Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Minister Christopher Finlayson. Photo supplied

• Howick and Pakuranga Times

DEVELOPING governance arrangements for south-east Auckland land earmarked to be returned to Maori is under way now that the Government has signed an agreement in principle with Ngai Tai ki Tamaki iwi.

The agreement, signed late last year, sets out historical, cultural, financial and commercial redress to settle Ngai Tai’s historical Treaty of Waitangi claims.

Loss of land, including surplus blocks from old claims such as the Fairburn Purchase, left the tribe virtually landless from the 1880s.

Today Ngai Tai retain less than one per cent of their original holdings.

Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Minister Christopher Finlayson says the agreement “will help right the wrongs of the past and restore the Treaty relationship between Ngai Tai ki Tamaki and the Crown”.

Ngai Tai ki Tamaki Tribal Trust formally submitted a deed of mandate to the Crown in December 2009, after an earlier Treaty Minister, Sir Douglas Graham, presented a settlement proposal to all iwi/hapu in Tamaki Makaurau (Auckland), Kaipara and Hauraki-Coromandel.

The trust was formally recognised last February as having the mandate to negotiate a deed of settlement with the Crown.

In the agreement in principle, a number of areas have been earmarked for cultural redress, recognising the traditional, cultural and spiritual associations Ngai Tai have with places and sites within their rohe (area of interest).

Conservation scenic reserve areas at Clevedon (13.76 hectares), the 0.7 hectare landing reserve on the Wairoa River Clevedon, the 15.7 hectare wetland management reserve on Waikopua Creek Whitford, a 0.5 hectare conservation area in Whitford and the 62 hectare Tai Rawhiti (Sharpes Bush) Scenic Reserve in Clevedon will be vested by the Crown for cultural redress.

Ngai Tai ki Tamaki will receive $11.5 million, plus interest from the signing date, in financial redress over several sites of significance, including the 41.42 hectares of Crown-owned parts of Musick Point/Te Naupata at Bucklands Beach.

Crown land at Musick Point is presently administered by Land Information New Zealand (LINZ), pending the outcome of the Waitangi Tribunal claims.

It is leased by Telecom and the Howick Golf Club, while some Crown rental properties remain on the land.

The south-east point was developed as a golf course in the 1950s and a new clubhouse was built in the mid-1970s.

The headland’s significance has been recognised by being registered with the Historic Places Trust.

It was considered to be a stopping point for the Tainui canoe as it accessed the Tamaki portage between the Waitemata and Manukau harbours.

It’s also a waihi tapu of special significance to Ngai Tai and burial sites are on the headland.

It was acquired by the Crown following an investigation into land dealings by the early missionary William Fairburn and was used for grazing as late as the 1950s.

Old land claims and the Fairburn Purchase will make up part of the historical account of Ngai Tai’s deed of settlement with the Crown.

Other sites in the agreement are on Hauraki Gulf Islands, including Motukaraka (Flat) Island, Motutapu, Motuihe and Rangitoto Islands, the 4.5 hectare Turanga Creek stewardship area in Whitford, the 57.22 hectare Wairoa River Gorge scenic reserve in Clevedon, and the large Mataitai, Whakatiri and Landels Bush-Papa Turoa scenic reserves in Ness Valley, Clevedon.

The iwi will also have an option to buy several Crown properties, including New Zealand Defence houses in Papakura.

A deed of settlement will eventually be signed by the Crown and iwi before being implemented through legislation in parliament.