The history of Ngāti Tama’s interaction with the Crown has been detailed in the Waitangi Tribunal’s Taranaki Report published in 1996. An account of the historical background agreed between the Crown and Ngāti Tama plus the Crown’s acknowledgements of breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi and a Crown apology for those breaches are included in the Deed of Settlement.

Ngāti Tama’s claims relate in general terms to breaches by the Crown of its obligations under the Treaty of Waitangi and in particular the wars in Taranaki which resulted in loss of life, the confiscation of land and other land dealings.

Negotiations on a settlement package with Ngāti Tama began in April 1998. The Deed of Settlement was agreed between the Crown and Ngāti Tama’s negotiators on 5 November, 2001 and was then subject to ratification by the members of Ngāti Tama. Ratification was achieved and the deed is now subject only to the establishment of a suitable governance entity to receive and manage the settlement, and the passage of the settlement legislation.

Ngāti Tama was represented in negotiations by the Claims Progression Team led by Mr Greg White. The Office of Treaty Settlements with the support of Treasury, Ministry of Fisheries and the Department of Conservation, represented the Crown in day to day negotiations. The Minister in Charge of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, Hon Margaret Wilson, represented the Crown in high-level negotiations with Ngāti Tama.

From the late 1840s, as pressure mounted to accommodate settlers on land, opposition from Taranaki Māori to sales north and south of New Plymouth became more evident. Despite this, the Crown continued to attempt to purchase land. Resistance to the survey of the Pekepeka block at Waitara in 1860 by opponents of the sale was deemed an act of rebellion by the Crown and the Crown commenced hostilities in the province. During the course of these campaigns, which continued in North Taranaki until 1865, the Crown established military redoubts on Ngāti Tama waahi tapu at Pukearuhe Pa and Waiiti.

In 1865 the Crown declared three confiscation districts in Taranaki under the New Zealand Settlements Act of 1863. Despite the fact that the fighting had not extended into the rohe of Ngāti Tama 74,000 acres (29,970 hectares) was taken from the southern portion of their ancestral lands. Confiscations were indiscriminate with land being taken from “rebels” and “loyals” alike.

The compensation process for confiscated land provided for in the confiscation legislation was inadequate and ignored customary forms of land tenure. None of the compensation awards had been implemented by 1880 and the Crown appointed the West Coast Commissions in the 1880s to remedy this situation and to fulfil Crown promises.

Ngāti Tama people supported the acts of passive resistance organised by prophets Te Whiti and Tohu in response to the confiscations and lack of reserves. In 1881 the Crown invaded Parihaka, in central Taranaki, with armed Crown troops numbering more than 1,500. Some 1,600 men, women and children were expelled from the settlement, crops were burned and homes destroyed.

Ngāti Tama suffered further in 1882 when the Native Land Court ruled that Ngāti Tama did not retain an interest in two large blocks of land north of the confiscation line. This ancestral land was lost to Ngāti Tama.

The West Coast Commissions finalised the return of limited land to iwi in Taranaki in the mid-1880s. The amount of land awarded to Ngāti Tama was small, of poor quality and insufficient for their needs. The land returned was done so under individual title and placed under the control of the Public Trustee. Much was farmed by settlers under perpetually renewable leases. Title amalgamation in 1963 meant owners no longer had specific interests in customary land but a proportional interest in reserves throughout Taranaki. By 1974, because of the ability of the Public and Māori Trustees to alienate certain types of land, over 60% of reserved Taranaki land originally vested in the Public Trustee had been sold and a further 26% was under perpetual lease.

The subsequent investigation of the confiscations by the Sim Commission of 1926-27 was limited and did not fully investigate the return of land, wahi tapu and other taonga. The Commission recommended an annuity of £5,000 to compensate all Taranaki iwi for the confiscations and a single payment of £300 for the loss of property at Parihaka. These recommendations were not discussed with the iwi concerned by the government of the day and were never accepted by the iwi as adequate. The sums due in the early 1930s were not fully paid.

