Ngāti Maniapoto and crown representatives met at Pipitea Marae in Wellington today, where a treaty settlement between the parties was announced. Photo: RNZ/ Ashleigh McCaull
Cheers roared through both parliament and Pipitea Marae in Wellington as the Crown and Ngāti Maniapoto reached settlement.
The King Country iwi has one of the largest remaining treaty settlements, costing around $177 million and involving a range of cultural redress.
The morning started with a convoy from Maniapoto packing out Pipitea Marae, after travelling down Te Ika a Maui by both train and bus.
They came to see the third and final reading of their settlement, one that has been a long time coming.
People clap at the announcement that Ngāti Maniapoto and the crown had reached a treaty settlement, in Wellington today. Photo: RNZ/ Ashleigh McCaull
"I'm 21, so that fight has started before I was even born, so it's cool to see in my lifetime how long it's taken and we are finally here," Gemma Guiney said.
Maggie Taite said: "I'm one of five sisters here today. Why we should be here? - Because it's about our nannies. They would be crying because they'd be emotional and they'd be proud because the mokopuna is following in their journey."
"Finally... finally, in my time. I didn't think it would, but thank goodness," Mary Sulfa said.
At dawn, they came to Pipitea Marae, for a ceremony that started with the taiaha, Maungārongo, being presented to the crown.
It was initially gifted in 1885, but the government rejected it, and it spent 140 years in the South Island, most recently at Otago Museum.
The taiaha named 'Maungārongo' held in Tūhura Otago Museum has been returned to Ngāti Maniapoto which has gifted it to the Crown for five years. Photo: Supplied
It has been gifted back to the crown for five years, and Treaty Negotiations Minister Andrew Little was adamant it would take its kaitiaki role seriously this time.
"There's a cabinet already prepared, ready for it to sit in and to be cared for in and I think this is the responsibility of all parliament, the crown and parliament to make sure we look after the taonga as an expression of the care that we want to take with the new relationship. So I'm confident we will do that," Little said.
Today's settlement included relationship agreements, the return of 36 sites, and the right of first refusal in the King Country.
But significantly, there was an apology.
The moment was marked at Pipitea Marae in Wellington's waterfront suburb of Thorndon. Photo: RNZ/ Ashleigh McCaull
The chair of the settlement entity, Te Nehenehenui, Bella Takiari-Brame, said the negotiations of the past 30 years have been difficult.
"It's always a journey right and it just means a lot more. We've got a stronger foundation to start with and we have come together. We are more united because we have taken that time.
"Not everyone's in the whare with us yet but we will continue to have that kōrero, we know what it takes," Takiari-Brame said.
Photo: RNZ/ Ashleigh McCaull
Maniapoto country was a sanctuary for refugees in the Waikato Wars; it then maintained self-government for many years afterwards.
It lifted its boundaries in the 1880s after an agreement with the crown to recognise mana whakahaere, but that was largely ignored.
By the 20th century, crown schemes and aggressive buying had rendered Maniapoto largely landless.
Today, the crown returned the land on which the railway lies. Takiari-Brame said it was being gifted straight back to the country.
"It will be handed to us but it will go straight back to KiwiRail. That ownership - obviously we have a first right of refusal for over 170 years on the railway from now on, so it provides us options noting that we gave up a lot to allow the railway through," he said.
Celebration rang out at both parliament and Pipitea Marae when the final reading passed, followed by waiata and haka.
Kaumatua Tom Roa says the settlement means the iwi now holds its future in its own hands. (File photo) Photo: Dr Tom Roa
Kaumatua Tom Roa said the settlement gave the iwi a sense of freedom.
"We now have the opportunity to realise our own aspirations through our own means and I think that's probably the most important thing, is that we have our own future in our own hands," Roa said.
A formal apology to Maniapoto, in Te Rohe Potae, will be given in December.
