Occupiers from Ngā Hapū o Ahipara moved on to a property on Ahipara’s Wharo Way in October 2021, saying they wouldn’t budge until they were confident the land and tree would be protected. That has now happened after an agreement with Far North District Council.
Occupiers from Ngā Hapū o Ahipara moved on to a property on Ahipara’s Wharo Way in October 2021, saying they wouldn’t budge until they were confident the land and tree would be protected. That has now happened after an agreement with Far North District Council.
A land occupation in the Far North that started when a significant pōhutukawa tree was partially felled has ended almost two years later with Far North District Council (FNDC) agreeing to buy the land, turn it into a reserve and protect the tree forever.
Members of Te Rarawa and the Ahipara community moved on to the land at Wharo Way on October 2, 2021 after the property owner, Cecil Williams, partially felled a pōhutukawa. Many locals believed the land the tree was on to be a reserve - and the pōhutukawa protected - and were shocked when it was chainsawed.
Williams abandoned his plans to build a house on the section soon after the outcry over the pōhutukawa and said he just wanted to sell the section, ideally to local iwi Te Rarawa, and recover his money - it had cost him around $500,000 once later expenses were included.
At its meeting last week, FNDC agreed to negotiate to buy the land, turn it into a reserve and protect the tree forever.
Williams said he will finally believe that the matter, which has caused huge stress to him and his wife, will be over when the money is in his bank account.
He said the couple were the meat in the sandwich of a major administrative stuff-up by the authorities and he had yet to receive official confirmation from the council that it would buy the land.
“The thing is, we went to the council three times before cutting the tree to ask if it was a protected tree, and three times they said it wasn’t.
“So in good faith, we went ahead with cutting it back, and then three days later all hell broke loose. Now, if it was land worth, say, $50,000, I would have happily given it to them and said ‘Put a plaque up there in my name’, but $500,000 is a lot to be out of pocket. As it was, we couldn’t sell the land as it was occupied," Williams said.
He said he would be delighted if this meant the saga was finally over for him, his wife and the wider community.
“We did nothing illegal at all here, but we’ve been suffering from all the stress this has caused. I’ve been a doctor up here for 29, going on 30 years, and this is the one thing that has made us consider packing up and leaving.”
Williams said the past two years had been like a nightmare at times for him and his wife, with abuse and threats made towards them, despite them not doing anything wrong.
Williams said the situation has been the worst time for him in the Far North, and at one stage the couple were looking at just selling up and moving to Dunedin to be near their grandchildren and get as far away as possible from the district.
“I’m very pleased that the people came to this conclusion with the council. We didn’t want to cause any of this upset and we thought everything was kosher. We just wanted to build a house on the site and went about that the right way, but there was something that went wrong over [how the] land was designated and we were caught up in that.”
During Thursday’s meeting, Far North Kahika/Mayor Moko Tepania acknowledged historic actions had seen undertakings to protect 1 Wharo Way broken. While the council would never be a default Office of Treaty Settlements, it had acknowledged there were special circumstances that saw the motion for the council to negotiate the purchase of the land supported, he said.
This motion will also see protections put in place for the pōhutukawa tree and comes following a resolution of the Te Hiku Community Board in 2021 to purchase the land for use by the whole community, Tepania said.
At the time of the occupation, then-Te Rarawa chairman Haami Piripi said the iwi had been assured after a 2011 occupation at the site the culturally significant area at the bottom of the subdivision the section was on would be made into a reserve. However, that did not happen, sparking much of the outrage.
At the time, occupation leader Reuben Taipari (Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa, Tūhoe) said concerns were also about how hapū had lost the land in the first place and the subsequent actions by developers and FNDC.
Taipari added that he saw the land, known historically as Moringai, as a stake in the ground and symbolic of Māori land losses in the area.
He said that in 2005, FNDC and Moringai developers had gone to the Environment Court and removed the significance of the Māori reserve and changed it to a council reserve. He claimed they had also removed the significance status of the pōhutukawa that grew on the same section.
"Removal of the tree’s significance meant that no one would be legally liable if they damaged the tree,” Taipari claimed.
Taipari said the council agreement was great for the local community and the wider area.
“We recognise this [agreement] as a sign of what we have achieved [by the occupation and research into the land and how it was converted from a reserve]. It’s amazing for us to now have this relationship with the council,” he said.
"We see this as an investment in the community - and the reserve is for the whole community to enjoy, including the many thousands of visitors who come here from around the globe every year.
“It’s very important that we try to resolve these issues locally without the need for central government or the Crown to step in. I’m very proud that here in Te Tai Tokerau, we’ve got that base to work from, and we have proved we can resolve these issues ourselves.”
Taipari said it should serve as a model for how such disputes can be resolved amicably and for the good of the whole community.
He said a lot of legal work, at great expense, had been carried out on the history of the site and how it had become alienated from the original owners, and the agreement with the council would go a way to healing some of the hurt and trauma associated with the land loss.
Taipari said locals had big plans for the reserve once it was enacted and it would benefit the whole Far North community.
Occupation leader Reuben Taipari examines the sawn-off section of pōhutukawa at Ahipara’s Wharo Way that sparked the occupation in 2021. Taipari is delighted the stoush has been settled for the benefit of the whole community.
He said the deal was a credit to all who had taken part in the process, but he was particularly pleased with the rangitahi of the area, with many of them getting behind the cause.
Taipari said with the two-year-anniversary of the occupation coming up, they would celebrate the agreement with the council with an event on the site around that time.
To purchase the land 1 Wharo Way (Legal Description Lot 1 DP 381292).
To authorise the chief executive or their nominee to submit a conditional offer and undertake negotiations for the purchase of the above property within the approved budget.
Upon purchase of the title, a private encumbrance/covenant will be registered on the title to protect the pōhutukawa tree in perpetuity.
To designate 1 Wharo Way (Legal Description Lot 1 DP 381292) as a Local Purpose reserve.
To classify 3 Wharo Way (Legal Description Lot 23 DP 381292) as a Local Purpose reserve pursuant to Section 18 of the Reserves Act 1977.
To lay a plaque to commemorate Moringai’s historical significance to Ngā Hapū o Ahipara to be placed on Council Reserve at 3 Wharo Way, Lot 23 DP 381292.
To allow Te Kuaka - Te Ao Māori Committee and Ngā Hapū o Ahipara to engage in the co-design of the co-management plan for the Local Purpose reserves.
Mike Dinsdale is news director and senior journalist who covers general news for the Advocate. He has worked in Northland for almost 34 years and loves the region.
