Bones in the wilderness trigger many emotions

The leader of the Ventnor Project Group, John Albert. Photo / Dean Purcell

I've written, enough times to make it seem memorable, of hikers, hunters, divers and cavers coming unexpectedly upon human bones.

My most memorable yarn of this type concerned a young hunter who, while chasing goats through the Pouakai Ranges in 1974, came upon the wreck of an RNZAF Airspeed Oxford trainer aircraft. Bodies of all four crew had lain undiscovered at the crash site for 31 years.

But my biggest story of this type was more recent - the Ventnor Project Group's discovery last year of the "ghost ship", which sank 16km off Hokianga Heads in 1902.

Thirteen New Zealand seafarers died and the remains of 499 Chinese miners being repatriated to their homeland were lost when the SS Ventnor went down.

Much controversy was generated when divers reached the ship and we haven't seen the last of it.

The leader of the Ventnor Project Group, John Albert, says he intends to hold a news conference at which he will provide additional revelations.

I don't know what these will be, but as New Zealand's destiny is increasingly linked to that of China, and as the loss of the Ventnor is one of the most remarkable chapters in our shared history, it seems likely that what Albert says will prove interesting.

The key factor with finding Koiwi tangata (human remains) is whether it's a grave site, or scene of sudden death.

In the first instance they'll generally be left alone. In the second, generally be moved.