Anger at DoC's clean-up of WW2 rock paintings

Sue Pawley says only two of 5000 boulders have been painted and people have been enjoying them for 64 years. Picture / Paul Estcourt

Two rock paintings dating back to World War II at Stony Batter on Waiheke Island are to be destroyed by the Department of Conservation on the grounds that they are graffiti and have no historical value.

News of the demise of the whale and face has shocked the Stony Batter Protection and Preservation Society, which believes the two painted boulders are an important feature of the historic military site and part of the island community.

The whale, with its distinctive eye, is painted on one of an impressive group of boulders at the top of a hill overlooking the three huge gun emplacements at Stony Batter historic reserve. The smiley face is painted on a round boulder with plants, believed to be native orchids, sticking out of the top to give the appearance of hair. It is on a hillside several hundred metres back from the historic fort and maze of underground tunnels.

Department of Conservation community relations project manager Bill Trusewich said the paintings detracted from the geological value of the boulders, which were remnants of an ancient volcano. Thousands of boulders, up to 4m tall, litter Stony Batter, at the eastern end of Waiheke Island.

"The suggestion they relate back to World War II is irrelevant to us. It is still defacing the beauty of the landscape," he said.

Mr Trusewich said the original work had been painted over, the whale in white paint and the smiley face in pink spray paint.

The graffiti might have started 60 years ago by "some clown in the Army" but recent touch-ups would only encourage people to do more graffiti and see the area resembling "Ernie and Burt", cartoon characters off Sesame Street.

The department planned to use a wire brush on a drill to take off as much of the paint as possible. Work could begin this week.

Protection Society stalwart Sue Pawley, who spends nearly every day at Stony Batter, said it was ridiculous that just two of 5000 boulders could not be kept for their heritage value.

"For 64 years that the public have had access to this place, those two rocks have been painted. No other rocks have been painted. If anybody painted on any other rocks we would remove it because it wouldn't be heritage, it would be graffiti.

"They are our rocks, they are our grandparents' rocks, they are our great-grandchildren's rocks and DoC is supposed to look after them for our great-grandchildren. Okay, they have been touched up but the Sistine Chapel gets touched up."

Another member of the protection society, Charlie Walsh, said the boulders had a history of their own and were of significant value to islanders. Waiheke families down the generations had posed in front of the rocks for photographs and the rock paintings had been used to promote the island.

The northern manager of the Historic Places Trust, Sherry Reynolds, said she did not know about DoC's plans to remove the paintings but would look into the matter this week. Stony Batter is registered by the trust but managed by DoC.

Mr Trusewich said the department's own historian said the paintings had no historical value and detracted from the geological value.