independence.
Instead, Mr Rankin reburied them at a secret spot yesterday, claiming that activists were threatening to disrupt next Monday's ceremony and take the koiwi.
Mr Tau says he was disappointed Ngapuhi Nui Tonu would no longer have a chance to discuss the action and take part in the reinterment, but he was aware threats were made.
"That is where my anger against him subsides and that's where I appreciate what he done, because as in the days of our tupuna if there was ever a threat to those sacred things, he took them out of an area that was being built up with houses and the sewage was running in to those caves. I say to him now even though I am very disappointed on behalf of Ngapuhi, good on you David for making sure that those koiwi went back to its rightful place," he says.
Copyright © 2013, UMA Broadcasting Ltd
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