Gateway to Auckland

Historic, often overlooked, the Otuataua Stonefields have been used and abused over the years but a scheme is under way to highlight their importance. Rebecca Blithe reports.
Maryanne Tuwha knows her neighbourhood well. Like her ancestors, she has lived there her whole life.
Mrs Tuwha grew up with the Otuataua Stonefields - on the shores of Manukau Harbour near Auckland International Airport - as her backyard and now lives at the foot of Mangere Mountain.
In her lifetime she has watched mountains quarried down to craters, seen fertile land and the seafood harvest that fed the people of her Makaurau marae overrun by industry.
"It used to be my job to go and pick puha. We were a healthy group of people. We ate good food from the sea. But that all changed with the sewage ponds [it was the site of Auckland's major sewage farm from the 1960s until earlier this decade].
"We didn't realise the pipes were right where we were fishing and swimming. We've never been part of managing what's gone on here. We've never been able to say no."
But with plans for another development at Mangere, this time Mrs Tuwha is confident history will not be repeated.
The Mangere Gateway project is an attempt to draw visitors to one of New Zealand's oldest Maori settlements. It includes a heritage trail, revitalisation of the Mangere Town centre, and a heritage centre at the Otuataua Stonefields.
The as yet uncosted project is a collaboration by Makaurau Marae, Auckland Council (previously Manukau City Council), Villa Maria Estate, Auckland Airport and Watercare.
"I tell people this place is a little gem. You need to come and see it," Mrs Tuwha says as she scans the stonefields' crater where she played as a child, and where the heritage centre will be built.
"We're the land that time forgot. We've always recognised it as a place of peace and people are just now finding out about it."
The stonefields have a colourful past. The first Maori settlers used its network of caves to bury their dead in. Later, the land was farmed, quarried, used for motocross and as a gun club base.
"I wish someone had spoken up before everything was dug up rather than wait until the poor land had been raped and ripped up. But, in going forward, we need to revisit the past, to learn from past mistakes," she says of the pending heritage centre, which she sees as an opportunity for education.
"In the sense of heritage, it's lessons learned. For visitors, yes, they're going to see a lovely view, but we want them to know what's happened there."
While many look forward to the development's potential employment opportunities and chance to educate visitors, there has been concern that the land selected for the centre is tapu, or sacred, and should not be built on.
Makaurau Marae committee chairwoman Janice Roberts says it is paramount that the history of the area is understood.
"You need to understand that Otuataua and the surrounding areas have been working farms, used for cattle grazing, quarry sites and the like, and tourists have been gaining access to these areas before the stonefields were officially recognised as a heritage site," she says.
"It's about making sure tourists know the significance of these areas and the history of these areas. That they know the stories, like the one about the two maunga that once stood in the vicinity before being quarried.
"In terms of deciding which areas to showcase ... we look at where tourists have already been accessing, take into account our own stories of significance, and try to match the two where appropriate."
Auckland Council spokeswoman Vickie Bowers says the heritage centre is in a detailed design stage with construction planned to begin later this year.
Back ground
Manukau Harbour is where the Tainui waka landed. The area has remained one of the longest continual Maori settlements in Aotearoa, with whanau still occupying land with a marae and formerly fortified pa.