$20.4 million treaty settlement: Ngāti Hāua sets sights on new era of self-determination and change

Ngāti Hāua lead negotiator Graham "Tinka" Bell has urged the iwi to "grow the asset" of its $20.4 million Treaty settlement. Photo / Moana Ellis

The lead iwi negotiator for the $20.4 million Ngāti Hāua treaty settlement says jobs, housing and better health are some of the priorities for the central North Island iwi.

But Graham “Tinka” Bell said the iwi would not be spending its Treaty settlement redress. Instead, it would leverage relationship agreements and introductions to more than 20 Crown agencies and entities.

The agreements were negotiated as part of the settlement in a bid to reset Ngāti Hāua’s relationship with the Crown.

They would be used to create change, Bell said.

Ngāti Hāua signed its deed of settlement Te Pua o te Riri Kore with the Crown in Taumarunui on Saturday.

In his address to the iwi, Bell urged the new post-settlement governance entity Te Whiringa Kākaho not to touch the redress quantum.

“The principal is sacrosanct,” Bell told hundreds of iwi members gathered at Ngāpūwaiwaha Marae.

“Never go below it. Build it, grow the asset. That’s what we’re going to do to awhi our families.

“We need jobs, we need housing, we need better health. With this opportunity and the agreements we have with [government] ministries, I can’t wait to see the fruits of this.”

Iwi member Willie Huch said he hoped the settlement would be used to tackle immediate issues facing whānau.

“We have a lot of poverty in our town and issues with housing, health, all those things,” Huch said.

“Hopefully we can make a push as Ngāti Hāua to improve the living of our people.”

Di Ngārongo said the redress would be used for good.

“If we are honest and transparent and accountable to each other, if we could economically grow ourselves and be self-sustainable and not rely on government, we’ll be all right.”

Trustee Brett Anderson said the iwi would need to focus on systems change.

“Going forward, it’s about us standing in our own mana. Not necessarily just subscribing to the Crown’s version of success but thinking what does that look like for us?” Anderson said.

“For me, it’s about us standing on our own and leading.”

Trustee Joey Allen. Photo / Moana Ellis

Trustee Joey Allen said an important next step would be to wānanga with neighbouring iwi to determine how they could work together in the future.

“We don’t always agree, but I think it’s time we get back to the ways of our elders and look at how we can come together,” Allen said.

“With the Kāhui Maunga (Tongariro National Park) and Whanganui National Park claims coming, I would like to see us all working together.”

Trustee Louise Wāhapa said the settlement was a joyous achievement that would open doors for generations to come.

“They won’t be affected like we’ve been brought up – hard.

“Our rangatahi are educated. They’re so lucky they have the reo. They’ve got the tools that we never had, and it’s going to open doors,” Wāhapa said.

“They are going to be more than a partner with the Crown. One day we may have our own Parliament. I think they can achieve that.”

WAI claimant and negotiator Lois Tutemahurangi said settlement legislation would change the political landscape for Ngāti Hāua.

WAI claimant and deputy chair Lois Tutemahurangi. Photo / Moana Ellis

“We will be listened to,” Tutemahurangi said.

“We’ve been an iwi that’s been a bit pushed in the shadows. But we’ve always been a tough, fighting iwi. We’ll instil that in our young ones: never give up.”

Ngāti Hāua negotiations manager Aaron Rice-Edwards said the story and history of Ngāti Hāua was one of resistance and struggle – “the fight to retain our lands, uphold our mana and hold the line”.

In the 1840s, conflict with the Crown in the Heretaunga (Hutt) valley led to the convictions of Ngāti Hāua tūpuna Mātene Ruta Te Whareaitu and Te Rangiātea.

“A key part and drive of these negotiations has been statutory pardons for those two tūpuna,” Rice-Edwards said.

“They were both convicted for being in armed rebellion against the Crown and it is clear that, at the time, Governor Grey wanted to make an example of our tūpuna as a warning to other rebel Hau Hau iwi.”

Ngāti Hāua negotiations manager Aaron Rice-Edwards. Photo / Moana Ellis

Sentenced in September 1846 to life imprisonment, Te Rangiātea died some months later in a jail in Wellington. Te Whareaitu was executed by hanging on September 17, 1846.

Rice-Edwards said the iwi turned to various methods of resistance including the Kīngitanga and Pai Mārire, for which it was labelled and stigmatised as Hau Hau and rebels.

“We were the defenders of the aukati (boundary) of Te Rohe Pōtae,” Rice-Edwards said.

After decades of resistance and armed struggle on the Whanganui River, Ngāti Hāua tūpuna sought a new vision and relationship with the Crown.

In 1866 they erected a Niu Pou at Maraekowhai. The pou (pole) Riri Kore marked the end of hostilities and the laying down of weapons.

“It has taken us over 160 years to come to this point, to realise that vision of riri kore (no more fighting),” Rice-Edwards said.

‘Nothing left but pigs’ toenails’

By the end of the 19th century, Ngāti Hāua was virtually landless.

“As our tūpuna Makere Te Uruweherua would say in the Native Land Court, in terms of the scraps we were left with, she would lament that there was nothing left but pigs’ toenails.”

Te Pua o te Riri Kore includes the return of more than 60 sites to Ngāti Hāua and others shared with neighbouring iwi.

They include places such as Makakote Pā, the pā of the famed fighting chief Tōpine te Mamaku. They also include the lands at Ngā Huinga, where the Whanganui and Taringamotu Rivers meet, and Hikurangi maunga which Ngāti Hāua will look after alongside its Maniapoto relations.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.