Taihape iwi to hold hui to discuss removal from claim mandate

Winiata Te Whaaro at left in late 19th century. Photo / S Carnell

Ngāti Hinemanu is holding two hui next month, as it seeks to withdraw its Treaty of Waitangi claims from those negotiated in the Taihape area by the Mōkai Pātea Waitangi Claims Trust.

The hui are for all descendants of Hinemanu and Tautahi, spokeswoman Āwhina Twomey said. Ngāti Hinemanu interests span from Taihape to Hastings, across the Ruahine Range.

One hui will be at Winiata Marae, near Taihape, on July 4, and the other at Omahū Marae, near Hastings, on July 5.

The gatherings will examine whakapapa, and make it clear to outsiders that their two governance bodies are linked. They will confirm groups of elders as advisers and seek approval to remove Ngāti Hinemanu from the draft deed of mandate the Mōkai Pātea Waitangi Claims Trust wants to finalise.

As well as what might be done at the hui, Ngāti Hinemanu has a petition calling for that withdrawal. It can be signed online or at Winiata Marae.

For Ngāti Hinemanu, an important tīpuna is Nukuteāio, the wife of Ohuake. She was descended from the Whatumamoa people who lived on land near Taihape before the waka migrations. Any legal or moral claim to the land comes through her, Twomey said.

She cites evidence from Māori Land Court hearings in which Ngāti Hinemanu are listed as a hapū with equal and separate status from Ngāti Whitikaupeka, Ngāti Hauiti and others in the "large natural group" the Mōkai Pātea Waitangi Claims Trust would like to represent.

There were no iwi in the 1800s, she said, only hapū.