Our Claim Wai 175

Rangitāne o Wairarapa lodged their claim in 1989 (WAI 175) with the Waitangi Tribunal. In general terms, our claim district runs from Kawakawa (Palliser Bay) in the south to the Manawatu Gorge in the north and from the ridgeline of the Tararua Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east.

Our claim is based on breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi by the Crown since 1840 that have impacted on the social, economic and cultural development of Rangitāne o Wairarapa. In particular, we have stated that:

• The Crown applied sustained economic pressure on Rangitāne o Wairarapa in the 1840s and 1850s to sell their land. This means that the transactions that followed were not ‘willing seller, willing buyer’ arrangements.
• The Crown purchased large tracts of land from Rangitāne o Wairarapa in the period between 1853 and 1860, but it failed to:
  • make adequate reserves for our contemporary and future needs;
  • fulfil its various promises for schools, hospitals, and other benefits; and
  • pay adequate prices for the lands it purchased.
• The Crown continued to purchase the lands of Rangitāne o Wairarapa throughout the 19th century. It used the Native Land Court to individualise tribal titles to land, and then applied pressure to individuals to sell their land interests. By 1900, only 5% of land in Wairarapa remained in Maori ownership.
• Rangitāne o Wairarapa people experienced significant economic and social deprivation in the 20th century as the result of landlessness.
• The Crown failed to actively protect the tribal identity of Rangitāne.

Our claim was heard by the Waitangi Tribunal in 2004, as part of the Wairarapa-ki-Tararua Inquiry. Throughout this inquiry, we worked closely with our whanaunga from Rangitāne o Tamaki-nui-a-Rua.

Many of our people presented evidence to the Waitangi Tribunal about: our tribal identity and whakapapa; our mana whenua and mana moana interests in the Wairarapa; the circumstances surrounding our land loss; the impact of landlessness on our people; and the role of the Crown in suppressing our tribal identity.

Our evidence is available from Te Hamua.

The Waitangi Tribunal completed hearing claims in the Wairarapa-ki-Tararua Inquiry in March 2005. We understand that the Waitangi Tribunal intends to publish its findings early 2009. We look forward to the findings of the Waitangi Tribunal, and the successful negotiation of an appropriate settlement for Rangitāne o Wairarapa.

The next phase in the process is Mandating where Rangitāne o Wairarapa and Rangitāne o Tamaki Nui a Rua will engage in hui around the country to advise our beneficiaries what we have done and what we intend to do to settle your claim. We will be seeking your mandate again to continue with negotiations on your behalf. Once this is completed then we will await the Crown’s recognition of our mandate and if accepted, we will enter into negotiations with the Crown.

We will update this process as we progress through each step.