Tōtara, Ti Kōuka and Kātote donors celebrated the purchase of Te Ahu Pātiki with the Rod Donald Trust, Te Hapū o Ngāti Wheke and Orton Bradley Park, at a function held at Living Springs on July 24. Donors were thanked for their incredible generosity that had made the purchase possible. The maunga beamed back through the sunshine and showed their beautiful selves to their supporters assembled on the Living Springs deck.
Highlights of the day included a run-down from Suky Thompson, Trust Manager, on the work going on behind the scenes to secure the purchase, form the partnership and nut out the shared values and aims for the park; The Press editor Kamala Hayman on the work behind the Buy the Hill campaign, stirring oratory from kaumatua Yvette Couch-Lewis about the huge significance of this place and this moment; and Maureen McCloy’s reading Brian Turner’s poem on the healing power of mountains. Speeches rounded off with the signing of Schedule 1 – the agreement documenting the shared values and aims of the three parties for Te Ahu Pātiki. These will now feed directly into the protective covenant being drawn up by the QEII Trust for lodgement on the land title.
A champagne toast and celebratory cake wound up the formal part of the event, and then it was down to the serious business of catching up with friends old and new united in their common joy that the precious taonga of Te Ahu Pātiki – Mt Herbert and Mt Bradley –is secured and to be protected in perpetuity for the public and for nature.
Donors stand for the Toast proposed by Yvette Couch-Lewis