Whanganui Native Land Court building ready for restoration

Historian Kyle Dalton and Whanganui Regional Heritage Trust chairwoman Helen Craig inside the Native Land Court and Aotea Maori Land Board Building. Photo / Bevan Conley

In terms of bricks and mortar, Whanganui's former Native Land Court building on the corner of Rutland St and Market Pl is a sound structure.

The proceedings that took place inside the building during past decades are now seen by many as a corrupt legal system that converted customary Māori title to land to individual title, making it easier for land to be sold to Pākehā.

Decisions imposed by the court still affect many whānau today, and some would prefer to see the building demolished.

Tūpoho iwi spokesman Ken Mair said the desire to see the building demolished was completely understandable.

"The Native Land Court required that there be no more than 10 owners for any block of land regardless of how big it was," Mair said.

"With the stroke of a pen, a process of legalised confiscation was introduced, leaving many whānau landless."

"It was a terrible time for many iwi and hapū in this region and I completely empathise with those who would like to see the building erased from the landscape."

UCOL, the building's previous owner, twice applied for consent to demolish it and both applications were refused.

It is now listed as a category 1 building by Heritage New Zealand and demolition is not an option.

The site listing states that "The Native Land Court and Aotea Maori Land Board Building in Wanganui was built in 1922 and is a rare, if not unique, example of a purpose-built Native Land Court building in New Zealand".

Plans are under way to restore the former Native Land Court building in central Whanganui. Photo / Bevan Conley

After consultation with iwi representatives, the Whanganui Regional Heritage Trust purchased the building in 2020 with the intention of restoration and resale.

Trust chairwoman Helen Craig said the sole aim was to buy and restore heritage buildings in the Whanganui central business district.

"Our aim is not to become long-term owners of the building, but to restore and sell it," she said.

Since purchasing the building last August, the trust has carried out a conservation report with support from the Lottery Environment and Heritage Grant Fund.

"The building is sound and weathertight," Craig said.

"Restoration of the exterior will require a surface treatment, paint and window repairs."

Craig said it was likely to take a couple of years to raise enough money to carry out the restorations and interior renovations that meet with Heritage NZ approval.

Professor David Williams - author of Te Kooti Tango Whenua: The Native Land Court 1864-1909 - is a supporter of the building's restoration and has some ideas about its possible future.

"Should a building that housed a court noted for its dispossession of Māori from their ancestral lands be demolished or refurbished?" he said.

"I am strongly of the view that demolition would encourage amnesia of our past."

Williams said such amnesia may suit some Pākehā who suggested we should forget the past and focus only on working together as "equals" in a more harmonious future.

"A better option is to preserve buildings like the Native Land Court building while being mindful of the past when repurposing them for the future," he said.

Williams offered overseas examples where indigenous peoples had reclaimed and repurposed heritage buildings with painful pasts.

Whanganui historian Dr Danny Keenan (Ngāti Te Whiti Ahi Kā, Te Ātiawa) has written about the Native Land Court in his latest book Wars Without End. Ngā Pakanga Whenua O Mua. New Zealand's Land Wars - A Māori Perspective.

He has previously collaborated with Williams and agreed with his view that the building might be repurposed in a positive way.

"In his book, David argues the case for a Waitangi Tribunal hearing, focused on the activities of the Native Land Court. The hearing would focus on the Crown's attempts, especially via the court, to extinguish outright Māori land titles after 1858," said Keenan.

"It's such an egregious history; you can understand Māori reluctance to protect and preserve, much less commemorate, a building like the old Native Land Court building, which, on the face of it, encapsulates and symbolises – and I guess perpetuates – so much of that distressing history."

Keenan said it was a conversation for local rangatira and whānaunga to consider, when the time seems right.

"However, I do think if the opportunity ever arose, the Native Land Court Building could be adapted or converted into an amazing Native Land Court Museum and Research Centre.

"Whanganui would then have the only museum of its type in the country, another small affirmation of our city's unique and special heritage-friendly status."

Mair said he agreed with the views expressed by Keenan and Williams and believed the building served as a reminder of a grievous past still affecting tangata whenua in the present.

"I stress that is a view not shared by all our iwi and hapū," he said.

"Personally, I believe we need to have a lot of conversations about the building and I'm glad there will be time for those to take place."

Whanganui list MP Harete Hipango said she also supported the restoration of the building despite its painful past.

"Some of the monuments at Pākaitore represent the injustices in our history," she said.

"If we were to destroy them, it would erase the purpose they serve as reminders that those injustices must never be repeated in our future."

Craig said the Whanganui Regional Heritage Trust was now ready to begin formal negotiations with Heritage NZ on the best options for the building's restoration.