OFFICIAL "* 1V\;t \ (C\) l-Ut4' '+3. ....: .. :: ..;.: .... ;~i;t;. t~ T-c~';~~~~-". ,y -:-:~:--'~ }"" Wai 143 Ngati Tama Ancillary Claims by Dr Giselle Byrnes, November 1995 A Report Commissioned by the Waitangi Tribunal for the Taranaki claim (Wai 143) concerning PUKEARUHE HISTORIC RESERVE by Dr Giselle M. Byrnes Any conclusions drawn or opinions expressed are those of the author Table of Contents 1. Introduction 1 2. The Location 1 3. The Claim 2 4. History of Maori Occupation 3 5. Military settlement and occupation 1865·69 6 5.1 Confiscation. 6 5.2 Military settlement 7 5.3 Military occupation 8 6. The Whiteley incident 11 6.1 The events of February 1869 11 6.2 Whiteley and the Taranaki Methodist Mission 12 7. Military occupation 1872·85 17 8. Block History 18 8.1 Police reserve 18 8.2 Historic reserve 19 8.2.1 The Whiteley memorials 19 8.2.2 Poutama Whiria 20 8.3 Grazing 22 9. The Whiteley Centenary 1969 25 10. Sections 13 and 14 25 11. The Recreational Reserves: Pukearuhe Domain 26 12. Historic significance 26 13. Current status of reserve 26 13.1 Ownership and management 26 13.2 Condition of land 27 13.3 The Whiteley Monument 27 14. Conclusions/Issues for further consideration 28 Bibliography 29 Document Bank (Doc #1·17) Pukearuhe Historic Reserve 1 1. Introduction The aim of this report is to investigate the extent to which the establishment of the Pukearuhe Historic Reserve in North Taranaki contributed to the alienation of land from Ngati Tama ownership. Issues to be considered include an examination of the justification for the location of this reserve, the process by which it was established, and the present status of the reserve. The alienation of the land now defined as the Pukearuhe Historic Reserve, and the events surrounding its development, currently appears to be a pressing concern for the Ngati T ama claimants. A traditional Ngati T ama pa site, Pukearuhe was confiscated by the government in April 1865 for a military settlement. The militia occupied Pukearuhe from 1865-69 and then again from 1872-85. In 1887 it was gazetted a Police Reserve, and in 1955 proclaimed a Historic Reserve under the Reserves and Other Lands Disposal and Public Bodies Act 1920.1 The block has been subsequently leased for grazing and has remained in the possession of the Crown ever since. The Pukearuhe Historic Reserve and the recreation reserves are currently owned by the Crown and administered by the New Plymouth District Council on behalf of the Crown. Submissions on the right to maintain leaseholds on the reserve have been recently submitted by interested parties before the Waitangi Tribunal. This report has been researched and written by Dr Giselle Byrnes, a historian commissioned by the Waitangi Tribunal in March 1995 to investigate this and other Ngati Tama ancillary, or discrete claims in Taranaki.2 I have a Doctor of Philosophy in History from the University of Auckland, and prior to my appointment at the Waitangi Tribunal Division I was employed as a Tutor and Lecturer in New Zealand history at the University of Auckland. While every effort has been made to produce a comprehensive history of the Pukearuhe Historic Reserve, time limitations have prevented me from fully exploring the wider implications of the effects of confiscation legislation on Ngati Tama. This report provides an overview of the changing use of the block and the lease history of the reserved land.3 2. The Location Pukearuhe is situated south of Parininihi (White Cliffs) on the western boundary of the traditional Ngati Tama estate.4 The Ngati Tama claimants have defined the western boundary of the Ngati Tama rohe as Te Moana Nui A Kiwa; the southern boundary with Ngati Mutunga is at Titoki, a stream that reaches the coast at Wai-iti; and the northern 1 By November 1926 the Reserve was referred to as a Historic Reserve, although I have unable to locate the notification for this change of status. See Doc #5, #6. 2 See Appendix 1 (A1) for a copy of this commission. 3 Under the terms of this commission I have been required to produce five research reports over a period of eight months. 