The bird park, the conspiracy, and the council prepares that started a years-long conflict over a piece of land

They retired and began a little bird park, however not prior to ending up being involved in a vast legend including a late-night arrest, an early-morning raid, and a music celebration called Birdstock. Charlie Mitchell reports.

Murray Shaw cannot explain how a starter motor, plucked from a specialist’s digger, wound up in his shed. He definitely does not understand who connected the note, providing its return upon payment of $5000.

Another secret is why the cops believed the soft-spoken, 74-year-old owner of a little bird park near Hamilton without any previous convictions would make a late-career pivot to theft.

Shaw dropped to the ground in shock when he was apprehended one night in April. His hands were wrenched into handcuffs; his arm hurt when he reached the police headquarters. One of the charges, he was informed, was for blackmail, with an optimal sentence of 14 years (the charge was later on dropped, though a charge for getting taken items stays).

He thinks he was established; that somebody made it appear he had actually messed up the equipment utilized to put a roadway through his land, ending his years-long resistance, lastly getting him out of the method.

It would quickly become worse. The Department of Conservation (DOC) carried out a morning raid on his bird park.

With 2 law enforcement officers guaranteeing he didn’t interfere – Shaw was on bail and needed to remain 20m from parts of the park – they took almost a lots birds, consisting of a tui, a kererū, and his preferred ruru, Baby; the one missing out on a wing after being whipped by a dog, the one he might reveal kids due to the fact that it didn’t bite.

It was a sorry end to a fight that began with the positioning of a roadway however had actually changed into claims of a sweeping worldwide conspiracy including main and city government, the cops, the judiciary, and overseas-based specialists.

For years, the bird park has actually been a not likely centre of debate, apparent in the large volume of paperwork it has actually produced. A demand to the Hamilton City Council (HCC) for internal interactions about the park was declined due to the fact that it consisted of over 5000 lead to the previous year. A comparable demand to DOC returned numerous pages detailing a years-long examination into the Shaws and their birds.

Fed up with a stream of problems, the council committed an area of its website to rebutting claims by the bird park’s fans.

But now, defeat. The aviaries have actually been taken down, the unique birds rehomed. Shaw’s bird park disappears.

“Half the park is open,” Shaw says, ruefully. “No birds. Anyone who wants to walk their dogs around, they’re most welcome.”

Disputes like this have actually been fodder for neighborhood papers for generations – an upset regional standing versus what they think to be council overreach.

But this battle has a noticeably contemporary measurement. It has actually been motivated by an alternative media community that has actually stimulated Shaw onwards, turning this regional conflict into a nationwide sign for viewed corruption.

This sense of oppression has actually followed them into the court system, where Shaw has actually welcomed Sovereign Citizen (SovCit) rhetoric, and onto social networks, where countless fans have actually been mobilised to combat the bird park’s opponents.

It has actually led, eventually, to the Shaws losing whatever.

Beginnings

It all began with a suburban area called – properly – Peacocke.

Peacocke will demolish much of Hamilton’s increasing population, broadening the city’s footprint into the surrounding farmland. It requires linking roadways – and an appropriate place for one roadway was discovered on land owned by the Shaws.

Murray and Margaret Shaw had actually run a dairy farm in close-by Ōhaupō till the share market crash in 1987. They strolled off the farm and discovered a spot of land south of Hamilton, a gully of blackberry and gorse they changed into a park, with picturesque ponds and birdlife.

Since retiring from his civil building and construction business, Murray had actually committed his energy to enhancing the property, riding around on a digger – a weapon he wields with the accuracy of a proficient swordsman – planting trees and forming ponds in the stream.

That was where matters stood in 2014 when the council initially brought up the roadway concern.

At initially, the Shaws were not opposed: “In fact, I congratulate the council for their forward thinking,” they composed in a neutral submission.

There were no objections to the strategy. Central Government financing was protected in 2018; the council worked out with lots of impacted landowners, and the classification was set. All packages had actually been ticked.

That’s when the Shaws had a change of mind.

By 2018, they adamantly opposed the task and declined to quit their land, declaring they were uninformed of the degree of the work which a much better path was available.

Specifically, they promoted for a roadway even more south, which would not cross their property (the council has actually said, in proof accepted by the Environment Court, that this path had actually been examined and would not appropriate).

While the council looked for to obtain the land through the Public Works Act, the Shaws planted numerous trees, a few of them locals, in the course of the future roadway. They constructed aviaries and opened their property as a bird park; a totally free destination where visitors might connect with tame birds and roam through the tree-lined sidewalks.

The experience was not simply academic; it was instilled with political demonstration. Some trees were spray-painted with a huge X to symbolise their upcoming elimination. Visitors were welcomed to sign a petition and lobby the council to save the bird park. Visiting the Shaws’ bird park ended up being an act of peaceful resistance.

