Topic 1: Ihumātao: The clash of History and Housing
Whatungarongaro te tangata, toitū te whenua
As man disappears from sight, the land remains
The history of the land at Ihumātao and the events currently unfolding regarding its development pose significant and unique challenges for human rights in Aotearoa New Zealand. The land was confiscated in the 1860s by the New Zealand Government and is of major cultural, spiritual and historical significance to mana whenua. As one of the first sites where Māori landed in Aotearoa, it is also of historical significance for all New Zealanders.
The History of Ihumātao
Ōtuataua Stonefields (c. 1300)
Archaeologists still debate how long people have lived in New Zealand. Ongoing East Polynesian settlement probably began about 750 years ago.
The Ōtuataua Stonefields show how these first tropical colonists adapted to their new environment. New Zealand’s shorter growing seasons and colder mean temperatures ruled out many Polynesian staples. The settlers salvaged only a few crops - kūmara, taro, yams and gourds, all plants with short growing seasons and small or tough leaves.
Two centuries ago, Māori were still cultivating 8000 ha of volcanic stonefields around Tāmaki-makau-rau, the Auckland isthmus. Now just 160 ha of the stonefields remain. They largely fell into disuse after the early 19th-century inter-tribal Musket Wars and were swallowed up by urban sprawl. Conservationists had to fight hard even to save Ōtuataua’s 100 ha at Māngere, which was bought by the Manukau City Council with help from DOC, the Lotteries Commision and the Auckland Regional Council. On 10 February 2001, one of New Zealand’s oldest sites became its newest reserve, the Otuataua Stonefields Historic Reserve. Here you can see Polynesian house sites, storage pits, cooking shelters, terraces, mound gardens, garden plots and garden walls as well as some 19th-century European dry-stone farm walls.
The Auckland Housing Crisis
The property bubble in New Zealand is a major national economic and social issue. Since the early 1990s, house prices in New Zealand have risen considerably faster than incomes, putting increasing pressure on public housing providers as fewer households have access to housing on the private market.
The property bubble has produced significant impacts on inequality in New Zealand, which now has one of the highest homelessness rate in the OECD and a record-high waiting list for public housing. Government policies have attempted to address the crisis since 2013, but have produced limited impacts to reduce prices or increase the supply of affordable housing.
Click here to learn more about the Auckland Council's point of view on the Housing Crisis, and their opinion on potential solutions
Click here to learn more about the impact that the Housing Crisis is having on Maori communities across Aotearoa.
Key perspectives within the conflict
In this section will be examining some of the key perspectives on the Social Issue, such as the housing developer Fletcher Building and the protest group SOUL (Save Our Unique Landscape.
Fletcher Building employs over 14,500 people in New Zealand, Australia, and the South Pacific. Their operations span manufacturing, distribution and retail, home building, and major construction and infrastructure projects.
SOUL — Save Our Unique Landscape — was formed to stop nearly 500 homes being built near their village, their ancient burial caves, the Ōtuataua Stonefields Historic Reserve, and their ancestral maunga, Puketāpapatanga-a-Hape and Ōtuataua.
Resources Archive
Term Three Assessment
Assessment: Describe a social action that enables communities and/or nations to meet responsibilities and exercise rights
In this assessment, you will be examining the Social Actions taken by S.O.U.L. (Save our unique landscape) in their efforts to protect Ihaumato from development by Fletcher building - looking at the interaction between Community rights and Government responsibilities.