4 See Figure 1 and Figure 2. Pukearuhe Historic Reserve 2 boundary is marked by the Mokau River.5 The eastern boundary with Ngati Maru is more difficult to ascertain, as the majority of ancestral place names have not been recorded on maps.6 Pukearuhe Historic Reserve is a 10 acre (4.1531 ha) coastal reserve located 49 kilometres north of New Plymouth in North Taranaki. The reserve consists of an open terrace situated 250 metres above sea level and is defined as Section 11 (O.ll13ha) and Subdivisions 1 (2.8783ha) and 2 (1.1635ha) of Section 1, Pukearuhe Town Belt, Block VI, Mimi Survey District, Clifton County, Taranaki Land District. The adjacent sections 13 and 14, which together comprise a cemetery reserve, were added to the Pukearuhe Historic Reserve in 1982. The recreational reserves, which constitute the Pukearuhe Domain are defined as parts 1 and 2 of section 9, Pukearuhe Town Belt.7 Both the Pukearuhe Historic Reserve and the recreational reserves fall within the rohe confiscated in Taranaki under the New Zealand Settlements Act 1863. 8 3. The Claim Ngati Tama claim that the taking of Ngati Tama lands for scenic and historic purposes under scenic legislation was conducted without the consent of Ngati Tama.9 Moreover, Ngati Tama claim that the aquisition of these lands for scenic and historic reserves violated the principle of rangatiratanga guaranteed to them by Article Two of the Treaty of Waitangi. Ngati Tama have made the request that 'the Tribunal make an interim recommendation without prejudice to all agencies of the Crown that have title to land and or property within the Ngati Tama estate ... [that] lands classified as S. o. E. and at present in Landcorp control/title, be transferred back to Ngati Tama.'lo In their evidence presented before the Waitangi Tribunal in October 1991, through the submission of Greg White, Ngati Tama claim that before any land north of Waitara had been declared a District under the provisions of the New Zealand Settlements Act 1863, and despite the fact that there had been no hostilities in the region, British troops occupied the Pukearuhe Pa site on 24 April 1865, situated on Ngati Tama land, as a purely strategic measureY Ngati Tama claim that despite never having been engaged in rebellion against the Crown a large area of Ngati Tama lands were wrongly proclaimed a District for 5 F19, Wai 143, p. 12. 6 In their evidence submitted to the Tribunal, Ngati Tama suggest that the most accurate and authoritative delineation of their traditional rohe is given in the maps used by the 1927 Sim Commission. Ibid., p. 12, App. No.1, p. 108a. 7 See Figure 9. 8 See Figure 3. 9 F20, Wai 143, p. 201ff. 10 Ibid., p. 5. 11 Ibid., p. 27. Pukearuhe Historic Reserve 3 confiscation on 5 September 1865 under section 2 of the New Zealand Settlements Act 1863. They claim that the Crown was in breach of the Treaty of Waitangi when the militia occupied Pukearuhe and that the siting of a surveyed township there was an abuse of kawanatanga. In addition, N gati T ama submit that, with great cultural insensitivity, the Crown has retained possession of this site ever since. 12 Ngati Tama further claim that the existence of the monument erected to the Wesleyan Methodist missionary John Whiteley in 1923 on the Pukearuhe pa site is culturally offensive and that the monument should be removedY It should also be noted that this is not the first time that Ngati Tama have submitted a claim for lands confiscated last century.14 4. History of Maori occupation Pukearuhe (fern root hill) was a traditional pa site of Ngati Tama situated close to the southern boundary of their rohe. 15 In his History and Traditions of the Maoris of the West Coast North Island of New Zealand Prior to 1840 (1910) Stephenson Percy Smith described the N gati T ama boundaries with reference to the Pukearuhe pa, citing the Taranaki surveyor and local historian W. H. Skinner's account of the region. 'The lands of the Ngati-Tama tribe', wrote Smith, extended from [the] Mohaka-tino river to a place named Titoki, two miles south of Puke-aruhe pa. They thus had a sea frontage of about fourteen miles, and their boundaries extended inland until they were met by those of Ngati-Haua, of Upper Whanganui, and with whom they were often allied in war and also in marriage. 16 The land between the Mokau river and Pukearuhe pa, generally known as Poutama, was the traditional home of Ngati Tama. Ngati Tama are closely related to the neighbouring Ngati Mutunga and Te Atiawa of North Taranaki. Smith claimed that Ngati Tama took their name from T ama-ihu-toroa, the great grandson of T ama-te-kapua, captain of the Arawa canoeY Ngati Tama, however, concur with the explanation given by Te Rangi Hiroa in The Coming of the Maori (1952), that 'Tamaariki was the eponymous ancestor of the fighting Ngati Tama tribe which at one time occupied the territory north and south 12 Ibid., p. 28. It should also be noted that some Ngati Tama, who do not consider the Ngati Tama Iwi Authority as representing them, believe that the management of the Pukearuhe Historic Reserve should be continued in the present manner, see L10, Wai 143.