A Bay of Plenty church is returning land worth an estimated $3 million to mana whenua - and it’s encouraging other Pākehā landowners to reflect on what they can do to “right wrongs”. 

E whakahokia ana e tētahi whare karakia nō Te Waiariki i tētahi wāhanga whenua, e toru miriona tāra hemihemi te wāriu ki te mana whenua - me te aha, e whakatenatena ana tēnei kaupapa i tā ētahi atu Pākehā ki te whakaaro mō ētahi ara hei para mā rātau e “tika ai ngā hē”.

Curate Church in Tauranga this week announced it would give its land and building at 14 Christopher Street in the central city to Ngāi Tamarāwaho hapū.

I whakapaoho a Curate Church ki Tauranga i tēnei wiki i tā rātau whakahoki i te whenua me te whare i 14 Christopher Street i te tāone ki te hapū o Ngāi Tamarāwaho.

The property is currently being used as a hub for various social services run by the congregation. Curate Church’s main building in Mount Maunganui - where its services are run out of - will remain in church hands. 

I tēnei wā nei, e whakamahingia ana te whare hei whare hui mā ētahi ratonga hapori nō te whakaminenga. Kei te takiwā o Mauao te whare hui matua o te whare karakia o Curate, ki konā ka whakahaerehia te nuinga o ā rātau kaupapa, ā, ka mau tonu te mana whakahaere ki te whare karakia.

The Christopher Street site amounts to about a third of the church’s overall property and land assets. 

He kotahi hau toru o ngā rawa me ngā whenua katoa o te whare karakia te nui o te wāhi i Christopher Street. 

Pastor Joel Milgate is encouraging other churches, as well as Pākehā landowners, to consider doing something similar.

E āki ana a Minita Joel Milgate i ētahi atu whare karakia, i ētahi Pākehā hoki ki te whai whakaaro ki te mahi i tētahi mea pēnei.

“I think a lot of church buildings sit upon land that has a history similar to this one,” he told Re:’s Māori youth series Ohinga.

“E whakapae ana ahau he nui ngā whare karakia e tū ana ki runga i ētahi whenua me tētahi hītori e rite ana ki tēnei,” hei tāna ki a Ohinga, te whakaaturanga reo Māori rangatahi a Re:. 

“It’s worth asking … what could we do? There’s all sorts of things we could do: we could give back, we could give back the underlying land and pay a lease to the iwi … even if you don’t own the building and you rent the building you could make a small payment to the right hapū or the right iwi.”

“Mā te aha i te pātai… he aha ētahi mea e taea ana e tātau? He tini ngā mea e taea ana e tātau: he tuku koha, he whakahoki i te whenua ka utu ai i te rīhi ki te iwi… ahakoa pea ehara i a koe te whare, kāore hoki koe e utu i te rēti, mā te aha i te tuku koha ki te haoū tika, ki te iwi tika rānei.”

Joel says members of his congregation are considering returning privately owned land. 

I whakamōhio mai a Joel mō ētahi o ngā mema o tōna whakaminenga e whakaaro ana ki te whakahoki i ētahi whenua taketake.

“Even from us announcing this, people in our church have reached out to me and said: ‘we’ve been thinking about what to do with our family farm’ or ‘we’ve been thinking about what to do with something we own’.”

“Nō te whakapāhotanga o te kaupapa nei, kua tae mai ētahi whānau o te whare karakia ki te kī mai: ‘e whakaaro ana mātau mō te pāmu o te whānau’, ‘e whakaaro ana mātou mō ō mātau rirohanga’ rānei.”

Ngāi Tamarāwaho spokeswoman Hemoata Willison says the return of the whenua is “a beautiful koha”.

Hei tā te māngai o Ngāi Tamarāwaho, a Hemoata Willison, “he koha ātaahua te whakahokinga atu o te whenua ki a rātau.”

“It’s a gift of love, it’s a gift of recognition for the wrongs of the past,” she says.

