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Home / Hawkes Bay Today

From the MTG: Crown apologises for its acts against Rongowhakaata

By Te Hira Henderson
Hawkes Bay Today·
25 Mar, 2022 02:37 AM4 mins to read

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Te Hira Henderson in the Kuru Taonga gallery at MTG. Photo / Supplied

Te Hira Henderson in the Kuru Taonga gallery at MTG. Photo / Supplied

In the MTG collections is a poutokomanawa. It is a carving of a Rongowhakaata ancestor Perohuka.

He was a rangatira in the time of the first Pākehā to settle in the Turanganui a Kiwa area and during the time of the arrival of Christianity. In fact Perohuka's own home was used as the local church by the Reverend William Williams, his wife Jane also used it as a school house. It was a meeting house called Haamokorau at Pā Orakaiapu.

Rongowhakaata signed Te Tiriti o Waitangi. They welcomed the trade and exchange that came with Pākehā and were very successful at it.

They owned ships for transporting their produce to settler markets as far as Australia. They ruled themselves, controlled their own affairs, and did not interfere with matters outside of their rohe.

For example, when other tribes were defending themselves against the Crown's land grab practices, Rongowhakaata kept to themselves. Until 1865.

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November 1865 saw Crown militia arrive in Turanga. The Government bullied Māori to submit to the Crown and despite attempted peace negotiations from chiefs in Turanga, the Crown attacked.

On November 20, the Crown commenced their slaughter of Māori at Waerenga a Hika. Survivors, many of them orphaned children, were imprisoned to imperial prisons such as in the Chatham Islands or further to Devil's Island in Australia as illegal overstayers, on their own lands. Rongowhakaata, including Te Kooti, were exiled as prisoners.

In July 1868 prisoners on the Chathams, led by Te Kooti, escaped back to the mainland. Seventy of these prisoners were children. This tira or group, became known as Te Whakarau and when they were back in Turanga, they killed those involved in the breaking up and selling of Rongowhakaata lands.

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The Crown, aided by other Māori such as Ngāti Kahungunu and Ngāti Porou, pursued Te Whakarau, slaughtering and executing local Maori at Ngatapa. The Crown's introduction of the scorched-earth policy was a particularly barbaric practice which saw Maori surrounded, blocked in, then burned to death.

Eventually Rongowhakaata ceded all their land to the Crown. Under Donald MacLean's watch the Crown preceded to extinguish native title by administering the new Imperial Acts imported from England and the United Kingdom.

These acts changed Aotearoa into New Zealand, settling foreigners under the New Zealand Settlements Act. Under this act Māori were not considered New Zealanders and the Government continued to enact policies designed to make Māori extinct. Since then there has been an attempt at redress with a Crown acknowledgement and apology.

The New Zealand Government stated:

"The Crown acknowledges its actions arising from interaction with Rongowhakaata whereby it breached the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles. The Crown apologises to Rongowhakaata for its acts and omissions, which have breached the Crown's obligations under the Treaty of Waitangi.

"The breaches include the unnecessary use of force at Waerenga a Hika and the summary executions by Crown forces at Ngatapa, the denial of basic human rights to those Rongowhakaata detained without trial on the Chatham Islands, the pressure applied to extinguish Rongowhakaata customary land interests, the failure to protect Rongowhakaata's tribal structures after land tenure reforms were imposed, and the failure to protect Rongowhakaata from landlessness and to respect Rongowhakaata rangatiratanga in the administration of all their remaining land.

"The Crown also specifically apologises to Ngā Uri o Te Kooti Rikirangi for its actions which led to Te Kooti taking up arms, and contributed to the stigmatisation of Te Kooti and his descendants."

Lovely people Rongowhakaata.

NB: In last week's column we said Ahuriri Contemporary's A Group Show, Abstract (Here Is The Thing) opened last Friday, in fact, the show runs from March 25 – April 20.

• Te Hira Henderson is Curator Māori at MTG Hawke's Bay

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