The compensation was enshrined in the Taranaki Māori Claims Settlement Act 1944 which states that Māori had agreed to accept the sums as full settlement of claims relating to the confiscations and Parihaka. There is no evidence Ngāti Tama or other iwi agreed to this and the settlement sums, as with the rents on reserved lands, were not protected from the effects of inflation. As a result of various Crown actions and decisions of the Courts, Ngāti Tama were left with very little land and none in tribal ownership.

Recognition of Ngāti Tama's traditional, historical, cultural and spiritual associations with places and sites owned by the Crown within thier area of interest. This allows Ngāti Tama and the Crown to protect and enhance the conservation values associated with these areas and sites and includes:

Statutory acknowledgements

These register the special association Ngāti Tama has with an area and will be included in the settlement legislation. Statutory Acknowledgements are recognised under the Resource Management Act 1991 and the Historic Places Act 1993.

The acknowledegments also require that consent authorities provide Ngāti Tama with summaries of all resource consent applications that may affect the areas named in the acknowledgements.

There are to be twelve such acknowledgements:

• Part of the Mimi-Pukearuhe Coast Marginal Strip, part of Mt Messenger Conservation Area, Moki Conservation Area, the Pou Tehia Historic Reserve, Tongaporutu Conservation Area, Mohakatino Swamp Conservation Area, Mohakatino River (no 1) Marginal Strip, Mohakatino Coastal Marginal Strip, the Mohakatino River (no 2) Marginal Strip, the Coastal Marine Area adjoining the Ngati Tama area of interest, the Mohakatino River and the Tongaporutu River.

Deeds of recognition

Deeds of Recognition oblige the Crown to consult Ngāti Tama and have regard for its views regarding Ngāti Tama’s special association with a site and specifies the nature of Ngāti Tama’s input into management of those areas by the Department of Conservation and the Commissioner of Crown Lands.

There will be eight Deeds of Recognition covering:

• Part of the Mimi-Pukearuhe Coast Marginal Strip, part of Mt Messenger Conservation Area, Moki Conservation Area, the Pou Tehia Historic Reserve, Tongaporutu Conservation Area, Mohakatino Swamp Conservation Area, the Mohakatino River, the Tongaporutu River.

Protocols with government departments and third parties

The Deed of Settlement provides for the establishment of protocols to develop good working relationships between Ngati Tama and the Ministry of Fisheries, the Ministry of Economic Development, the Department of Conservation and the Ministry of Culture and Heritage on cultural matters of importance to Ngāti Tama. A protocol will also be established between Ngāti Tama and Land Information New Zealand regarding the process for the disposal of paper roads.

The Crown has also agreed to encourage the development of memoranda of understanding between Ngāti Tama and the Taranaki Regional Council, the New Plymouth District Council, the Taranaki/Wanganui Conservation Board, Taranaki Fish and Game Council, Landcare Research and the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research.

The Ministry for the Environment will also have a role in monitoring local government and the application of the Resource Management Act in Ngāti Tama’s area of interest.

Place names

In future, the New Zealand Geographic Board will notify Ngāti Tama of any naming proposals in their area of interest.

Sites transferred to Ngāti Tama

Five areas of Crown-owned land of special significance to Ngāti Tama will be returned to the iwi. A variety of arrangements are being entered into to ensure ongoing protection of values associated with these areas.

These sites are:

• the Pukearuhe site (4 .3 hectares)
• part of the Tongaporutu Conservation Area (6 ha)
• the Uruti Conservation Area (2 5 2 .9 hectares)
• the Mt Messenger Scenic Reserve and part of the Mt Messenger Conservation Area (2 9 5 hectares)
• part of the Whitecliffs Conservation Area (1 3 0 8 hectares). This land was originally confiscated from Ngāti Tama under the New Zealand Settlements Act of 1863.

