Skate park, pools to be removed from Thames urupā site

After decades of unrest for local Mā ori, an ancient Thames urupā (burial site) will be given back to the descendants of those laid to rest there.

The Waikato town’s Centennial Pool has sat on the site since 1975 and a skate park was added to Taipari Park years later.

Members of Ngā ti Maru Rū nanga had always desired that one day the concrete foundations above the koiwi (bones) of their ancestors would be removed. The pre-European urupā once sat adjacent to a traditional pā site.

At the time the pool was being constructed, the words of a karakia (blessing) were spoken to their dead loved ones, Ngā ti Maru Rū nanga chairperson Wati Ngamane said.

The return of the site had been ‘‘years in the making’’ and it was a relief to have it come to fruition.

‘‘It’s something that has been a longterm project to get the land back and to get the recreational facilities removed from there . . . Our tupuna are buried in there,’’ he said. ‘‘It was always marked as an urupā , but at that time the pool was built there was very little consideration given to things like native burial grounds.’’

Five years ago, when the new Thames Powerco Skate Park facility was being constructed, Thames Coromandel District

Council made a commitment to return the sacred burial ground the old park sat on. They had planned to return the land in stages over the coming years.

Mayor Len Salt said ‘‘there was a very strong, collaborative relationship between council and Ngā ti Maru’’.

‘‘We’re well down the road with discussions for a replacement site for the Centennial Pool,’’ he said.

‘‘We felt it was really important to have a safe and usable place for young people and teenagers to enjoy the skate park experience.’’

There likely dozens more wā hi tapu spread across the township Ngamane said, holding the koiwi of their ancestors.

‘‘Some of residential on them, roads across them . . . We would like to get those places protected at some stage, but that is a work in progress and won’t be done in my time,’’ Ngamane said.

‘‘The ultimate goal is to have the area rehabilitated, designated and identified as a burial ground, as a wā hi tapu,’’ Ngamane said.

The skate park facilities are being removed from Taipari Park starting from

March 20, 2023.