Kauma¯tua return decades after settlement razed
Tribal members were evicted and their pa¯ burnt to the ground. But now, Nga¯ti Wha¯tua is rebuilding its village to welcome back its elders. By Torika Tokalau.
DECADES after the Crown razed because the Crown considered it aNga¯ti Wha¯tua settlement and an eyesore and potential disease evicted its occupants, more centre. Her family was part of the kauma¯tua are set to return. group evicted to Kitemoana St.
Tears flowed as the sun rose The wailing from the wa¯hine over the site in Auckland’s ra¯kei haunts her to this day. this week, during a special ‘‘My grandmother was still karakia held on Atareta St. It alive, and her sister. Theywere marked the start of development kauma¯tua at that time,’’ Taylor for 10 new whare for kauma¯tua. said. ‘‘I remember their sad
In 1951, the Crown took wailing ... it was the whenua possession of the last remaining (land). My grandmother didn’t papaka¯inga, homes built on last long after that, nor her sister. ancestral land, nearby at kahu They were hurting ... we still Bay, and razed the settlement a carry that hurt with us, we year later ahead of a visit by remember.’’ Queen Elizabeth. Inhabitants Taylor lives in one of the were forced out into small state already-built homes on the new pa¯ houses, and their extended family site at Atareta St and is looking lifestyle was broken when some forward to the return of others. wha¯nau were forced to leave what ‘‘There are some kauma¯tua that remained of their tribal land. don’t live here, and so many want
The kahu settlement has to return home.’’ ¯O never been rebuilt but the Atareta Lisa Talbolt, 71, is one of the site in ra¯kei, 2-kilometres kahu, hapu¯ elders who ¯hopesO to live in is being seen as a rising from the the new homes. She lives in one of ashes of sorts – the new the old state¯homesatObuilt ra¯kei papaka¯inga attracting a cohort of but longs to be able to move into and Auckland City Council managing the development. kauma¯tua, or elders, who long to one of the new homes closer to her gradually sold all the tribe’s land, Spokeswoman Anahera Rawiri return home. 90-year-¯theOoldmum.‘‘It’sbeenalongexcept kahu village and said the papaka¯inga marked a
A few hours after the dawn time coming. It’s about rebuilding marae. The Crown made many time of restoration for the pain karakia, another gathering took and it’s going to keep going.’’ attempts to remove Nga¯ti Wha¯tua the iwi had carried over the place at the Atareta St site, this ¯ofOIn1840,Nga¯tiWha¯tuachiefbecauseitwantedtodevelopitdestruction kahu. time for the sod-turning. A waiata Apihai Te Kawau signed the into a park, which it is today. The The new houses will be added marked the occasion. Treaty of Waitangi and gifted land council used the Queen’s visit in to the nine already on the site,
For 80-year-old Mihiata Taylor, to the Crown to help establish 1952 to destroy the settlement. The close to the marae rebuilt at the event was a sad reminder¯aboveOofAuckland.Hetriedtoenshrinepeoplewereevictedandonlythera¯kei, kahu. the past, but gave her hope for the Takaparawha, now known as cemetery and the chapel remain. Rawiri said generations of future. She was 9 when¯¯andOtuaOtheBastionPoint,kahuasnon-Nga¯tiWha¯ ra¯kei’s comfamilies have never come back to papaka¯inga was burnt down transferable, but the government mercial arm, Whai Rawa, is the marae because of the trauma over the evictions and fire. ‘‘We’re in a position ourselves to provide dry, warm housing to our people and bring them back,’’ Rawiri said.
‘‘No one dictates to uswhat should be on our own land ... This is on our own terms, for our people, and we know who the end users are going to be.’’
The design of the wharewas gifted to the developers by the kauma¯tua.