September 02, 2019
Ruapekapeka runs in blood for Te Taitokerau MP
A project to improve landscaping on Ruapekapeka Pā had a boost on Friday with volunteers including intermediate school children and people on community corrections service planting 15,000 trees.
The project is in preparation for the January 2021 when the anniversary will be marked of the 175th anniversary of the battle which marked the end of the Northern War.
Te Taitokerau MP Kelvin Davis, whose Ngāti Manu hapū hold mana whenua over the land along with Ngāti Hau, remembers going up there as a child.
"There was bracken fern everywhere and being six or seven years old you don't know what happened there but you know it was something pretty amazing, pretty incredible. It's a very significant, special place. My tupuna Hikuwai Harawene fought there. It runs in the blood," he says.
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