E ai ki a ia, “he taonga nō te ngākaunui, he tatau pounamu”.

It follows years of Ngāi Tamarāwaho and the wider iwi fighting for the return of stolen land.

E whai ana tēnei i te ia o te pakanga roa a Ngāi Tamarāwaho rātau ko ngā iwi mō te whenua i riro atu.

“It goes back to our tīpuna, we can’t not mention them in this whole space - it was about their journey and how hard they fought for us as a people,” Hemoata Willison says.

“Ka hoki tonu ki ngā wā o ō tātau tīpuna, me mātua kōrero mō rātau i tēnei horopaki - e whai ana tēnei i te ara i takahia e rātau mō tātau, mō te iwi Māori,” - hei tā Hemoata Willison.

“Where you see us now - (there is so little land left) pretty much you can walk down the road and you’re in the water. Land is very sparse for our people.”

“I tō mātau ao nāianei wā - (he itiiti noa iho te whenua e toe mai ana ki a mātau) kāore te moana e tawhiti, ka hīkoi noa atu ki te mutunga o te rori ka mākū ai o wae. Me uaua kē ka kite ō te Māori whenua.

Joel says the church’s decision to return the land began “as an epiphany”. 

E ai ki a Joel, i toko noa ake te whakaaro kia whakahokia e te whare karakia te whenua.

“During the first lockdown in 2020 I was sitting in my bed just having a time of prayer and meditation and I felt like I heard the words that we needed to give away this property to the local iwi,” he says. 

I mea mai ia, “nō tā tātau nohonga taratahinga tuatahi i te tau 2020, i te noho ahau ki tōku moenga, i te noho puku me te aha i rongo ahau i ngā kupu kia whakahokia tēnei whare ki te iwi”.

So began a journey to investigate the history of the whenua.

I konā tīmata ai tā mātau rangahau i te hītori o te whenua.

“We are standing on whenua here that was originally Ngāi Tamarāwaho whenua and it was given as an act of invitation to the (Church) Mission Society in the early 1800s,” Joel says, as he stands in front of the building on Christopher Street. 

E tū ana tātau i te whenua o Ngāi Tamarāwaho, ā, i taurewatia atu ki te Rōpū Hāhi Mihinare hei tohu manaaki i a rātau ii ngā tāu 1800,” e ai ki a Joel i a ia e tū ana i mua i te whare i te Christopher Street. 

“They set aside this land to be stewarded by the (Church) Mission Society. It was only a few decades later and colonisation is in full force and we get to the Land Wars and sadly the Church made a decision at that time that they would partner with the Crown. This land was used as a stronghold for that. After the wars … the church actually gave away the land, rather than giving it back to the mana whenua, they gave it to the Crown.”

“I whakaritea kia riro mā te Rōpū Hāhi Mihinare te whenua e whakahaere. I te tutūnga o te pūehu i ngā pakanga whenua, i whakahoahoa kē te Hāhi ki te Karauna. I whakatūngia he kōwhanga mō te pakanga whenua. Whai muri iho i ngā pakanga, i tukuna e te Hāhi te whenua tēnā i te whakahoki ki te mana whenua, i tukuna kē ki te Karauna.”

In 2018 the Anglican Church of New Zealand gave an apology for confiscating land across Tauranga Moana in the 1800s. More information on that can be found here.

I te tau 2018, i tuku whakapāhā atu te Hāhi Mihinare o Niu Tireni mō tā rātau raupatu i te whenua huri i Tauranga Moana i ngā tau 1800. Whāia tēnei hononga kia kitea ētahi atu anō kōrero mō te kaupapa nei.

Joel says as he learnt more about the history of the land where the Curate Church building sits, he came to realise how important it was to put things right. 

I kī rā a Joel, nō tana whaiwhai i te hītori o te whenua e noho rā Te Whare Karakia o Curate, i rongo ia i te au ki te whakatika i ngā hara.

“It doesn’t make it right but it is a small expression from us as a church to go: we’re sorry, we wish it could have been written another way and let’s be a part of writing it a different way in the future.”

