Tamzyn-Rose Pue, centre, the chair of Te Upoko o te Whenua Marae at Tarata, gives the karanga. Photo/ Lisa Bird
Tamzyn-Rose Pue, centre, the chair of Te Upoko o te Whenua Marae at Tarata, gives the karanga. Photo/ Lisa Bird
Of the 171 tupuna of Ngāti Maru iwi living between 1880 and 1920, only 53 per cent have descendants who survive today.
That was the devastating impact of land confiscation described at Te Upoko o te Whenua marae on Saturday, as the Crown came to apologise in the final step of Ngāti Maru's Treaty of Waitangi settlement.
The head negotiator for Ngāti Maru, Anaru Marshall, said 47 per cent of those Ngāti Maru left no children or mokopuna.
"This is a demonstration of the true impact of dislocation, land loss, raupatu (confiscation)."
Tiaki Keogh honours tupuna (ancestors) as their living descendants receive the land titles. Photo/ Lisa Bird
"Te mate o te whenua, te mate o te tangata: loss of land and loss of life."
All of those 171 tupuna were named as more than 50 children descended from or related to them came forward to receive titles to 17 culturally significant properties, and returned to the iwi in its settlement.
Minister of Treaty Negotiations Andrew Little came to the marae at Tarata to deliver the "long-overdue" apology.
He said the Crown regretted bringing the war to Taranaki and for the "destructive and demoralising effects" of Crown actions.
"Its confiscation of half of the rohe of Ngāti Maru was indiscriminate and unwarranted, and the Crown deeply regrets this confiscation without cause."
Little apologised with "profound remorse" for the suspension of law allowing exile and imprisonment of Ngāti Maru people for taking part in peaceful resistance, and for its "unconscionable actions at Parihaka and the ensuing hardship and heartache Ngāti Maru peoples suffered".
"For those actions which rendered your iwi almost completely landless, severed your connection to your whenua, and inflicted economic hardship and suffering on generations of your people, the Crown sincerely apologises."
"And for the ways the Crown's breaches of te Tiriti o Waitangi have threatened your marutanga, offended against your ancestors, undermined your communities and your leadership, and compromised your cultural and spiritual wellbeing, the Crown humbly apologises."
The apology would normally have been delivered when the Deed of Settlement was signed by Little and Ngāti Maru negotiators in February last year.
But Covid-19 restrictions prevented that, so Little promised to return when the iwi could again come together.
Ngati Maru turned out in full force to welcome the Crown apology party. Photo/ Lisa Bird
The settlement act describes how half of Ngāti Maru's land was confiscated as punishment, despite them not being involved in the Taranaki wars.
The rest of its land was taken through the Native Land Court and leases under the Public Trustee, and this loss "eroded tribal structures, created severe poverty, and damaged the physical, cultural, and spiritual health of generations".
In accepting the apology, Marshall detailed how Ngāti Maru was deemed squatters on one block of their own land at Pūrangi in 1891.
He said despite "endless petitions" and Native Land Court rulings from 1892, the Crown refused to return the land to avoid setting an "unwelcome precedent".
By 1910, as few as 10 Ngāti Maru were on the land, some living on the side of the road.
In 1969, 400 acres came up for sale, but the Crown dismissed a Ngāti Maru man who applied to buy the land as "not a bona fide farmer" and instead sold it to a Pākehā family trust.
Tipene Capper receives one of 17 land titles returned by Treaty negotiations. Photo/ Lisa Bird
"The pain of our experience is very real and close," said Marshall.
"The breaches that are acknowledged today are not only those in our distant past, but they are matters in our own lifetime – events that affected people who many of us here today know, and knew."
Marshall said the settlement had now allowed the iwi to buy back some of the Pūrangi land.
He said land was the greatest aspiration at the start of negotiations "and what else would a landless people want"?
