The Taruarua Ranges from Levin with original Ngāti Raukawa names for the peaks.
OPINION
The findings of researchers Te Kenehi Teira and Heeni Collins, as presented to the Waitangi Tribunal
A Ngāti Raukawa claim to the Tararua Ranges was presented to the Waitangi Tribunal by researchers Te Kenehi Teira and Heeni Collins at Te Awahou Foxton recently.
They found that rangatira of Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Toa and Te Āti Awa had been paid small sums of money in 1873 to pacify them in the meantime, acknowledging their mana in a tokenistic way, then publicly the ranges were bought from Muaūpoko, Rangitāne and Ngāti Kahungunu by the Wellington Provincial Government for a much larger sum of money.
“Our grievance is not with Muaūpoko however, it is with the Crown”, said Collins. “The process was the responsibility of the Crown and we uncovered some seriously unethical, unjust and dodgy dealings.”
Following the discovery of a hidden archives file containing evidence of Ngāti Raukawa letters, petitions, and hui advocating for their mana in the Tararua ranges in the 1870s and 1880s, an investigation by Teira and Collins has uncovered a tale of unethical dealings, favouritism to kūpapa (Crown allies), and an insulting disregard for the mana of their Ngāti Raukawa and Ngāti Toa ancestors.
The pain caused by the loss of land at Rangitikei-Manawatū and Horowhenua followed by this humiliating denial of mana whenua in the Tararua ranges caused alienation from the Crown and Government, despair, poverty and disillusionment, and some returned to northern homelands as a result.
The file, perhaps deliberately obscured, was found by Tū Te Manawaroa researcher Anthony Patete in 2018, under a Rangitāne name - “Hemi Matiaha, Greytown, 8 Oct 1888″ - wishes to sell his share in Hapuakorari [Tararua reserve]’ but contained extensive evidence of Ngāti Raukawa interests in the Tararua.
The report “Nga Pae Maunga o Tararua - Te Mana o Ngāti Raukawa” - written by Teira and Collins and completed late last year - covers Ngāti Raukawa customary interests in the Tararua block (41,683ha), the Kaihinu block (16,592ha), and also the Mangahao block (12545ha), stretching almost the entire length of the ranges from Manawatū river south to Kapakapanui, above Waikanae.
Pukematawai (meaning the hill where the waters originate), beyond Waiopehu above Levin, is a sacred place for Ngāti Raukawa, from which the Mangahao, Ōhau, and Ōtaki rivers flow.
This water source was emphasised by ancestors, including Matiu Te Tanuku of Ngāti Huia and Wi Parata, who cited it in describing boundaries and petitioning for their rights to the ranges.
In their cultural framework, Teira and Collins cite the whakapapa of Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga (in the south) from Maui, who fished up the North Island, from Kupe, who shaped the southern North Island, and from Haunui-a-Nanaia who named the western rivers Manawatū, Ōhau and Ōtaki, among others.
They cite the names by which Ngāti Raukawa knew the mountain peaks, eg, Nga Tarahanga, recover traditional names, and references to peaks in ancient waiata.
Alongside Ngā Puhi and other iwi, with newly acquired guns from the north, Te Rauparaha and Te Rangihaeata of Ngāti Toa and Ngāti Huia (Ngāti Raukawa), were significant in the conquest of the land on both sides of the ranges in c.1820/21. As a consequence, Ngāti Kahungunu of the Wairarapa were killed in large numbers and the survivors fled north to Nukutaurua (Māhia) at that time.
It was not until after 1840 that a peace arrangement was made with them by Te Wharepouri of Te Atiawa and they were invited to return.
Some fighting leaders of Ngāti Raukawa had been part of an Amiowhenua led by Peehi Tukorehu, which cleared land at Manawatū and the west coast in the early 1820s; and several sections of Ngāti Raukawa had arrived south early and supported Te Rauparaha in achieving utu after the attack on his family at Ōhau, eg, Ngāti Huia at Horowhenua, and Ngāti Whakatere at Horowhenua/Manawatū.
Hapū of Ngāti Raukawa also had a strong spiritual connection to the many birds of the forest, including the huia, kererū, kākā, tūī, kākāriki and kōmako.
While some birds were caught for kai, the huia was considered sacred, with spiritual significance, especially for its prized feathers.
It was only killed in large numbers when it became a valuable commodity, after being worn by the Duke of York in 1901.
Governor-General Lord Onslow, after accepting from Ngāti Raukawa the name Huia for his son, was urged by the iwi to help save the huia bird, but his efforts came too late for its survival.
Ngāti Raukawa kaiārahi or guides, who knew the mountains well enough to lead parties of Europeans along trails, included Te Ahukaramu, who led the NZ Company surveyor Charles Kettle in 1842; Manahi Pohotiraha, who led J.C. Crawford, politician and amateur geologist, in 1863; and Utiku Hapeta of Ngāti Maiotaki and Ngāti Huia who helped surveyors such as Morgan Carkeek in the 1870s to 80s.
Surprisingly, Teira and Collins found that the mana of Ngāti Toa, Ngāti Raukawa and Te Atiawa in the Tararua ranges had been acknowledged by Crown representatives with surreptitious payments (”advances”) in the 1870s, while publicly, the purchase (for a much greater sum) of the Tararua block was only from Te Keepa Te Rangihiwinui (Major Kemp) of Muaūpoko and his allies.
The Ngāti Raukawa rangatira who received these payments were Hoani Taipua, Hema Te Ao, Karanama Kapukaiotua, Horomona Toremi, Matene Te Whiwhi, Arona Te Hana and Ihakara Tukumaru (Ngāti Pare, Ngāti Maiotaki, Ngāti Huia, Ngāti Kahoro, Ngāti Wehi Wehi and Ngāti Ngarongo).
Major Kemp had sent a telegram to Native Minister Donald McLean in 1872, falsely advising him that Ngāti Raukawa had rights only above Ōtaki and that the ranges should be bought from the iwi to which he affiliated and his allies - Muaūpoko, Rangitane, Ngāti Apa and Ngāti Kahungunu.
While Ngāti Raukawa and Ngāti Toa received about £600 in total, the iwi allied with Major Kemp received £2792 in October 1873.
His father Tanguru was Muaūpoko, but Major Te Rangihiwinui Kemp was brought up with his mother’s people at Whanganui.
He had gathered a powerful fighting force of his relatives and supporters, fought for the Crown on the west and east coasts of the North Island, and still retained his military strength and influence in 1872-73.
The Native Land Court held the Tararua block hearing in Masterton in 1881, with Ngāti Raukawa receiving inadequate notice.
The objections of Hoani Taipua and Kipa Te Whatanui were overruled.
The researchers contend that Ngāti Raukawa was given insufficient consideration, the purchase from other iwi was politically expedient and unfair, and that this was the last of a long list of grievous insults experienced by an iwi which, with its allies, had clearly gained military dominance at the time the Treaty was signed.
The purchase of the Tararua block from Te Rangihiwinui and his allies was described as illegal by Hoani Taipua and its validity was also in doubt due to the Crown’s failure to award a reserve of 1000 acres (405ha), around a lake named Hapuakorari, known by Muaūpoko for its spiritual value, and which proved permanently elusive in that it was never surveyed or awarded.
A government investigation in the 1950s, sparked by a query from Mrs Te Heke Rangatira Boyd of Carterton, a Rangitane descendant of one the three named “owners”, found that it was “most likely” a place named Lake Hollow on the Oriwa ridge, on the western side of the ranges, above Manakau. There is very little water in the hollow now, due to a seismic event, geologist Leslie Adkin believed.
