It has been 134 years since the Crown ignored pleas for help by Ngāti Rangitihi when the Tarawera Eruption devastated its people. Now, the Crown is finally owning up to its wrongdoings.
Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little and Te Mana o Ngāti Rangitihi Trust chair and lead negotiator Leith Comer at the signing of the Deed of Settlement. Photo: Supplied
The Te Arawa iwi based in and around Rotorua, Kaingaroa and Matatā, has reached a Deed of Settlement with the Crown for the historical injustices its people have endured.
The Crown has agreed to pay the iwi financial redress of $11.3 million, issue a formal apology and acknowledge exactly how it breached the Treaty of Waitangi.
A signing ceremony was held at Rangitihi Marae in Matatā over the weekend.
Te Mana o Ngāti Rangitihi Trust chair Leith Comer said the settlement was an important milestone.
"No settlement will ever be able to compensate for the mamae our people suffered but today represents the beginning of a new era where we can achieve our cultural, environmental, social and economic aspirations for Ngāti Rangitihi," he said.
"We are hopeful for what the future holds for our people and we look forward to strengthening our relationship with the Crown."
Historical injustices
According to the Deed of Settlement Summary, the Crown leased land in the 1870s from Ngāti Rangitihi but suspended the activities of the Native Land Court in the Bay of Plenty from 1873 to 1877 and stopped paying rent on untitled lands.
When Mount Tarawera erupted in 1886, it devastated the Ngāti Rangitihi people.
More than 50 of its descendants were killed and large sections of iwi land were wiped out.
The Crown continued taking what little land was left for public works and ignored calls for relief by the iwi for the next thirty years.
In the 1910s, the Crown drained the Rangitaiki swamp, depleting Ngāti Rangitihi food resources.
The drainage led to the neglect of two Ngāti Rangitihi urupā and degraded the mauri of Te Awa o Te Atua.
From 1954, Crown legislation allowed Tasman Pulp and Paper Company to discharge waste, causing heavy pollution to the Tarawera River and Lake Rotoitipaku.
Treaty Settlement
Ngāti Rangitihi began direct negotiations with the Crown in 2015.
The Crown recognised Te Mana's mandate in June that year, and approved Terms of Negotiation in November.
The Deed of Settlement includes a historic account, Crown acknowledgements of how and when it breached Te Tiriti, and the Crown's apology.
It includes the return of culturally significant lands, relationship agreements with government agencies, the set-up of an entity to restore and protect the mauri of Tarawera Awa and Te Awa o Te Atua (with $500,000 of funding), and financial redress of $11.3m.
Te Mana will receive $4m plus interest, in addition to the interest in forest lands valued at $7.3m that were part of the 2008 Central North Island Forest Lands Collective Settlement (CNI).