On 25 January 2010, the Crown recognised the mandate of Te Au Maaro o Ngāti Pūkenga Charitable Trust to represent Ngāti Pūkenga in negotiating a comprehensive historical Treaty settlement.

The Crown signed Terms of Negotiation with Ngāti Pūkenga on 25 January 2010. On 27 July 2012, the Crown and Ngāti Pūkenga negotiated a Statement of Position and Intent which formed the basis for this settlement.

On 23 November 2012, Ngāti Pūkenga and the Crown initialled a Deed of Settlement. The deed was then ratified by the people of Ngāti Pūkenga and signed on 7 April 2013. The settlement will be implemented following the passage of settlement legislation.

Te Au Maaro o Ngāti Pūkenga Charitable Trust were represented by Rahera Ohia, Shane Ashby, Te Awanuiarangi Black, Dominic Wilson and Areta Gray in day-to-day negotiations. The Office of Treaty Settlements, with the support of the Department of Conservation, Land Information New Zealand, the Ministry of Primary Industries and other government agencies, represented the Crown in day-to-day negotiations.

The Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, Hon Christopher Finlayson, represented the Crown in high-level negotiations with Ngāti Pūkenga.

Ngāti Pūkenga today is an iwi comprising the descendants of Te Tāwera, Ngāti Ha and Ngāti Pūkenga.

Ngāti Pūkenga are tangata whenua of Tauranga Moana and in 1840 their ahi kāroa in Tauranga Moana had been sustained in accordance with their tikanga over many generations. They were renowned as warriors and priests, and were an iwi who were often called upon to assist other tribal groups with their disputes.

The Ngāti Pūkenga rangatira, Te Kou o Rehua signed Te Tiriti o Waitangi at Maungatapu in April 1840. He expected that the Crown would protect his people’s rights, property, and privileges, and repeatedly spoke of the partnership which he believed flowed from Te Tiriti.

By the mid-1850s, however, Ngāti Pūkenga was concerned at the discriminatory nature and inconsistent application of the law by the Crown. Nevertheless, Ngāti Pūkenga did not send men to fight against the Crown after it invaded the Waikato in 1863, and, as an iwi, did not fight in 1864 when war came to Tauranga Moana after Crown troops attacked Pukehinahina.

In 1865, the Crown issued an order in council to create a confiscation district which was extended by statute in 1868 to include 290,000 acres. It also purchased 93,000 acres of the land ‘returned’ to Māori inside the confiscation district at Katikati Te Puna from another iwi without investigating the ownership of this land. The Crown paid Ngāti Pūkenga compensation of £350 for their interests in the 50,000 acres of the confiscation district which it retained and £150 for their interests in Katikati Te Puna.

The Crown was slow to return the land in the confiscation district it did not otherwise acquire. In 1877, when a commission finally investigated the customary ownership of land in which Ngāti Pūkenga claimed ancestral interests, it did not allow them to present their evidence in an open hearing. Ngāti Pūkenga were only awarded a small block at Ngāpeke on the basis of a tuku aroha by another iwi in addition to the 98 acres reserved for them in the 50,000 acre block the Crown retained. The Crown repeatedly relied on the advice of a single official to reject Ngāti Pūkenga’s numerous protests that this did not reflect their customary interests.

Ngāti Pūkenga lost much of their kāinga matua through the confiscation of their lands at Tauranga Moana and were dispersed between their four small and scattered kāinga as a result. The Native Land Court awarded individual Ngāti Pūkenga interests in a number of blocks at Maketū. The Court also awarded Ngāti Pūkenga land at Pakikaikutu and Manaia which had been gifted by other iwi. However, the individualisation of tribal land tenure imposed by the native land laws made Ngāti Pūkenga lands more susceptible to alienation, partition and fragmentation.

Industrial and agricultural development and urbanisation through the twentieth century has caused significant environmental degradation. The impact on Ngāti Pūkenga has been severe. Valuable sources of kaimoana at Tauranga Moana, Maketu and Manaia have been lost due to the pollution and sedimentation of waterways. Changes to the environment, including the clearing of indigenous vegetation, have led to regular flooding at Manaia which has prevented iwi landowners from effectively cultivating and farming their lands near the coast. Ngāti Pūkenga consider that they have benefitted little from the rapid urbanisation which has occurred in the Tauranga district since 1945. Until recently they were excluded from any involvement in planning or resource management.

Since the raupatu in Tauranga Moana, Ngāti Pūkenga has been dispersed to four dislocated kāinga which have functioned as autonomous entities in their own regions. Ngāti Pūkenga believe they have been inappropriately marginalised in histories about Crown-Māori relations in Tauranga Moana.

Recognition of the traditional, historical, cultural and spiritual associations of Ngāti Pūkenga has with places and sites owned by the Crown within their area of interest. This allows Ngāti Pūkenga and the Crown to protect and enhance the conservation values associated with these sites.

Sites transferred to Ngāti Pūkenga

Four sites will be vested in the post-settlement governance entity:

• Liens Block
• Pae Ki Hauraki
• Otukopiri
• Te Tihi o Hauturu.

Otanewainuku and Puwhenua will be jointly vested with five other iwi. 

Statutory Acknowledgements

A Statutory Acknowledgement recognises the association between Ngāti Pūkenga and a particular site or area and enhances the iwi’s ability to participate in specified resource management processes. The Crown offers a statutory acknowledgement over the following areas:

• Te Tumu to Waihi Estuary
• Hauturu Block
• Pakikaikutu
• Manaia Harbour
• Manaia river.

Cultural Revitalisation

The Crown will pay to the governance entity on the settlement date $500,000 for Ngāti Pūkenga cultural revitalisation, and $180,000 for Marae revitalisation in Manaia.

Relationships

Protocols

The Deed of Settlement will provide for protocols to facilitate good working relationships between Ngāti Pūkenga and the Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage.

Letters of introduction

The Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations will write to:

• Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
• Ministry of Education
• Ministry for the Environment
• Ministry for Primary Industries
• Ministry of Social Development
• Ministry for Culture and Heritage
• Bay of Plenty Tertiary Partnership
• University of Waikato
• University of Auckland
• Massey University
• North Tec
• Te Wananga o Aotearoa
• Te Wananga o Raukawa
• Waiariki Institute of Technology
• Telecom New Zealand Ltd
• Whangārei District Counci
• Northland Regional Council
• Thames Coromandel District Council
• Waikato Regional Council
• Bay of Plenty Polytechnic
• Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi.

This redress recognises the losses suffered by Ngāti Pūkenga arising from breaches by the Crown of its Treaty obligations. The financial and commercial redress is aimed at providing Ngāti Pūkenga with resources to assist them to develop their economic and social well being.

Financial redress

Ngāti Pūkenga will receive financial redress of $5 million plus interest.

Commercial redress

Ngāti Pūkenga will be entitled to purchase, using part of their financial redress, a number of commercial redress properties at a value of $1.88 million.