Some hypothesized that the Shaws opened it to the general public to gin up public opposition to the roadway.

Shaw has actually implicitly supported this theory, mentioning in one interview in 2015 that “this was all to piss the Hamilton City Council off”.

He rejected that was the intent when asked by Stuff. “It was all just to get the people involved and see what’s happening to the environment,” he says. “I mean, what have you got in Hamilton? Bloody houses and roads.”

Regardless, the strategy was successful. If the council desired its roadway to enter, it would need to bulldoze native trees and sculpt up a significantly popular bird park. (The council has actually long preserved the bird park would not need to close, as the roadway just passes through part of the property.)

An examination

That was one front of the fight. There was another.

Questions emerged about the park’s legality. Some structures did not have resource authorization. Native birds were being kept in aviaries, relatively without a licence.

In mid-2020, Hamilton’s mayor called DOC.

“Site visits reveal that morepork and kererū are being kept in cages on the property,” she composed in a letter.

“The condition of the cages and enclosures, and the wellbeing of all captive birds… are of concern to the council.”

DOC went to the park and discovered many native birds: 6 ruru, 4 kererū, 2 tui and 2 white-faced herons. Because the couple didn’t have a licence, Shaw was offered an application to submit, beginning a complicated procedure that would end with a morning raid almost 3 years later on.

At the exact same time, the standoff with the council over the roadway was intensifying.

The council had actually worked out with more than 30 other landowners, leaving just the Shaws, who had actually revealed interest in offering the whole property to the council.

It rapidly broke down. The council valued the land at $335,000; the Shaws declared it deserved $4.7m however would not offer an assessment report to back that up.

Just as the council believed it was discovering commonalities, the Shaws appeared on the existing affairs program Seven Sharp. Shaw informed the job interviewer they would not quit the land for any factor and indicated he would obstruct council staff from checking out the surrounding homes.

With relations having actually soured, the conflict intensified to the Environment Court.

Here, Shaw employed, and fired, 6 various legal representatives. In a letter to the court, Shaw recommended his legal representatives were conspiring with the council’s legal representatives. Without legal representatives, he was represented by somebody connected with the Maniopoto Tribal Government, a regional Sovereign Citizen (SovCit) group which declares self-reliance under He Whakaputanga.

The group had, coincidentally, been carrying out a sit-in demonstration near the Shaws’ property over an unassociated land conflict.

They signed up with forces: in 2019, the tribal federal government released the Shaws a “licence” to hold native birds. It was signed by members of the group’s political cabinet, including its “Secretary of State”, its “Acting Attorney-General” and its “Minister of Native Police”.

Shaw – who has actually considering that taken an eager interest in the associated typical law motion, to the degree he has actually stopped paying rates and has, with others, protected a “courthouse” in Huntly, which they want to utilize as a base for an alternative justice system – thought this sufficed authority to keep running his bird park.

It did not help his case. Shaw and his supporter ended up being so heated at one court hearing they were accompanied out by security. They made unclear needs, consisting of being provided with “full disclosure of the accounts receivables and all other intangible pertaining to this matter”. They asked numerous times for the court’s meaning of “you”.

(The court ruled in favour of the council.)

It became worse.

Shaw trespassed HCC staff and specialists and took pride in his capability to irritate his opponent’s strategies, normally with plans including his digger. He and his fans have actually obstructed access to the roadway website “many, many times over recent years”, the council says.

“This has included refusal to allow visits for valuation and geotechnical purposes, blocking of access by parking machinery on paths, digging of trenches to prevent access, interference with equipment and fencing, trespass onto adjoining sites and threats to staff and contractors,” says Andrew Parsons, the council’s basic supervisor of facilities and possessions.

(Shaw says the digger has actually considering that been taken after he “buried it” in the course of the roadway.)

After almost a year, Shaw had actually still not completed an application for a licence to hold native birds.

The factor was easy: he didn’t wish to.

“It was really an educational thing for kids to come here and hold native birds,” he says. “But (DOC) don’t want that because they’ve got no bloody control of it, that’s why.”

DOC staff chose to interview Shaw under care. This would enable them to confirm if he still kept native birds and if he comprehended that he needed a licence to do so, which might be utilized as proof versus him.

They didn’t need to look hard.

On their popular Facebook page, the Shaws shared a video of Murray launching a kereru – which was likewise called Murray – into the wild.

In a telephone call with DOC prior to the interview, Shaw validated he had numerous native birds and detailed their numerous conditions – 2 ruru had one eye, one had one wing, and another was “about the same”. When the DOC staffer showed up for the interview, Shaw’s preferred ruru, Baby, remained in the room. The case was specific.

