Map showing the Claimants’ Boundaries for the Taranaki Report to the Waitangi Tribunal

From The Taranaki Report to the Waitangi Tribunal, 1996

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To understand what’s happening today, you really need to have a closer look at the past…To understand what’s happening today, you really need to have a closer look at the past…

Treaty claim

held up in

courtHONOUR THE TREATY!The many protesters walking in the Hikoi were…

Councillor says he backs local iwi’s right…

Hearing dismissed as

Judge calls for order.

The claimants had brought their grievances to the…

Farmers angry

that they are

not considered

in land claim by

local iwi

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The Taranaki chapter of the New Zealand Wars began in the early 1820s with the migrations of the Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Mutunga and Ngāti Tama people south to Kāpiti and Wellington.

Test your knowledge so far:

1.When and why did Te Ātiawa people migrate from and then back to the Taranaki region?2.How (and why) did the wars in Taranaki start?3.Describe at least one of the battles4.What was the involvement of the Government during this time?5.Describe the role these people had in the Taranaki Wars:a) Wiremu Kīngi Te Rangitaake.b) Governor Gore Browne.c) Tītokowaru.

Introduction

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In 1863, the Taranaki Wars were not over, but the Crown determined that Māori had been in rebellion against the Queen and needed to be punished – by having their land confiscated.

Many Acts were passed to this effect.

The New Zealand Settlements Act, 1863

The Suppression of Rebellion Act, 1863

In 1865 these two Acts were used to initially confiscate 515, 974 hectares of Taranaki land.

1. Events during the 1863-66 battles in Taranaki

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This map, produced by the Waitangi Tribunal, shows the land that was confiscated.It was everything to the left of the red line.

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However, Māori still lived on the land, and they didn’t recognise this new confiscation.

The Crown’s solution was to create a court in 1866 which was supposed to

determine…

They would be given a Crown grant to a piece of land elsewhere.

They would be placed on special ‘reserve lands’.

Which Māori had remained ‘loyal’ to the Crown.

And which Māori had been ‘rebels’ to the Crown.

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However, this new court was really a shambles!

It rarely followed any rules or regulations

Court dates for sittings and hearings were not often published

Lawyers often didn’t even turn up

Sometimes the evidence presented was a bit

dodgy….just who was loyal and who was a rebel?

The Court House, New Plymouth, from The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Taranaki, Hawke’s Bay & Wellington Provincial Districts ], (1908)NZETC.

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Apart from some “out of court settlements” in the end, the court didn’t deliver any land to the iwi of Taranaki.

No reserve lands were created. Māori effectively remained landless in their own land.

“The local Māoris probably believed these initial

boundaries to be final and accepted peace on this

basis, reconciling themselves to a loss of

acreage.”

Historian James Belich

However, many Māori saw more and more settlers come

and they saw this ‘creeping confiscation’ as a renewed

aggression. Anger simmered under the surface throughout

the late 1860s and 1870s.

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Between 1866 and 1880 the Compensation Court had not

delivered any land to any local Māori.

2. The Fox-Bell Commission of 1880

The Fox-Bell Commission was set up to investigate this, but…

During this time, many people had died and it was difficult to determine who

had been loyal and who had been a rebel.

The Fox-Bell Commission came up with a solution which was to

have long lasting negative consequences.

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Due to the complexity of determining what land belonged to whom, the Commission decided to ‘merge the titles’ of both the loyals and the rebels and create new reserve land.

The new reserve land they created was 81, 000 hectares on the ring plain around the mountain.

However, the new Māori owners of this land were not allowed on it. The Crown said that the land had to be leased

to Pākehā farmers who would pay a rent to the Māori.

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Rubbing salt into the wound

It actually got worse:

By 1900, this Native Trustee had sold approximately half of all the compensation land to leaseholders without consulting any of the Māori owners.

The Crown legislation determined that the Pākehā farmers did not have to pay

market rents, only 4-5% of the land’s true value.

The Crown also decided that the rents wouldn’t go to the local iwi or hapū, but instead

to a newly created Native Trustee in the Public Trust

Office.

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Taihoa! Stop!It’s time to digest

some of this information.

Turn to your worksheet and work

through the tasks next to Taiaha #1.

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The Taranaki Wars, and indeed the New Zealand Wars, ended in 1881 with the sacking of Parihaka.

location of Parihaka

Part Two of Parihaka Panorama (November 1881), William Andrews Collis, Albumen print (two part panorama), Collection of Puke Ariki, New Plymouth (A64.092)

3. The devastation of Parihaka

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By 1881, Māori had been defeated, largely by the advantages the European had, in terms of numbers of professional soldiers and

better war technology.

The direct consequences of

this loss:

The people were demoralised

Their leaders were either imprisoned or

had been killed

They had become landless in their

own land

They could see the European systems of trade, farming and justice were taking

over from their systems.

