Bulldozer destroys historic pa site

Press, 24 May 1988, Page 15

Bulldozer destroys historic pa site

PA Rotorua A bulldozer has accidentally destroyed nearly half a historic pa site at Minginui, Mr Dave Stack, the deputy regional manager with the Department of Conservation in Rotorua, says. The site was the last defended pa built by the Ngati Manawa Hapu in 1865 and also had historical importance to the Ngati Whari who were successful in storming and taking it. “It has been the best remaining example of a pa defended against fire-

arm attack,” said Mr Stack. The site included earth walls and trenches in a rectangular shape. Department staff and officials from the Historic Places Trust will visit the site today to determine what restoration work could be done. “We will have to decide whether we can patch it up or if an archaelogical dig will be necessary to make it representative of what it was.” Mr Stack estimated that 40 per cent of the site was destroyed when a

bulldozer moved on to the area during a forest burnoff by Timberlands Bay of Plenty in April. The site had adequate fire breaks to protect native scrub land but when a break-away occurred, a bulldozer moved on to the pa to create a barrier. “The action occurred in the heat of the moment,” Mr Stack said. “Had it been only fire that went on to the land there would have been no damage. In fact, the site has been fired before.”