Ngati Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated has bought one of the North Island's biggest sheep and cattle stations, Tautane, in an historic deal signed off with the Herrick family which had owned the property for 111 years.
The sale was completed at the iwi office in Hastings yesterday, after more than six months of negotiations between the Ngati Kahungunu Iwi Asset Holding Company and representatives of the Herrick family.
Asset holding company chairman Rangi Manual did not want to reveal the sale price until iwi members were informed. The figure would be disclosed at a special open day next month for iwi members to walk over the 3680ha station near Herbertville in the Tararua district.
Quotable Valuation's rating data, 2011, showed the capital value of Tautane was $4.275million and its land value was $3.925million. The property had been marketed by Glyn Rees-Jones from Bayleys Real Estate.
The station has a 12km coastline including Cape Turnagain. The holding company believed it could be used for aquaculture, sea ranching and reseeding of kaimoana stocks. The local hapu, Ngati Kere, had adjacent farm blocks and was keen to work with potential initiatives at Tautane.
Taratahi Agricultural Training for New Zealand would lease the land from the iwi. The relationship offered a unique training facility for farm managers and agri-scientists to learn, work and train.
It was the first major land investment Kahungunu had made and Mr Manual hoped it would be used as a template for further land acquisitions.
"Negotiating a purchase of this magnitude is huge for us," he said at the signing yesterday."My mind was made up the first time I rode over the place. It's the biggest asset Kahungunu owns and I believe it won't be the last. It will be the start of greater things to come. At least today we can say that we have had a sale from the owner of Tautane, transferred to Kahungunu entirely and that we also have a lessee in place commencing today."
Robert and Barbara Herrick, descendants of the family owners who had the station since 1902, were also at the signing yesterday.
Their family negotiator was Rick Carlyon who said Robert and his cousin Edward Elworthy had supervised the property for the past 28 years. "I think I am able to say that the whole family is delighted that after their very long tenure, the new owners are Ngati Kahungunu," Mr Carlyon said.
"You are the best and most appropriate owners for this piece of land. We wish you a very successful and enjoyable time. It is so beautiful out there. I visited the property last week and, honestly, I was gobsmacked."
Ownership of Tautane had been spread across a wide group of families and the difficult decision to put it up for sale was made about six years ago. "It is a big wrench for some of the family. There is a desire from the family to have one last visit out there with you. That would be much appreciated," he said.
Outgoing Tautane station manager John Linton had been sheep and beef farming at the property for eight years with his family, and had seven fulltime staff. Asked what he would miss most about the historic station, he said: "The challenge of it - and the fact that the staff will all split up. We're like one big family out here. It's a very sad day for us."
Moving from Martinborough to head the farm eight years ago, he said he initially expected to work out the rest of his farming career at Tautane. His family and staff would all leave the property by next weekend. "We're going to put our feet up and think about life for a while."
The sale and purchase agreement signed yesterday marked the move from fisheries to farming for Ngati Kahungunu. It would be part of a wider "gate to plate" plan to build on relationships in the high-end growing Asian market demanding high-quality food direct from the producer to the supplier.
The iwi had investigated orchards, dairy farms and other commercial properties over the past two years but Tautane ticked all the boxes in terms of environmental, social, educational, historical and cultural objectives.
Tautane featured prominently in Ngati Kahungunu history. It was also the only Maori land block from Mahia to Wairarapa with Kahungunu and Rangitane whakapapa or ancestry.
It was the place where Ngarangiwhakaupoko established the settlement of Poroporo, the southern post of Te Kupenga o Te Huki, a political strategy formed over 300 years ago to unite the people of the East Coast.
It was also the place where Henare Matua established the Repudiation Movement, an attempt to overturn all Maori land sales in the 1860s. That led to the first Maori Parliament in 1892 held at Waipatu Marae in Hastings.
Tautane Station