The station borders Whangape Harbour (pictured) and the Tasman Sea. Photo / Peter de Graaf
The station borders Whangape Harbour (pictured) and the Tasman Sea. Photo / Peter de Graaf
An 840ha coastal farm dogged by decades of controversy has been bought by a Far North iwi to ensure the land is never lost again.
Te Runanga o Te Rarawa announced on Friday it had purchased Whangape Station, an isolated and ruggedly beautiful farm bordered by the Whangape Harbour and the Tasman Sea. The price is understood to have been in the millions.
The station will now be known as Whakakoro after its sacred mountain.
The land has deep significance to Maori - it was from Whakakoro that the ancestor Ueoneone summoned a mystical manu (bird) to travel to Tainui and return with Reipai and Reitu, from whom local hapu Ngati Haua and their Ngapuhi neighbours are descended.
The station has been embroiled in controversy for many years but Te Rarawa's purchase, which was finalised on Friday, should consign those unhappy times to history.
Te Rarawa and Ngati Haua trustee Richard Murray said great sacrifices had been made to ensure the return of the land.
"We're keen to protect these lands and look at development options for future generations to come, and ensure that the whenua is secured in a way that it can never be put at risk again," he said.
Te Runanga o Te Rarawa chairman Haami Piripi said Whakakoro could not be included in the tribe's Treaty settlement because it was technically private land. However, now that the iwi had settled its historical claims, it could buy the land and preserve it for the future of Ngati Haua and Te Rarawa.
Once the previous owners, the Van den Brink Group, understood the importance of the land to Ngati Haua they had "bent over backwards" to help.
"They could have sold it out from under us but they saw an opportunity to do something for the community."
Te Rarawa and Ngati Haua representatives would meet in the New Year to discuss the ownership and management of Whakakoro, he said.
The first priority would be to come up with a management plan that was mana-enhancing, protected ancient burial sites, and allowed the land to pay for itself, creating jobs.
Mr Piripi said the basis for the tribe's settlement had always been "He whenua riro atu, he whenua hoki mai" (Land lost is the foundation of land that should be returned).
"I'm just pleased for the old fellows who held onto their claim and passed on without seeing it resolved."
Whangape Station has 15km of coastline. Photo / File
Mr Piripi said the purchase showed what iwi and hapu could achieve when they worked together. That was especially relevant given the current divisions between Ngapuhi iwi and hapu over their Treaty settlement.
Protests and P labs - station's colourful history
From occupations and allegations of bulldozed archaeological sites to a major P bust and a series of arson attacks, Whangape station has been embroiled in controversy for more than two decades.
The 840ha station was farmed by the Geddes family for three generations before they sold it to Lotto winner Robert Buchanan for $700,000.
In 1992 the hapu Ngati Haua, led by the late Glass Murray, occupied the land in protest at the sale.
The beef station was developed into an eco-ranch and wind farm site, then sold in 2005 for $4.5 million to property developer Kim Spencer. When Mr Spencer's plans to subdivide the land failed he sold it for $9.5 million to Philip Parker, who later cancelled the contract. Legal action ensued and the station went to mortgagee tender, finally ending up in the hands of the Van den Brink Group.
A police operation in 2012 uncovered a series of "clan labs" for making the drug methamphetamine, or P. Nine people were arrested. The following month six family baches were burnt to the ground in a misguided reprisal.
