Placing mountains under Maori care would benefit all, writes Douglas Graham
Your columnist Brian Rudman uses unnecessarily confrontational language when describing the proposal for the volcanic cones.
He seems to believe the European owners who gifted the cones for the use of the public would object to a change from the current trustee of the maunga (mountain).
At the moment, the Crown holds the cones as a trustee for the people of Auckland. What is proposed is from now on the trustee will be Nga Mana Whenua o Tamaki, a collective of iwi who have had a spiritual association to the maunga going back centuries before the donors were born.
As the public retains the same use rights, it is hard to see why the donors would be concerned at all. Most of us appreciate that indigenous peoples see land as part of their very existence and it gives them a right to belong to that area.
Dame Whina Cooper described her link to her maunga in these words: "We have been taught to talk to the mountain because the bones of our ancestors are up there.
"We say, 'Bind the land to the people. The people are part of the land. The land is their mother.' Without the land you are lost."
Let's look briefly at the long history of occupation of One Tree Hill or Maungakiekie. It seems likely by about 1500 Maungakiekie was occupied by the Waiohua people, whose founding chief was Te Hua o Kaiwaka.
In about 1750, Te Taou and Ngati Whatua led by Wahaakiaki and Tuperiri invaded from the north and defeated the then Waiohua chief, Kiwi Tamaki, at Pureroa - (today known as Big Muddy Creek near Cornwallis on the Manukau Harbour).
Descendents of Tuperiri and others then occupied Maungakiekie until about 1820, when Nga Puhi with the muskets descended from the North and drove them south of the Manukau Harbour.
Nga Puhi returned north and the whole isthmus was largely vacant for a few years. Then, Te Wherowhero led Waikato, Ngati Whatua and Hauraki iwi back on to the isthmus.
At the time of the Treaty, Ngati Whatua had settled at Orakei and other iwi at other locations. It is hardly surprising there are 12 iwi/hapu who today regard Maungakiekie as their maunga.
Other maunga are the subject of legend. For example, Mt Eden, or Maungawhau, is called Te Ipu a Mataoho - the bowl of Mataoho, named after one of the famous chiefs who had lived on it.
According to legend, his wife left him and took with her all his clothes and the goddess Mahuika sent fire (the volcano) to keep him warm.
The historical association with the maunga going back at least 500 years means they are of critical importance to iwi/hapu in the negotiation of their claims.
Mr Rudman appears to have overlooked that in 2006, when the Crown entered into an agreement solely with Ngati Whatua o Orakei. Maungakiekie, Maungawhau and Puketapapa (Mt Roskill) were to be returned to Ngati Whatua o Orakei.
Now that all iwi with interests are involved, those maunga and another eight are included.
In time, others may be added by agreement. Nga Mana Whenua o Tamaki will own the maunga on trust for the people of Auckland subject to all existing rights and cannot sell or mortgage them.
The collective and the Super City will co-manage them. In this way, the importance to tangata whenua of the maunga is recognised while protecting the public interest as well.
It is hoped that resolving the maunga in this way will facilitate the settlement of the grievances of not only the 12 iwi with interests in the maunga, but another nine with interests from the Kaipara to the Coromandel Peninsula.
* Sir Douglas Graham was formerly Minister in Charge of Treaty Negotiations.
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