“Ehara i te mea ka tika i tā mātau whakahoki i te whenua, engari he punua whakaaro ēnei nō te whare karakia kia mea ake rā: e kōrehu ana mātau, ko te painga kētanga mehemea i rerekē te āhua o te rere o tō tāua nei waka, heoi anō, e taea ana e tātau te whakarerekē i te ahunga o te waka mō raurangi.” 

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Hemoata Willison says the move is an exemplar to others to follow. 

E ai ki a Hemoata Willison, he huarahi tēnei hei whai mā ētahi atu.

“Hopefully this sparks some sort of light in them,” she says. “We’ve got what we refer to as rednecks out there (in Tauranga) so hopefully there’s better understanding that starts to come across the moana.”

“E manako ana ka whita tētahi ahi ki roto i a rātau,” hei tāna. “He hunga kakī whero ki konei (ki Tauranga), koinā tō mātau karangatanga mō te hunga rā, e wawata ana ka tūwhera ngā whakaaro o tēnā, o tēnā puta noa i te moana.

Joel says the response from the wider community has been largely positive - and he’s hopeful the church’s decision will go someway to healing the community at large. 

I mea mai a Joel, he pai tā te nuinga o te hapori aro ki te kaupapa nei - me te aha, e hōkaka ana ka whai hua te hapori i a te Whare Karakia mahi.

“Tauranga is not only a place that’s struggled with racism, it’s a really divided place,” he says.

“I think a lot of that division stems back to the stories of the Land Wars and I think we need to be able to come together. I feel like sometimes Tauranga is like the city with no soul - so we want to be a part of seeing the soul restored to the place.”

“Ehara i te mea he wāhi a Tauranga e raru noa ana i te kaikiritanga, engari he tauwehetanga nui i waenga i te hapori o te taone nei”, e ai ki a ia. “E whakapae ana ahau he putanga iho tēnei nō ngā pakanga whenua, me te aha, e whakapono ana ahau me whakakotahi mātau e mātau. I ētahi wā ka pēnei au ko Tauranga te taone korou kore - ko tō mātau hiahia kia whai wāhi atu ki te korou oratanga o te wāhi nei.”

Hemoata Willison says while the move by Curate Church is welcome, the fight by the hapū for the return of their ancestral lands continues. 

E ai ki a Hemoata Willison, ahakoa e mihi ana te hapū i ngā mahi a Curate Church, e whawhai tonu ana te hapū i te whawhai roa kia whakahokia te whenua.

“It’s just the beginning, there are other grievances to do with the whenua that we need to sort out.”

“He tīmatanga noa tēnei, he nui ngā whakamauāhara whenua hei whakamahū ake.”

Curate Church plans to formally shift ownership of the land to Ngāi Tamarāwaho next year once all debts are cleared from the site. They will then lease the land from the hapū, before handing over ownership of the building in 2033. 

E whakarite ana a Te Whare Karakia o Curate ki te whakamotuhake i te whakahokinga o te mana whakahaere o te whenua ki a Ngāi Tamarāwaho hei te tau e tū mai nei, hei te utunga o ngā nama katoa.

Ngāi Tamarāwaho is in discussions about future use of the whenua and building. 

E hui ana a Ngāi Tamarāwaho mō ngā mahi ka whāia i te whare rā hei ā raurangi.

This is part of our reo Māori series, Ohinga, created by Mahi Tahi Media, with funding from Te Māngai Pāho and the NZ on Air Public Interest Journalism Fund.

E hāngai ana tēnei ki tā mātau whakaaturanga reo Māori, ki a Ohinga. He mea mahi nā Mahi Tahi, he mea tautoko nā Te Māngai Pāho me te Puna Pūtea ‘Public Interest Journalism’ a Irirangi Te Motu anō hoki.

Stay tuned for a new episode every week.

Hoki mai anō kia kite ai i tētahi hōtaka hou.

 

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