Ohiwa Harbour A Report Commissioned by the Waitangi Tribunal Ewan Johnston March 2003 [ii] As they journey the land the experience becomes visionary. The land comes alive with stories, with both personal and public history. At the climax of the story, the boy and his grandmother are looking across Ohiwa Harbour to Hokianga Island. The old lady says to him: “E Moko, e oho whakarongo mai. A tona wa ano, ko koe hei kaiako, hei ro ia ranei mo tenei whenua. Be a teacher and a lawyer for this bit of land. Get to know it well, Cherish it. Work it. You might have to fight for it one day.”1 1 Witi Ihimaera (referring to Haare Williams’ story, ‘Karaka’), ‘KA PU TE RUHA, KA HAO TE RANGATAHI: Capturing Knowledge for the Future - The Impact of Contemporary Maori Writing on New Zealand Society’, Paper presented at the Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa Conference, Auckland, 9- 12 November 1999, <http://www.lianza.org.nz/conference 99/ihimaera.htm>, quoted with permission of the author. See also Haare Williams, ‘Karaka’, in Witi Ihimaera, ed, Te Ao Marama volume five, Contemporary Maori Writing, Reed, 1996, pp 23-24 [iii] [iv] Contents Contents ..................................................................................................................................... v Figures...................................................................................................................................... vii Abbreviations ..........................................................................................................................viii 1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 The Author ........................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Background to this Commission .......................................................................................... 1 1.3 Claims made to the Waitangi Tribunal Concerning Ohiwa Harbour.................................. 8 1.4 The Focus and Structure of this Report.............................................................................. 12 1.5 Methodology....................................................................................................................... 13 2. Physical Description of Ohiwa Harbour............................................................................ 15 2.1 The Harbour....................................................................................................................... 15 2.2 Flora and Fauna.................................................................................................................. 16 2.3 The Impact of People.......................................................................................................... 18 3. Customary Occupation of Ohiwa Harbour ....................................................................... 21 3.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 21 3.2 Ngati Awa ........................................................................................................................... 22 3.3 Whakatohea........................................................................................................................ 38 3.4 Te Upokorehe..................................................................................................................... 49 3.5 Tuhoe.................................................................................................................................. 57 3.6 Conclusion.......................................................................................................................... 77 4. Ohiwa Harbour in the Contact Period............................................................................... 81 4.1 The Arrival of Pakeha......................................................................................................... 81 4.2 Missionaries........................................................................................................................ 83 4.3 Traders and Trade .............................................................................................................. 90 4.4 The arrival of the Treaty of Waitangi and the imposition of British law.......................... 103 4.5 Resistance, Pai Marire, and the killing of Völkner ........................................................... 110 4.6 Conclusion........................................................................................................................ 124 5. Military Control and Confiscation................................................................................... 127 5.1 The Proclamation of Peace and the assault on the eastern Bay of Plenty......................... 127 5.2 Raupatu............................................................................................................................. 141 5.3 Resistence and Cooperation: Tamaikoha, Rakuraku and Te Kooti.................................. 149 [v] 5.4 Conclusion........................................................................................................................ 169 6. The Compensation Court and the partial return of lands.............................................. 173 6.1 The Compensation Court and Wilson’s Out-of-Court ‘Arrangements’ .......................... 173 6.2 Claims to Ohiwa heard by the Compensation Court ....................................................... 183 6.3 Discussion of the Compensation Court............................................................................ 192 6.4 Other lands in the Ohiwa area.......................................................................................... 197 7. Ohiwa Harbour in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries..................................... 207 7.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 207 7.2 Accounts of Maori Population and Utilisation of the Harbour ....................................... 207 7.3 Trade, Shipping and Transport ........................................................................................ 214 7.4 Ohiwa Township .............................................................................................................. 219 7.5 Other settlements and schools at Ohiwa .......................................................................... 221 7.6 Wharves and Reclamations .............................................................................................. 223 7.7 Farming, Aquaculture and Residential Development ...................................................... 227 7.8 Pollution and other environmental impacts..................................................................... 234 7.9 The Present situation........................................................................................................ 246 8. Regulating the Harbour: the administration of Ohiwa .................................................. 249 8.1 Overview........................................................................................................................... 249 8.2 The Management of Harbours ......................................................................................... 251 8.3 The Management of Ohiwa Harbour ............................................................................... 269 8.4 Post-Resource Management Act Administration of the Harbour.................................... 275 8.5 Consultation ..................................................................................................................... 290 8.6 Current Planning for Ohiwa............................................................................................. 296 8.7 The Department of Conservation and the administration of Reserves............................ 301 8.8 The 1999 Occupation at Ohiwa by Te Tatau Pounamu o Mataatua ................................ 315 9. Conclusion......................................................................................................................... 319 Bibliography.......................................................................................................................... 325 Appendix: Direction Commissioning this Report.............................................................. 337 [vi] Figures Figure 1 Location map of Ohiwa Harbour.………………………………………………..2 Figure 2 Urewera Inquiry District…………………………………………………………4 Figure 3 Ohiwa Harbour, Shellfish Beds and Placenames……………………………….67 Figure 4 Tauranga (Waimana) River Valley in Relation to Ohiwa……………………...73 Figure 5 Points of Historical and Cultural Significance at Ohiwa Harbour…………….79 Figure 6 Eastern Bay of Plenty Confiscation Boundary………………………………...144 Figure 7 Portion of Opotiki Claims Map, Confiscation Commission 1927…………...203 Figure 8 Ohiwa Harbour Administrative Boundaries..………………………………...230 Figure 9 Land at Ohiwa Administered by the Department of Conservation………….303 [vii] Abbreviations AD Army Department files, NA AIM Auckland Institute and Museum Library AJHR Appendices to the Journal of the House of Representatives ATL Alexander Turnbull Library BPP British Parliamentary Papers: Colonies of New Zealand (17 vols, Shannon: Irish University Press, 1968-69) CMS Church Missionary Society DNZB The