They were likewise signed up with by 2 agents of the Maniapoto Tribal Government, who were serving as Shaw’s supporters. They did the majority of the talking while Shaw inserted.

“What you are doing is f…… terrible, just terrible,” Shaw said throughout the conference. “We are trying to help these birds, and you are coming out with these rules.”

Having validated Shaw was breaking the law, DOC chose to move. Even if the park requested a licence, it was not likely to be authorized. Shaw understood he was holding the birds without a licence. Based on legal suggestions, DOC would “seize all native birds”.

It didn’t take place.

The files are uncertain why. Instead, Murray was offered another 3 months to submit the kinds. Every 2 weeks, a DOC officer called the Shaws to see if they were completing the application.

It showed tough. Shaw is “pretty illiterate” – “I didn’t go to school very often,” he says – and the application procedure is extensive. One DOC staffer provided a finished advocacy strategy, highlighting in yellow the basic information needed to be consisted of. They dealt with Margaret Shaw to finish the application, however she did not have actually all the needed info.

When 3 months passed, and with the kinds still not submitted, Murray Shaw validated he had no intent of finishing them.

The needs, he says, were over the top: “They had to go and get DNA tests done on the birds,” he says. “I mean, what the fricking hell would they do that for? I didn’t even care whether they’re male or female. It wasn’t about that. It was just for educational purposes and for the kids.”

Any action from DOC would “initiate his large social media following in protest”, he said, according to a DOC internal update. “It was not possible to reason with Murray at this time, so the phone call was ended,” the update said.

The bird park’s online following had actually constantly been substantial, however gradually, its makeup altered.

The council had actually long been annoyed by the considerate protection the Shaws were getting. From its viewpoint, it had actually followed the right treatments and headed out of its method to accommodate the Shaws, which the Environment Court validated.

False online claims – consisting of that the roadway was a “motorway” and would destroy the bird park –congested the council’s social networks pages.

It aggravated when the bird park drew in attention from the alternative media.

When the conspiracy-slinging web program Counterspin went on a nationwide trip, it held its Hamilton occasion in a barn at the bird park.

When welcomed to speak, Murray Shaw – using a t-shirt with the words “Flock Off HCC” – noted off by name the figures he thought were corrupt, consisting of numerous council staffers and councillors, a popular law office, the council’s lawyer, Shaw’s own lawyer, the judge selecting their Environment Court case, and “every judge in New Zealand”.

Their trigger ended up being popular in numerous Telegram channels, whose members saw their battle as part of a more comprehensive campaign of federal government overreach. The Shaws were talked to by the conspiracy theorist Liz Gunn, and offered platforms to make sweeping claims, typically without proof.

For both the council and DOC, it has actually made things harder.

“In recent months, the Shaws appear to have aligned themselves with other groups, conspiracy websites and people claiming to be involved with the ‘sovereign rights’ movement,” says Parsons, from the council.

“This has led to further concerning behaviour towards staff, contractors, and elected members, including people attempting to deliver documents to the personal homes of staff and contractors. These incidents are now a police matter.”

Earlier this year, DOC – which had actually chosen to take the birds – cancelled a prepared operation due to individuals outdoor camping, supporting the Shaws.

“The department (DOC) has received anecdotal information that [Shaw’s bird park] and the surrounding location has become a site for anti-vax/anti-government individuals and therefore there is likely to be increased risk to staff attending the address,” a DOC staffer composed previously this year.

‘Dawn Raid’

As completion of the bird park appeared nigh, the Shaws made one last effort to rally assistance: a multi-day music celebration called “Birdstock”, with live music and food trucks. Under a grey sky, participants danced into the night and relaxed a roaring fire.

Days later on, DOC took the birds in what Shaw refers to as a “dawn raid”. As it occurred, a call headed out on Telegram to rally fans to the website, however couple of came.

Eleven birds were taken.

In the days later, one tui and one kererū were euthanised, after an evaluation by an independent vet that they were “injured and suffering”. A more 5 have actually considering that been euthanised: “Vet advice was these birds were in very poor health, with injuries and conditions which meant they could not be properly rehabilitated or released back into the wild,” said DOC’s nationwide compliance supervisor, John Wallwork.

Shaw was released with 3 violation notifications, amounting to $2400.

With the bird park no more, Shaw is reviewing his next actions.

Much of the previous assistance has actually considering that dried up. The tribal federal government is no longer combating with him; lots of online fans have actually carried on.

Shaw has actually declined settlement from the council for the land, suggesting it will go to an independent land assessment tribunal.

He is combating the getting taken items charge and keeps his innocence.

The Shaws have actually vacated; it is too unpleasant to see the roadway enter.

“We can’t sit there and watch all this bloody happening in front of our eyes,” Murray Shaw says.

“In another week or two, I’ll never come back into this place again.”