The total area covered by these transfers is more than 1870 hectares. With the exception of the Pukearuhe site near Ngāti Tama’s main marae and the Tongaporutu site, the transfers are subject to the preservation of conservation values and public access.

Joint Advisory Committee

Ngāti Tama will have three of six members on a Joint Advisory Committee that will provide advice to the Minister of Conservation about the preservation of conservation values and the annual work programme for that part of the Whitecliffs Conservation Area remaining in Crown ownership. It will also approve conservation management plans for any marine reserve in the waters adjoining Ngāti Tama’s area of interest.

The Joint Advisory Committee will also provide advice to Ngāti Tama on conservation matters affecting the Whitecliffs, Uruti and Mt Messengers sites transferred to Ngāti Tama.

Two of the other three members of the Joint Advisory Committee will come from the Department of Conservation and the third will be a nominee of Taranaki/Wanganui Conservation Board.

Administering the Umukaha Point Recreation Reserve

The Crown has offered Ngāti Tama the opportunity to administer – with technical assistance provided by the Department of Conservation – the Umukaha Point Recreation Reserve. 

Recognition of Ngāti Tama's customary and other interests in relation to fisheries and their management including:

Customary fisheries

Ngāti Tama will be appointed as Advisory Committees to the Minister of Fisheries and the Minister of Conservation. These Committees will provide advice on the management of fisheries in the Ngāti Tama area of interest, including the customary interest of Ngāti Tama in those fisheries and taonga species in those fisheries.

Other provisions include:

• The Ministry of Fisheries will consult with Ngāti Tama and safeguard Ngāti Tama’s existing customary fishing rights if the numbers of specified customary or taonga species (Waikoura, Pupu/Cats Eyes, Kakahi/Freshwater mussels, Kotoretore/Sea Anenome, Karengo/Sea Lettuce, Kina) rise to levels that make a commercial catch possible.
• A Right of First Refusal to buy a proportion of surplus Crown quota for surf clams and kina in the quota management area covering Ngāti Tama’s area of interest if these species become part of the quota management system.
• De-commercialisation of fishing for Waikoura (freshwater crayfish).
• Should tendering for coastal space for marine farming occur, Ngāti Tama will have the preferential right to buy, at the tender price, authorisations to apply for up to 10% of the allocated space. Ngāti Tama retains the right to participate in other tenders for coastal space authorisations.
• A commitment from the Crown to consider a proposal from Ngāti Tama to extend the prohibition on commercial fishermen using trawl nets and set nets to certain parts of Ngāti Tama’s area of interest.
• Provision for the taking of undersized tuna (eel) as part of stocking or re-stocking of waterways and aquaculture projects.
• Protection of Ngāti Tama’s customary non-commercial interest in paua should this species become commercially viable in the Ngāti Tama area of interest.

This redress recognises the economic loss suffered by Ngāti Tama arising from breaches by the Crown of its Treaty obligations. It is aimed at providing Ngati Tama with resources to assist it to develop its economic and social well being.

It includes:

1. A total of $ 14 .5 million in cash.
2. Right of First Refusal – Ngāti Tama will also have, for a period of 50 years, a Right of First Refusal to buy, at full market value, properties in the Ngāti Tama area of interest currently owned by the Crown should they be declared surplus.
3. As well, the Crown has offered Ngāti Tama the Right of First Refusal to purchase the land within the Tongaporutu Recreation Reserve should the reserve status of that land ever be lifted and the land be declared surplus Crown land. Public consultation would be required to lift the reserve status of the area.

There is no specific redress proposed in the Deed of Settlement relating to the confiscation of Mount Taranaki. This matter will be addressed at a later date in the settlement process in Taranaki when all the iwi of Taranaki are in a position to negotiate on this issue.

There will be no additional financial or commercial redress in relation to the mountain. Any cultural redress and apology agreed with Ngāti Tama will recognise the traditional, cultural, historical and spiritual significance of Mount Taranaki to all iwi of Taranaki.