■ An open letter to the Whakatāne community

■ Tēnā koutou katoa. We, the trustees and kaitiaki of Ōpihi Whanaungakore, are writing to our Whakatāne community with a simple request: please help us protect our urupā.

You might not fully understand why this matters to us. You might look at the end of the Whakatāne spit and see a place to drive, fish, walk, explore or spend time with your family and friends.

And we understand that. But we make this request not because we wish to prevent people from enjoying our beautiful coastline.

We make it because to us that land is something very different. It is an ancient urupā – Ōpihi Whanaungakore.

Buried in the sand lie our ancestors. Our grandparents. Our mothers and fathers. Our brothers and sisters. Our children. Generations of whakapapa.

They are not history to us. They are still loved. Still remembered. Still spoken to. Still cared for.

This is how we see our world. It may not be your worldview, and that is okay.

We are simply asking you to understand why we feel so strongly about protecting this place.

Ōpihi Whanaungakore stretches from Turuturu Roimata, commonly known as Statue Rock, through to the 100-acre block at 77 Bunyan Road. But our traditional understanding of this land goes further.

Our old people understood Ōpihi Whanaungakore as extending from Turuturu Roimata all the way through to the next urupā, Ōhuirehe, at modern day Coastlands.

But there are even some that understand the urupā stretches much further than that.

For us, those boundaries are not simply lines drawn on a map. They are part of a much older relationship with the land.

It is a place where our people have been laid to rest for generations.

It is a place of deep cultural and spiritual significance to the whānau who remain connected to those who lie there.

It is a place that carries the memories, whakapapa and stories of generations who came before us.

And that is why we are asking our Whakatāne community for some understanding.

We know there are people who have gone there for years. We know some people may have driven there, fished there or spent time there without ever realising what the place was.

This letter is not about blaming those people. It is about helping people understand now.

Because once you know that someone’s mother rests there, someone’s son, someone’s grandfather, someone’s baby, perhaps you might see the land differently.

Imagine if people drove across the cemetery where your parents or grandparents were buried. Imagine people setting up beside their graves to fish or socialise.

Imagine trying to explain why that hurt, only to be told that people had always done it.

That is the feeling we are trying to put into words.

We are not asking the community to stop enjoying our coastline.

There are many beautiful places around Whakatāne where people can fish, swim, walk, drive and enjoy the outdoors.

We are simply asking that this one place be treated differently.

Not because we want conflict. Not because we want to tell people where they can and cannot belong.

But because this is an urupā. And there should be some places where respect comes before recreation.

The trustees and kaitiaki of Ōpihi Whanaungakore carry the responsibility of looking after this place and those who rest there.

Sometimes that responsibility is practical. Sometimes it is spiritual. Sometimes it means having difficult conversations with people who may not understand why we care so deeply.

But, we do not want those conversations to happen in anger.

We do not want confrontation on the beach.

We would much rather our community understood before anyone ever needed to ask.

We would rather someone heading out there stopped and thought: That is an urupā. I will leave it alone.

That small act of respect would mean more to our whānau than you might realise.

We have already spent a long time trying to protect Ōpihi Whanaungakore.

But protection doesn’t just happen in courtrooms, council chambers or around meeting tables.

Sometimes protection is much simpler than that.

It is one person choosing not to drive there. One fisherman choosing another spot. One family explaining to their children why it should be left undisturbed. One neighbour telling another, kindly, that the place they are entering is an urupā.

That is how a community can help protect something precious.

We are not asking you to believe exactly what we believe.

We are asking you to respect that for us – this place is sacred.

We hope the Whakatāne community will help us.

Please respect Ōpihi Whanaunga-kore. Please leave our urupā in peace.

Ngā mihi nui.