John Roughan: Let's not forgive the culprit or blame the tree

A grove of pohutukawa, totara, kiekie and other natives will be planted on the summit during Matariki next winter. Photo / Supplied

The man who fatally wounded a city's icon has no place at a ceremony to replace it.

For the past 20 years I've had a framed photo on my wall of the tree most Aucklanders will remember. I think "most" would, despite the turnover of population and immigration in that time, but I began to doubt it this week when reading of the plan to put a tree back on One Tree Hill.

The previous tree, our report said, "which became a symbol of the fractured relationship between iwi and the Crown, was subjected to chainsaw attacks in 1994 and 1999".

A symbol of what? I'm sure I was not the only Aucklander spluttering in my cornflakes that morning. You know you are getting on in years when you see the record of events being massaged like this. Christine Fletcher, who is old enough to know better, was quoted as saying: "I vividly recall how devastating it was to see our beloved icon come down following discontent around the Treaty settlement process."

It is true the discussion of its replacement became caught up in rival Treaty claims to Auckland's volcano cones, but now that we have a shared guardianship arrangement let's not sacrifice truth to reconciliation.

History is always prone to believe the revised version. History likes logical explanations. Auckland's iconic pine was fatally attacked by a Maori activist, therefore it must have been a focus of racial tension. It was nothing of the kind.

Even in the mind of Michael John Smith, then 36, unemployed of Kaeo, it was not particularly offensive. He said as much this week when National Radio contacted him about the replanting plan. The tree was iconic, he said, but didn't really mean anything. He doubted any replacement would survive because of climate change.

This is the man our lamentable mayor hopes will attend the replanting. Len Brown possibly has a personal interest in forgiveness but even so, his invitation is misplaced. I don't think those who remember what happened are ready to forgive it.

A man we hadn't previously heard of wanted to hurt us and he succeeded. He said he was angry at the "fiscal envelope" the Bolger Government had announced for Treaty settlements. That was the issue de jour, the subject of hui around the country giving Doug Graham hell.

So one October night, 21 years ago on Wednesday, he decided to show everyone how angry he was. He crept up One Tree Hill and put his chainsaw as far through the tree as he could.

Protest normally has a reasonable proportionality. It goes to the point of disruption, even occupation, if it feels strongly enough, but rarely sets out to do physical damage. Simple vandalism is normally beneath it.

Smith was from the north and maybe he felt Hone Heke was with him that night. But Heke's target, a British flagstaff, was a stark political symbol. The object Smith had in his sights was not, and he knew it. Being Maori he would also have known he was tramping on the territory of another tribe. Ngati Whatua of Orakei were doubly hurt in the morning.

Many Aucklanders that morning decided it was "just a tree". Psychologists can probably explain this sort of defence to a communal wound. It was never just a tree. it was a lonely, lovely slender one that leaned towards John Logan Campbell's obelisk. The bare trunk was capped by a clump of foliage that gave it a delicate balance.

It made One Tree Hill one of the signature features of the city, photographed and imprinted on souvenirs as much as the Harbour Bridge or Rangitoto then, or the SkyTower subsequently. I used to particularly love the tree when driving back to Auckland from the south. It was the first sign of the city in the distance and all the way up the motorway it called you home.

From the streets below, every glimpse of the summit was glorious. The tree and obelisk were a happy partnership of contrast, nature and construction, up there in a timeless dance that looked a little different from every direction but always perfect.

So perfect that as a newcomer to Auckland I supposed a landscape designer had shaped the tree as Japanese arborists do. It was only after the sickening event that most of us learned the tree had been sculpted by wind, the sole survivor of several planted up there generations ago to replicate the totara Campbell had seen in 1840.

That exercise is to be repeated. A grove of totara and pohutukawa will be planted within a protective circle of shrubs so that one might survive. If Smith is invited to attend it will add insult to injury. We've heard no apology from him, quite the reverse.

Forgiveness is a fine thing but he hasn't asked for it and just as well.