Tuhoe book timely look back at rights of governance

Judith Binney. Photo / Dean Purcell

The Tuhoe tribe have governed themselves before under legislation enacted by Parliament and there's no reason that shouldn't be the case in the near future, Dame Judith Binney says.

Yesterday, the Auckland University emeritus professor of history launched a new book on the Tuhoe, Encircled Lands: Te Urewera, 1820-1921, at Waikirikiri Marae in Ruatoki.

The work picks up a thread of history all but forgotten by everyone except the Tuhoe - that the terms of peace to end war in 1872 included the provision for autonomy.

In 1896, Premier Richard (King Dick) Seddon helped to push through a law which specified a Te Urewera Reserve or tribal area - the only iwi to have its boundaries noted in law.

However, by 1921 the state had whittled away any real power Tuhoe leaders had, as land confiscations continued and the prospect of gold in the rugged bush-clad hills saw the 1896 act abolished.

Binney's book is a timely arrival as the Tuhoe have been in intensive Treaty of Waitangi negotiations with the Crown this year - and the issue of mana motuhake, some form of self-government, has been a key element in discussions.

"I think [in the 19th century] Tuhoe worked very hard to make self-government work but they were prevented from fully realising it," said Binney. "What I'm excited about is how it might look now.

"This is what Tuhoe want and there's no reason why it shouldn't happen.

"It would be very easy for an area to be recognised and to come to some flexible arrangement around how the rest of us interact with Tuhoe."

Binney has been researching and telling Tuhoe's stories for decades.

Her contribution was recognised by the tribe when it gave her a new name, Tomairangi o Te Aroha, which means the heavenly dews of love.