Soldiers clean up historic village site

HAZARD: Batteries (right) were among the hazardous material soldiers collected at the former Ahu Ahu ohu. PHOTO/ SUPPLIED

Soldiers have given the remains of the Ahu Ahu ohu a big clean-up and historic experts will now begin the process of deciding what will happen to it, Conservation Department historic and recreation ranger Jim Campbell says.

The former settlement of five houses and a community building was part of Norman Kirk's ohu scheme, which freed up unused Crown land for settlement. The people who took it up finally abandoned the place at the end of the 1990s.

The land is conservation land, and is under Treaty claim. The remains of the settlement could be a possible tourist attraction. They are a river crossing and about an hour's walk from the Te Tuhi Landing near Atene on the Whanganui River Rd.

Soldiers from Queen Alexandra's Mounted Rifles Wellington East Coast Company spent two nights at the former settlement last week, as well as working on Downes Hut and the Atene Skyline Track.

The work was done in consultation with local hapu Ngati Hineoneone. No buildings were altered and nothing was removed from the site.

The soldiers instead piled up items and fenced them off from animals. Items included clothes and mattresses, but also health and environmental hazards like broken glass and batteries. It had to be done because conservation land is open to the public, and the department is responsible for keeping it safe, Mr Campbell said.

Nothing can be removed because any item may be deemed to have historic significance.

"According to our historians it's a really interesting piece of New Zealand history. How to maintain, restore and preserve that part of our history is yet to be determined."

None of the buildings have permits, and they have been swept out and fenced off, to prevent people or animals entering them.

The department's historic experts will investigate and report on the place. There will also be consultation before anything is decided about its future.