Te Ngutu o te Manu first of many lands coming back to Ngāruahine

Students from Te Kura o Nga Ruahine Rangi can grow up on their own land (Te Korimako o Taranaki)

Ngāruahine iwi say the historic pā Te Ngutu o te Manu is the first of many properties that will be returned to their original hapū owners.

At dawn on Saturday, a carved pouwhenua was unveiled at the historic site in South Taranaki to affirm the mana of Ngāruahine over the land.

The four-hectare historic reserve was returned to Ngāruahine under its 2016 Treaty settlement.

Now the adjoining 16 hectare block – with a rating value of $1 million – has been bought by the iwi from South Taranaki District Council for $1, after a unanimous decision by councillors.

For centuries, hapū met at Te Ngutu o te Manu, renowned as a source of rongoā (medicine) and the place where Riwha Tītokowaru established his pā in the 1860s.

The chair of Te Korowai o Ngāruahine, Paula Carr, said its final return was just the beginning, with more land to be returned via the iwi into hapū ownership.

"It's exciting for us because this is part of our strategy to re-acquire whenua that used to belong to our people and to return the whenua into the rightful hands, which is hapū."

"Ngāti Manuhiakai [hapū] are mana whenua over that land, so they are the rightful kaitiaki of that whenua, and of course the iwi Ngāruahine plays a role as kaitiaki also, but it is returned to Ngāti Manuhiakai."

Carr said there had been little Crown land on offer for the Ngāruahine settlement negotiators, led by the late Daisy Noble.

Daughters of the late Te Huirangi Waikerepuru, Te Urutahi and Ria, were amongst planting in the rongoā garden (Te Korimako o Taranaki).

"Aunty Daisy was very clear about trying to acquire as much whenua as possible but there wasn't a lot to negotiate."

The iwi would buy back ten more properties – mostly at full price – and had first right of refusal over many more.

"That's the crazy part; they used to be ours, they were confiscated or lost in various ways, and now we have to buy them back."

"In some cases they were returned for a dollar, but for most of them we have to pay market rates."

Tītokowaru rebuilt the village at Te Ngutu o te Manu in 1867, after it was razed in the Crown's scorched earth military campaign the year before.

He began a concerted campaign for peace, urging iwi to put down their arms while demanding no further land be taken.

Ripeka Hudson says her late father Rocky would be immensely pleased to see Te Ngutu o te Manu back after the extreme invasion (Te Korimako o Taranaki).

But in 1868, continued incursions by the Crown and military settlers provoked Tītokowaru to fight back, and in return the Armed Constabulary launched two attacks on Te Ngutu o te Manu.

Ingenious pā construction saw the attacks repelled, including the famous victory on September 7 when Major Gustavus von Tempsky was killed.

Tītokowaru gathered allies as he swept across South Taranaki in a series of battles, temporarily winning back all the land to the edge of Whanganui.

Phil Nuku of Ngāti Manuhiakai carved the pouwhenua and led the ceremonies on the weekend.

He said the alliance that stood with Tītokowaru meant the land had significance beyond his hapū.

"He was a leader but had many whanaunga on his side, so we can't really say it's just Ngāti Manuhiakai – it's all those hapū and all those iwi who supported our tupuna."

The smaller site will remain an historic reserve, but Nuku would like to see housing on the larger block, echoing the more than 50 whare in the village under Tītokowaru.

Phil Nuku says now the land is back, the priority is housing (Te Korimako o Taranaki).

"Kāinga, papakāinga, housing our people – that's really big on the Ngāruahine list."

Nuku praised two kuia, Lorna Katene and Maria Robinson, researchers for Ngāti Manuhiakai in the land claim.

He also acknowledged former South Taranaki District mayor Ross Dunlop's work behind the scenes.

"He played a really big part at the beginning and the discussions that he was having with Daisy Noble really started to put things in place."

At Saturday's unveiling, kaumātua planted trees and shrubs in the rongoā garden, Te Uru Rākau.

Ross Dunlop planted the first tree in Te Uru Rākau four years ago to mark the 150th anniversary of the battle and was there again at the weekend.

"It means a lot to me and obviously to Ngāruahine and the community… This was the right thing to do given all that happened around that whenua."

The unveiling of the new pouwhenua at Te Ngutu o te Manu marked the sign-over of the land to Ngāruahine (Te Korimako o Taranaki)

Dunlop was also at the 100th anniversary as a boy with his father in 1968, when the crowd was mainly Pākehā.

"Then 50 years later, it was very much a Māori ceremony… How things have turned around."

Ripeka Hudson's late father Rocky was involved with both the fisheries and land claims and said he would be immensely pleased.

"It's a small parcel of land, but it's some whenua to come back to us – because the invasion was so extreme, so complete, that everything was taken."

"I'm so happy that there's a place where our future generations can gather, can be, can remember and take forward the lessons and the confidence that we are Ruahine, that we are Aotea waka, and Taranaki nui tonu."

Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air.