Ngunguru Sandspit and Protection Society chairman Jim Kilpatrick (left) and former Northland conservator Chris Jenkins at the sandspit.
Ngunguru Sandspit and Protection Society chairman Jim Kilpatrick (left) and former Northland conservator Chris Jenkins at the sandspit.
Plans to return parts of Ngunguru Sandspit to public ownership have been challenged by local hapū members who want the culturally significant land returned to them.
The members opposed the Ngunguru Sandspit Protection Society's plan to purchase 69ha of private land at the sandspit's base adjacent to the Crown-owned portion.
Following the purchase, the society would then return the bought land - which includes Whakairiora Mountain - to public ownership through the Crown.
The society launched a Givealittle page back in December to help raise $1.5m of the $3.6m sale price after it signed a conditional sale-and-purchase agreement with the present landowner - development company Templeton Commercial Limited.
So far, the page has accumulated $106,980 in donations as its February 14 cut-off date looms.
Society chairman Jim Kilpatrick said they believed putting the land into public ownership would ensure wahi tapu and other special cultural values were protected.
"The society is aware of the cultural significance of this land to hapū, and for this reason continues to involve hapū members in its decision-making and activities.
"The society believes it and the hapū share a common goal of seeing this land protected and cared for."
However, a group of Ngāti Takapari, Te Waiariki and Ngāti Kororā tribal members have contested the society's bid as their ancestral lands - Whakaairiora Mountain, Ngunguru Sandspit and Rangikōrero pā - would be placed in Crown ownership through a public reserve.
It's not the first time the hapū have taken a stand against the sale of culturally significant lands.
They were involved in the occupation of Department of Conservation-managed lands in Pātaua South last year when alienated ancestral lands were placed on the open market.
A principle that arose from the Pātua issue was that whānau and hapū of alienated land for sale should ideally be offered the first right of refusal, they said in a statement.
But in the case of the Ngunguru Sandspit, a meeting in December 2021 was the first time the hapū had heard of the plan despite them being supported by a hapū trust with two 'tangata-whenua' representatives on the society's executive.
Ngunguru Sandspit Protection Society plans to purchase land at the base of the sandspit (pictured) and put it into public ownership.
A hapū working group was also formed to gather more information, some of which was via talks with the society.
During those talks, hapū outlined their concerns about the process engaged and adopted by the society, as well as having had no consultation - even from their tangata-whenua representatives.
''Correspondence to [the society] since a second meeting of the affected hapū held mid-January, attended by 70-plus members of the tribes, outlined the resounding opposition to the proposed purchase,'' their statement continued.
Working group spokesperson Neta Kerepeti said hapū members gathered at Ngunguru Marae had been "resolutely in favour" of a hapū-led purchase.
"These areas are very significant to our people, we know the sacred places, where our ancestors are buried on these lands and the battles fought.
"We cannot see these lands be turned into public ownership. Our people seek for the lands to be returned to hapū," she said.
"We have been communicating in good faith to the executive of [the society] to explore a win-win outcome that meets the aspirations of both groups, which is to prevent development, preserve its biodiversity and protect sensitive areas."
Hapū were disappointed society members did not acknowledge, in a previous Advocate article on January 26, the preservation efforts of the Ngātiwai Trust Board in the 1990s.
The board made a successful appeal to the High Court to prevent the destruction of archaeological sites on the sandspit. Which, in turn, prevented a planned subdivision well before the community group was formed.
The Ngunguru Sandspit Protection Society has undertaken a three-tiered fundraising campaign - which includes an application to DoC's Nature Heritage Fund, a philanthropic co-funder and a Givealittle page.
''The prerequisite conditions of the funding being sought from DoC and its co-funder mean hapū will unlikely ever be able to repatriate its alienated ancestral lands," Kerepeti said.
Much of Ngunguru Sandspit was put into public ownership in 2012 when the Government acquired the property from Todd Property Group, formerly known as Landco.
DoC swapped a parcel of surplus government land and buildings in Napier to gain possession of the sandspit, which was then put into public ownership.
The land swap came after years of campaigning by the Ngunguru Sandspit Protection Society but concerns remained for the southern end and Whakairiora Mountain as both were still privately owned.
The Givealittle campaign, if successful, will add a further 69ha of the landscape to the 83ha of the sandspit obtained by the Crown.
In particular, it will protect the base of the sandspit, the Rangikorero pā site and the prominent bush-clad Maunga Whakairiora, which is home to a unique sequence of coastal forest.
