It will be ink to paper on a grand scale today as members of hapu from around Hastings and Central Hawke's Bay sign the Heretaunga Tamatea treaty claims settlement with the Crown at Te Aute College.
The signing of the Heretaunga Tamatea settlement, the fourth-biggest to be signed by the Crown, follows a ratification process in which 96.38 per cent of 2156 valid votes cast supported a settlement proposal agreed by mandated claim negotiation group He Toa Takitini and Crown negotiators. The proposal was signed with Treaty Settlements minister Chris Finlayson at Parliament in July.
Mr Finlayson will be at Te Aute for the settlement, in which Heretaunga Tamatea receives $105 million in recognition of its claims, with several unique aspects including $5 million to support long-term sustainability of Te Aute College, in recognition of long-standing issues, and $3 million for marae and education initiatives among 23 marae in the area.
The ceremonies today will include a formal Crown apology, which will be received on behalf of claimants by kaumatua Gerry Hapuku and Ahi Robertson, who at the age of 93, is the oldest surviving of Heretaunga Tamatea claimants who started lodging claims with the Treaty of Waitangi Tribunal in the late 1980s.
Her grandfather, Ihaia Hutana, was a boy at the signing of the Waipukurau Purchase in 1851.
The settlement relates to an area of 576,677ha (over 1.4 million acres) and stems from the era of Crown purchases in the 1850s, which left the multiple hapu of the area "virtually landless" by the early 1900s.
While there were protests and the airing of grievances over the years, the issues were revived after the establishment of the Treaty of Waitangi Tribunal, under legislation enacted in 1975.
Dozens of claims were made in the Heretaunga Tamatea area, and these were joined for the purposes of negotiation and settlement.
The first related to the settlement was the Rangaika Reserve claim lodged in 1988 by the now late Eru Smith and others.
He Toa Takitini chairman David Tipene-Leach said the settlement is more about the recognition of the issues than the redress.
Between 250-300 people attended the July signing at Parliament, but he expected many more today at Te Aute, where among those signing the documents will be the claimant negotiation team of lead negotiator Liz Munroe, Peter Paku, and Brian Morris, a former Te Aute principal.
While welcomes will take place during the morning, the signing is expected to start shortly before midday.
Meanwhile, a similar signing of claims stemming from the Ahuriri Purchase and other issue has been postponed.
It was to have been signed with claimant representatives last week.
However, the Office of Treaty Settlements said it needs more time to collate and analyse the ratification results, and consult with other agencies involved in the ratification process so a complete report can be provided to the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations and Minister of Maori Affairs.