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From 1881 up to 1931 there was no effective leadership amongst Taranaki Māori.

In 1926 the Sim Commission of Enquiry was asked to report on the land confiscations.

“Taranaki ought not to have been punished by the confiscation of any of

their lands”

William Sim in his report.

4. The Taranaki Māori Trust Board

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As a result of the Sim Report, the Government set aside £5000 per year to be distributed to Taranaki tribes, through the Taranaki Māori Trust Board.

But who was on this Board?

The Government initially appointed members, even appointing some from other parts of the country.

The Board was supposed to represent the iwi of Taranaki, but it only had to report back to the Government, not the local iwi.

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By the late 1980s, there was a widespread realisation about the inappropriateness and effectiveness of the Board to represent the iwi of Taranaki .

The iwi started to set up their own leadership committees. In some, disputes arose about which committee had the right to lead the iwi.

At stake was a variety of Government funds that were meant to be distributed to local Māori for a range of social services.

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What about the land?

In 1976 the Paraninihi ki Waitōtara Incorporation (PKW) was established to simply collect the rental still set at peppercorn rates. This did not change until 1997 when rentals were changed to be set by negotiation but still based on the notion of unimproved land. However, the situation is that PKW still doesn’t receive proper market rents today. As a result PKW’s lands are still administered under a different set of laws to other New Zealanders.

5. The Paraninihi ki Waitōtara Incorporation (PKW)

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Tension!

As you can imagine, there

are lots of conflicting views about what the PKW should do.

Should it sell all the land

and buy better performing

investments?

Do all the local iwi agree?

What do the Pākehā

farmers think?

Should it just be concerned with making a profit for its individual

shareholders?

As you can see, many of these conflicting interests cause lots of debates – some of which find themselves in the local media.

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Taihoa! Stop!It’s time to digest some of this

information.

Hopefully by now you’re beginning to see that behind a

sensational news headline about a land claim, there is a

lot of history.

Turn to your worksheet and work through the tasks next to

Taiaha #2.

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Historians agree that the impact of the colonial experience for Māori in Taranaki has been severe, and that a post-war syndrome has developed.

6. The loss of Mana

Image: Right Place Resources Ltd

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Cultural and social impacts of the confiscation are still

being felt today

Generations of Māori were brought up to

believe that there was no future in being

Māori.

Many older Māori in Taranaki tell of being

told not to speak Māori, and to try and

become Pākehā.

Traditional knowledge of land management and genealogy are

critically short

There is a distinctive lack of te reo Māori

speakers in Taranaki

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Regaining lost ground There is a growing realisation amongst Māori in Taranaki that

they have been victims of a harsh colonial experience.

It’s time to rebuild and think ahead for a stronger future for Māori in TaranakiImage: Right Place Resources Ltd

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Listening post.

In 2000, MP Tariana Turia described what had happened to Taranaki

Māori as a ‘holocaust’.

Listen to a Radio New Zealand National interview with her and other historians on this choice of word to describe the situation.

Follow the tasks next to Taiaha #3

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Sometimes it seems that everyone has an opinion! Now that you know a little more about what happened in Taranaki, study these quotations on the next few slides as a class and discuss why these people have these

opinions.

“A perpetual lease is as much private property as freehold. It is a lawful and exclusive right to use the land, just like a

freehold right, for which title of ownership is issued…In Taranaki the government is attempting to resolve a Māori grievance by giving a Māori group the private

property of other New Zealanders”

Graham Robertson, past Federated Farmers’ president.

7. Quotations for discussion

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“When I look at the map of Taranaki and trace the confiscation line, it is an arrow piercing the heart of my

people”

Peter Moeahu, 1990

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“The wars, in our view, were not of Māori

making. The Governor was the aggressor, not Māori, and in Treaty terms it was the

Governor who was in breach of the undertakings made in the name of the

Queen”

The Taranaki Report to the Waitangi Tribunal, Overview, p7, 1996

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This is the end of the presentation about the legacy of the Taranaki Wars.

How much have you learnt?

Complete the tasks as directed by your teacher as

part of Taiaha #4

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1. James Belich, The New Zealand Wars2. Stolen Dreams, North and South magazine, Sept 19963. The Taranaki Report – Kuapapa Tuatahi, 1996. The Taranaki Report: Kaupapa Tuatahi, accessed from www.waitangi-tribunal.govt.nz4. Chapter12: Te Muru me te Raupatu: the Aftermath, in Ancestral Landscapes of Taranaki in Taranaki Whenua: Life Blood Legacy by Peter Adds, New Plymouth, Puke Ariki Museum, 2008.5. Taranaki War 1860-2010: Te Ahi Kā Roa, Te Ahi Kātoro, exhibition notes, Puke Ariki Museum, New Plymouth.

References