Conal Royce Wattam (40), manager, of Cromwell, and Ronald Stuart Wattam (68), retired, of Rotorua, admitted an offence against the Historic Places Act 1993 of damaging or modifying a site at Pipeclay Gully, Bannockburn, without the authority of the New Zealand Historic Places Trust, knowing or suspecting it was an archaeological site.
They appeared in the Alexandra District Court yesterday before Judge Paul Kellar and were convicted and discharged. Judge Kellar said no further penalty was required as Conal Wattam was going to make a donation of $6000 to the trust, and his father would donate another $4000.
The protection of goldfields sites was of significant public importance and the damage done could not be repaired by simply returning the tailings, Judge Kellar said.
"Irreparable damage has been caused - this is more than minor."
The significance of the archaeological site had been severely compromised by it being dramatically altered without authority.
After the case, Conal Wattam said historic sites should be listed on the Central Otago district plan so landowners knew the significance of what was on their property.
"In reality, this kind of thing happens so often ... I bet there's a lot of property owners who are nervous now. We feel that we've been made an example of," he said.
"You shouldn't have to be afraid about the consequences if you have historic sites on your property but that seems to be the way it is, because of the [Historic Places] Act and the way it's administered."
Representing the trust, Aleyna Hall told the court the site, next to the Bannockburn Sluicings Historic Reserve, was on property owned by Ronald Wattam.
The property was sold and on the day the new owners were to take possession, January 20 last year, they discovered a contractor removing tailings, at the request of Conal Wattam. Three truckloads - 21cu m - had already been taken and the new owners prevented the fourth truckload from being removed.
The stacked tailings were from alluvial gold mining and the value of the site had been destroyed by the removal of material, Ms Hall said.
"The value of the tailings lay in how they had been left and that's been destroyed now. The defendants have agreed to put it back, but they can't be put back the way they were."
The rock had been dumped in a nearby paddock.
The men made a late admission of guilt, having originally pleaded not guilty, and did not appear to be remorseful, she said.
Counsel for the Wattams, Kieran Tohill, said Ronald Wattam and his wife bought the property in 1996 and later sold a 17ha block to their son.
Nothing on the Central Otago district plan, or on the property title, indicated it contained an archaeological or historic site.
The tailings were overgrown and inaccessible until the Wattams cleared scrub. They were told by a neighbour the tailings were from mining carried out in the 1920s and 1930s.
Sites of human activity pre-1900 are protected under the Historic Places Act.
The Wattams had preserved several other historic features on their property.
It was a first offence for both and Mr Tohill submitted they should be discharged without conviction.
To a lay person, the tailings were "simply a slag heap, the result of alluvial mining carried out in an uncontrolled and unregulated manner", he said.
The Wattams wanted to warn other landowners as it was a "trap for other landowners who might alter their land".
After the case, New Zealand Historic Places Trust senior archaeologist Dr Rick McGovern-Wilson said he was pleased Judge Kellar recognised the importance of the country's collective heritage. The conviction sent a clear message about sites being modified or damaged and it followed a prosecution last year of two Alexandra men on a similar charge.
Dr McGovern-Wilson said the original material would be returned to the site. Although it was impossible to re-stack the stones in the same sequence, at least a form of the tailings would be recreated.
