Story sees the light of day

One hundred and seventy-four years is a long time to wait.

But that’s how long the northern South Island Kurahaupo¯ tribes waited for the resolution of their settlements, first made with the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840.

In 2014, the Kurahaupo¯ Ki Te Waipounamu Trust finally reached a settlement with the Crown in what would be a landmark occasion representing the hard work and toil of a small group of people, over many generations, dedicated to setting the record straight.

Not an easy task. And it’s a story waiting to be told.

A new exhibit at the Millennium Public Art Gallery called ‘Remembering the Kurahaupo¯ Settlement: Nga¯ Pakiaka Mo¯ rehu O Te Whenua’ seeks to tell that story from treaty to settlement through the eyes of the people who were there, using photographs, artefacts, letters and the written word. The exhibit takes the viewer on a journey through Marlborough’s Treaty history.

Dr Peter Meihana, who contributed to the Massey University book Treaty on the Ground, said the exhibition was just one part of the post-settlement activity that had been undertaken. Much of that had been collating the remnants of the past before they were lost forever.

‘‘I look at this valley and basically, it’s a classroom,’’ Meihana said about the Wairau. ‘‘Now for us, the exhibition is a chance to retell and to explain to our community where we fit on the landscape. You know, because all of these landmarks around here tell a story. And so, we want to be able to tell the people of Marlborough that these stories belong to all of us.’’

The Kurahaupo¯ Treaty settlement included an apology, cultural redress, and a financial package. However, the settlement meant far more than that. For the team who fronted the negotiations, the Kurahaupo¯ settlement was a demonstration of their, and their community’s, ability to achieve a settlement.

‘‘There are people in Marlborough that still carry the names for those people who took the claim back in the 19th century,’’ Meihana said. ‘‘And part of this exhibition is also about recognising, not just those warriors from the 19th century, it’s also about those people who worked really, really hard to get that settlement. And so, some of them had passed away. So, we want to remember those warriors too, not just the warriors from the 19th century but the warriors from the 21st century.’’

In 2014, the tribes of the northern South Island travelled to Wellington for the third reading of the Te Tauihu Settlement Bill. The third reading was a significant moment for the Kurahaupo¯ tribes.

Due to their ‘landless’ status during A woman has been reunited with a family heirloom watch that once belonged to a Catholic nun.

Jane Macdonald, who lives in Picton, was a victim in a spate of burglaries that took place across the top of the South at the start of the year.

Christopher Payne, 38, was arrested last month and charged in connection with 19 burglaries in which he’s accused of stealing more than $200,000 worth of jewellery and property.

The police investigation is now focused on reuniting the stolen property with its owners.

Macdonald was burgled on March 29.

‘‘I had some of my own jewellery, inherited jewellery, and family jewellery, and among it was some of mother’s jewellery,’’ she said.

A watch belonging to Sister Mary Genevieve, Macdonald’s mother’s cousin, was included in the missing items, but Macdonald hadn’t initially realised it was gone.

It was only after she read about the mystery ‘‘Sister Mary Genevieve’’ watch in the Nelson Mail appealing for information, that she’d put two-andtwo together. ‘‘I thought, ‘there’s only one Sister Mary Genevieve and she was my mother’s cousin’,’’ she said.

On closer inspection she recognised the silver engraved family heirloom.

‘‘I went ‘oh bingo, that watch was in my drawer’.’’

When Sister Mary Genevieve had died, the watch was left to Macdonald’s mother, who has also since died.