Seeking a just and right way forward
Mana Whenua Ko te whenua hei whakamana i te tangata Waitara is a place I call home, my turangawaewae. It’s a special place where I have enjoyed the fruits of being raised in a loving family surrounded by my close-knit community alongside my hapu¯ and papakainga – Manukorihi (Owae Marae). I am now in a position to be able to raise my two daughters in the family homestead in Waitara and be part of an amazing community filled with faith, hope and commitment.
On October 1 there was a move in the spirit regarding the korero pertaining to the New Plymouth District Council (Waitara Lands) Bill, a local member’s bill set up primarily to allow the leaseholders of Waitara to purchase their lease to allow the land to be freehold.
This is despite the fact that back in 1859, Wiremu Kingi Te Rangitaake, principal Rangatira of Waitara, objected to the original ‘sale’ of the land by Te Teira Manuka to the Crown. This land is known as the Pekapeka block – confiscated land on the south side of the Waitara River.
Te Rangitaake sought support from Church Missionary Society member Octavius Hadfield, as well as initiating peaceful resistance, but this was not enough to stop this unjust and unfair process of land grabbing.
By early 1860, on March 16, the first shots were fired at Te Kohia Pa near Waitara. The pa was later invaded and burnt to the ground by 400 soldiers of the 65th Regiment. Prior to the first shots being fired, Te Rangitaake ensured all the women and children were evacuated.
He expressed his concern for the need of the land to be set aside for the widows and orphans as opposed to being sold according to Te Teira’s individual desires and wishes. If there is any hint of honouring Te Rangitaake’s words in this respect for 2018, surely it would be to address the need for warm, affordable housing for all children and parents in Waitara.
To this date the issue of the confiscated land, injustice, trauma, and sickness, remains unresolved and continues to marginalise the people concerned. The pattern repeats itself in the form of different government mechanisms attempting to resolve the injustice by way of selling off confiscated land into private ownership.
One of Aotearoa’s leading authorities on indigenous Ma¯ ori theology – Pa Henare Arekatera Tate - confirms in his 2010 thesis that, as Ma¯ ori people, we are interconnected between three key aspects: atua, whenua and tangata. Ko te whenua hei whakamana i te tangata, we look to the relationship between the land and the people. So the thought of selling confiscated land means a break in this sense of ‘belonging’ and ‘connectedness’ for the mana whenua of Waitara Manukorihi and Otaraua hapu¯ .
More than 150 years on, at the end of the day one wonders if it is God’s plan and purpose for Waitara to see true repentance from the Crown for the original sin; restitution to descendants of Te Rangitaake; reconciliation of all those that have been affected by this injustice; and is there a reflection of restoration of mana whenua – had the confiscation of land never happened? What does or would this look like?
Mana whenua will need to exercise bravery and wisdom over the coming weeks in deciding to accept, amend or decline the proposed Bill.
Will this be the year of change and breakthrough? Does the proposed bill offer us all a way forward to heal and transform as a community? Will this be reflected in the National Land Wars commemorations, hosted here in Taranaki in 2019?
Taking the lead from Pa Tate, the gospel messages and principles are evident within the adversity and injustice of land confiscations.
The gospel can be applied across all cultures as well to offer us hope.
Waitara has seen a groundswell of God’s people rising up to commit this injustice to prayer. Intercessors, prayer warriors, and national conferences where prophecies have been declared, have been in Waitara for many years. Be encouraged to stand as servants of reconciliation and stewards of creation in honour of the goodwill and grace Te Rangitaake offered during this time of betrayal, anger and bloodshed. Te Rangitaake sought what was just and right.
Deuteronomy 6:18 ‘‘You shall do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, that it may be well with you and that you may go in and possess the good land which the LORD swore to give your fathers’’.
Will this be the year of change and breakthrough?