Hot rock, cold cash for Tongan experts

By ALAN PERROTT

Forget prison chain gangs: they are lining up to break rocks in South Auckland.

Skilled Polynesian stonemasons seem to have cornered the market in dry-stone walling, with small teams spread throughout Auckland. Lemeki Tangi, co-owner of All Rock and Stone, has been stonewalling for six years.

Equipped with nothing more than a hammer, a chisel and some know-how, his crews are working as far away as Rotorua and Russell.

Other members of his family have set up similar businesses in the United States.

"This is the sort of job we love - it's our skill.

"It's hard, physical work and we're outside.

"We had a few Pakeha working with us for a while, but I think it was too hard. They didn't last long."

Mr Tangi said demand for their skills began after Tongan stonemasons started working around South Auckland on church walls and family homes.

"It takes a while to put up a wall, so people see you out there working every day and if the walls look good they ask you to put on up for them as well," Mr Tangi said. "Now we're working all year and all over the place."

A dry stone wall is actually two walls running alongside each other.

The choice of rock varies according to colour required and usually comes from quarries.

But much of Auckland lies on volcanic material, so it is not unusual for large boulders to be dug up on the building site.

The key skills are selecting the right rock for the right place and dressing one surface with the hammer and chisel so each wall has a flat face. The gap between the two walls is then filled with concrete to form a solid edifice.

Prices vary depending on the rock to be used, but a wall about 20m long and about half a metre high, with pillars, can cost $4500 and take three weeks to build.