Parliament bill set to return historic Māori site in Northland to Ngāpuhi

A bill returning one of New Zealand's most historic sites to Māori is due to be passed by Parliament on Wednesday, ending a 20-year quest by Northland iwi Ngāpuhi.

To the untrained eye Kororipo Pā, at Kerikeri Basin, looks like a modest headland across the water from the better-known Stone Store.

However, these grassy terraces were the stage for some of the most formative events in this country's history.

In fact, some historians argue it's the place where modern New Zealand began.

The land is currently managed by the Department of Conservation but the Kororipo Pā Vesting Bill, due for its third and final reading on 17 December, will return it to Ngāpuhi.

Local hapū Ngāti Rēhia will act as kaitiaki [caretakers] on the iwi's behalf.

The return is also significant because it offers a glimmer of hope for Ngāpuhi's long-stalled Treaty settlement.

Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Rēhia chairman Kipa Munro said Kororipo Pā was associated with one ancestor in particular, Hongi Hika, and the Musket Wars of the 1820s.

"Kororipo was the place that they departed from," he said.

Later, chiefs from across Ngāpuhi would gather at the pā to discuss important matters.

"It became more of a place of wānanga [learning] where the likes of Hone Heke used to report back to his people."

Munro said the pā also provided protection to New Zealand's first lasting European settlement, built at Hongi Hika's invitation on the other side of Kerikeri Basin.

From his hill-top pā, the chief could keep an eye on the new arrivals from the Christian Missionary Society.

While Kerikeri was not the first mission settlement in Aotearoa - that was at Oihi, on the Purerua Peninsula - it was the first place Māori and Europeans lived side-by-side for an extended period of time.

"That coming together of the first Europeans and Māori was likened to the coming together of the salt water and the fresh water, which is what happens right at that site," Munro said.

Kororipo translated as "swirling waters", an apt metaphor for the changes that began at Kerikeri Basin just over 200 years ago.

Heritage New Zealand Northland manager Bill Edwards said the first formal contact between Māori and the British Crown could be traced to Kororipo Pā.

In 1831 a gathering of 13 rangatira penned a letter to King William IV, raising concerns about the intentions of the French navy and the behaviour of British subjects.

"It's nationally significant because it's a meeting place. It's a place where not only different hapū met, but it's also a meeting place of Māori and Pākehā. But importantly, it's also that letter to the king in 1831, which was really the beginning of what we see now as modern Aotearoa New Zealand."

Munro said the push to get Kororipo back started 20 years ago with a hui at Whitiora Marae in Te Tii, north of Kerikeri.

The hui resolved to seek the return of the pā to Ngāpuhi, with Ngāti Rēhia as the kaitiaki.

Munro said it had been "a long time coming".

"Our thinking was that whilst we wait for that full and final settlement, we asked the government at that time, let's have a look at a significant site in Ngāpuhi. It was a mark of good faith on both our sides to proceed and try and get that back. It's a good start."

Munro said there were conditions attached to the site's return, but Ngāpuhi could revisit those later as part of its full and final settlement.

He expected the formal handover, due to take place early next year, would be charged with emotion.

"A lot of these places have been lost to us for so long, it's almost like the pā site has suddenly come alive again. Many of our people may not even know about the pā because the connections they had to these places have been severed, they've been lost. But I think it'll be an emotional day, certainly for those that have been on this pathway for its return."

Munro said it would also be a chance to remember those who first called for the pā's return.

"Twenty years later, a lot of those kaumātua and leaders of Ngāpuhi are no longer with us anymore. And so it's significant that their moemoea, or their dreams and aspirations, are nearly achieved. So the job that was given to us, we can say we've done it on their behalf."

Munro said the hapū had learned a lot from the negotiations about how government bureaucracy worked - and he hoped the government had learned from its dealings with the hapū.

He was also hopeful the pā's return would set a precedent for other Ngāpuhi cultural sites.

Bill Edwards' response to the pa's return was unequivocal.

"It's utterly fantastic. And it's about time."

The first reading of Te Pire Whakahoki i a Kororipo Pā/Kororipo Pā Vesting Bill, on 11 September, passed unanimously.

At the time Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith said it was the first redress the Crown had provided to Ngāpuhi, and demonstrated the government's commitment to a settlement.

He hoped to progress negotiations "as soon as possible".

"Kororipo Pā is significant to New Zealand as part of early settlement. It was a place of learning and trade between Ngāpuhi, missionaries and settlers. Ngāpuhi would assemble there before going to war and rangatira would meet to discuss politically important issues," he said.

Goldsmith said the pā would retain its historic reserve status and public access would not be affected.

Department of Conservation Bay of Islands operations manager Bronwyn Bauer-Hunt said the department had been "incredibly privileged" over the years to administer such an important cultural site.

"We're really looking forward to continuing to work in partnership with Ngāti Rēhia, on behalf of Ngāpuhi, to achieve their aspirations for that tohu whenua [landmark] site."

DOC is leading a series of "muck-ins", which started on 10 December, to remove weeds and upgrade paths before the site is handed back to Ngāpuhi.

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