Professor backed over DCC in Maar stand-off
I am writing to support the work of Emeritus Professor Daphne Lee who desires to visit Foulden Maar with others, ostensibly scientists and students to continue documenting the findings from the Miocene period of New Zealand geology and paleontology.
What magnificent research and recording has been carried out by Prof Lee in recent times; this to be found in her, and co-writers’ book Fossil Treasures of Foulden Maar.
In an article by Hamish McLean (ODT 23.4.25), it appears that Dunedin City Council is denying Prof Lee access to the site to continue her work. Now that DCC has taken responsibility for the site (magnificent decision), it seems that it is being over-protective.
Does the council think that Prof Lee and her fellow researchers are tomb raiders?
They are particularly dedicated, and lobbied with thousands of others to prevent this site being mined.
For goodness sake and science, let Prof Lee have access, and please do read her book: you will see care, concern and brilliant science on every page.
I am deeply disturbed about the intransigence of the city council over access to Foulden Maar by Prof Daphne Lee of the University of Otago geology department.
I hope there are candidates in the forthcoming local body elections who will pursue this matter.
I would like to suggest Unesco Geopark status might be the way to go on this one. Either as an independent entity or incorporation into the new Waitaki Geopark.
There may be people in Māori Studies at Otago: under the principle of kaitiakitanga-guardianship and conservation, I’m sure there might be value in pursuing that avenue.
Rest-assured there are many of us in Otago and graduates of Otago who will do whatever we can to resolve this matter.
It is too important to be left to local body politics.
The arrogance of DCC chief executive Sandy Graham over Foulden Maar is mind-boggling.
What qualifications and expertise does she remotely think council planning officers have over world-class paleontologists in deciding the management of this scientific reserve?
Time for our councillors to break the impasse and instruct the city manager, the only employee they can order, to get out of the way of the scientists.
I wonder if DCC chief executive Sandy Graham realises how petty and small-minded she appears when she bars famous Professor Lee from taking groups of students to study this world-renowned fossil site on a regular basis?
Blow-ins are as blow-ins do in mine stoush
I heartily support and congratulate the gutsy souls who gave up their Easter to protest Bathurst Resources attempted fast track expansion of mining at Denniston.
Far from being "unaware and selfish" as Minister Shane Jones characterised them, these people are only too aware of the existential threat posed to us all by coal mining.
To quote Rod Carr, the outgoing chairman of the Climate Commission (who is far more qualified than Mr Jones on this subject): "Those who continue to promote the combustion of fossil fuels in the open air without carbon capture and storage are, in my view, committing a crime against humanity."
As for the protesters described as being "blow-ins" by Minister Jones and told to "bugger off back to where they came from" by Grey Mayor Tania Gibson, do they not realise the climate is not a local issue?
Do the "hundreds of people who make their living from mining" that Mr Jones and Ms Gibson defend, have the right to add to the destruction of our climate and environment for their short-term financial gain?
Many of these miners are "blow-ins" themselves as is Bathurst Resources, originally Australian and now majority Singaporean owned.
Incredibly, New Zealand doesn't even benefit financially from this enterprise. Taxpayers pay more per year to clean up historical mining damage at one mine (Stockton) than they get from all coal mining royalties in that year.
This government trumpets that New Zealand is now "open for business". It would be more accurate to say open for exploitation.
The first ships, the first streets, and facts first
To Kieran Ford (Letters ODT 10.4.25): my letter contained factually correct information about the heritage that evolved upon the arrival of the John Wickliffe and the Philip Laing on March 23 and April 15 1848.
Both ships carried Scottish settlers, including Otago settlement founder William Cargill. March 23 is now our Anniversary Day.
Dunedin place names, main streets and suburbs commemorate the close association between the "new" Edinburgh of the South and Old Edinburgh. Dunedin is the Gaelic form of Edinburgh.
Dunedin flourished due to the discovery of gold by Gabriel Reid in 1861. The flood of gold seekers nearly submerged the early settlement but Scottish influence survived.
So what disinformation and untruths is Kieran Ford referring to? I have studied the Treaty of Waitangi and have not found any mention for our council or university (both the council buildings and the university were built with Scottish architecture) to start their proceedings with a karakia.
I take exception to the accusation of "cultural erasure" having Māori aunts, cousins and grandchildren.
A long journey
Edward Ellison (ODT 11.4.25) said the failure of the Treaty Principles Bill should signal that the Treaty of Waitangi is not going anywhere. That’s true, the Treaty articles will never change but in time the principles could change or be deleted. The Waitangi Tribunal was not being honest when it argued that if the Bill was enacted it would revoke the promises and guarantees Queen Victoria made to Māori in 1840. It won’t: the Treaty principles were invented after the Queen’s death.
Mr Ellison said we are on a journey of correcting the past. Yes, and it could go on forever.
Address Letters to the Editor to: Otago Daily Times, PO Box 517, 52-56 Lower Stuart St, Dunedin. Email: editor@odt.co.nz
