Why the stoush in Te Urewera is about more than just huts
The decision by Tu¯ hoe’s leadership to knock down and burn many of the old Department of Conservation huts used by hunters and trampers in Te Urewera has been challenged and blocked by iwi members. The leadership wants to erect purpose-built huts, but opponents say the wider value of the huts is being overlooked.
Deep in Te Urewera sit 19 huts tagged for demolition. They are to be replaced with buildings designed to represent a new era in the ancient forest.
Twenty-nine others have already been dismantled and burned, but a court injunction has stopped the rest of the work.
Many of the huts tell decades of stories of hunters, trampers and of Tu¯hoe, for whom Te Urewera is their homeland.
Not all of the stories are happy ones for Tu¯ hoe, including this latest episode.
“There has been a lot of historical trauma for the wha¯nau Tu¯hoe within the Te Urewera ranges,” says John Boynton, reporter for The Hui, Newshub’s Ma¯ori affairs show.
He feels lucky to have the whakapapa connection. He has many fond memories of holidays at his grandmother’s house in the Matahi valley and wha¯ nau trips to Te Pakau Eight Acre, a camping and picnic spot where they cooked pipi over a fire.
He has also reported on ongoing tensions within the iwi over Tu¯hoe’s leadership and the actions of its operating arm Te Uru Taumatua — its perceived lack of transparency and decision-making without consultation. Boynton says the huts row is an extension of that.
“The huts have been a way for wha¯ nau to connect with Te Urewera.
“They might be DOC buildings, but I think the community and Tu¯hoe have given them life. It’s been their way to hunt and have that relationship with the ngahere [forest].
“But you also have to look at what Te Uru Taumatua is trying to do, in creating a new whakapapa and a new relationship for wha¯nau and for the wider community in Aotearoa to have in Te Urewera,” says Boynton.
Te Uru Taumatua plans to replace the huts with purposebuilt structures for the use of locals and manuhiri [visitors]. It is part of its vision for Tu¯ hoe to reconnect with the land.
Te Uru Taumatua chairman
Tamati Kruger told RNZ recently that it was not tenable to continue to run shelters and huts that become memorials to what happened in the 1950s and 1960s.
“We should be more excited with what follows decommissioning, which is a brand new place, a cultural experience closer to Te Urewera with brand new facilities,” Kruger said.
On its website, DOC says the huts’ removal is part of the Te Urewera Board’s efforts to better connect Tu¯hoe people to Te Urewera, which is a principal purpose of the Te Urewera Act and it supports Nga¯ i Tu¯ hoe in its vision for Te Urewera.
Tu¯hoe’s website explains that one of the purposes of the Act is to provide for Te Urewera as a place for public use and enjoyment, for recreation,
learning and spiritual reflection, and as an inspiration for all.
But Te Uru Taumatua has been criticised for deciding behind closed doors to remove the huts, and for failing to consult with users.
Tu¯hoe member Wharenui Clyde went to the High Court to stop the programme, saying he was concerned about the loss of access to Te Urewera for his wha¯ nau “to use the huts as a base for food gathering, recreational and cultural purposes”.
He said authorities had not taken into account the culture and heritage of the huts and failed to consult on their plan. On November 9, Justice Woolford granted the interim injunction saying there needed to be a hearing on the issues and ordered demolition to stop.
“It’s been a flashpoint for something that has been simmering and something that is deeper,” says Jamie Tahana, RNZ’S Ma¯ori news director, pointing to the fact that among the protests against the demolition were hapu¯ members as well as trampers, hunters and conservationists.
Tahana explains some of the history of Te Urewera, how the land was taken from Tu¯hoe over many decades then turned into a national park in 1954, then disestablished in 2014 and given status as a legal entity under the Treaty of Waitangi settlement with Tu¯hoe.
Te Urewera is spoken for and governed by a board made up of Tu¯ hoe and Crown representatives. Care for Te Urewera, including the tracks and facilities, is done by Te Uru Taumatua, Nga¯i Tu¯hoe’s operational entity.
Boynton says some of his wha¯nau work for Te Uru Taumatua and are proud of its vision of self governance and self determination.
“Then you have wha¯nau who feel like they’re not being heard, they’re being left out. You’ve got different hapu¯ who’ve pulled away from Te Uru Taumatua, so I see it from both sides,” he says.
“If these huts are a way to draw more wha¯ nau home and to help my generation who have moved out of Te Urewera to find that connection back to their wha¯ nau I think that could be really beneficial.”