Maori Land

Introduction:

Inā kei te mohio koe ko wai koe, I anga mai koe I hea, kei te mohio koe, kei te anga atu ki hea. In English, that means ‘If you know who you are and you know where you come from you know where you are going.’ Now you might be wondering, how does that relate to land? Well looking at it from a Māori perspective, land is where you come from and land is precious to the Māori that is why in a mihi or pepeha Māori would say: this is my mountain, this is my river and this is the ocean that I grew up knowing. My inquiry is about ‘The History of Māori land’, more specifically, what are the different ways in which land has shifted from Māori guardianship to non-Māori ownership? So in this report, I am going to share 6 research questions that I have come up with, some with the help of others and I will do my best to try and answer them in my report.

When did land become such a big deal?

About 700 years from now when the Polynesians had developed the Māori culture early European settlers such as Whalers, Missionaries, and especially Traders who were hungry for land. Usually, a Māori chief would allow Europeans to settle on a piece of land so they could have a place to rest after they were outside all day working their butts off. But the Māori chiefs did not expect the Europeans to take full ownership of the land.

What does the treaty of Waitangi say about land?

The treaty of Waitangi was signed by 40 Māori chiefs so the British Crown and the Māori could live in sovereignty, but what the British crown wanted sovereignty what they wanted was to have power over Māori but when they translated sovereignty Māori sovereignty means ‘equalityTwh’ and that is where all the confusion and conflict happened between the British Crown and the Māori chiefs. The treaty of Waitangi and land claims commission, that was under the second article of the Treaty of Waitangi, Māori were guaranteed 'the full, exclusive and undisturbed possession of their lands and estates', and only the Crown could purchase land from them.

How much of Maori land was taken?

When the treaty of Waitangi was signed (6 February 1840) Māori owned over 66 million acres of New Zealand land, but by 1975, 321,236 acres were stolen or confiscated and the other 63,698,764 had been bought but had been underpriced by a lot like 4 acres for 1 pound! Today it would be $1,700 per square meter! Over several decades Māori have been stripped from their land and when the Maori signed the treaty what they didn’t realize was that the land of Aotearoa was going to be flooded by a lot more Europeans.

How many people died at war because of NZ land?

Numbers are not exact but about 560 colonial troops, 250 kupapa (Māori people who fought on the British side), and 2,000 Māori. Also, all of the Māori who fought the crown (the royal domain) lost about 1 million hectares. One of the most obvious reasons for NZ land wars is because Māori had it and the British wanted it. This situation was a big problem, but what made it worse was British migrating New Zealand increased hugely after 1840.

Why was land so precious to the Maori people?

Māori had strong spiritual bonds to the land, or how Māori refers to it ‘Papatuanuku’ meaning ‘The Earth Mother’. The Tangata Whenua or (local Māori people) think of the land, soil, and water as taonga (treasure), because land, soil, and water is the foundation of the ecosystem. Māori see themselves as the kaitiaki (guardians) of Papatuanuku; it gives them a source of unity and identity for the Tangata Whenua. The land also provides food and materials such as fruit, vegetables, and timber. Some materials that were used back hundreds of years ago can still be useful today, such as harakeke or flax.

How is Māori fighting back today?

After all the trouble that The British Government had caused back in the 1800s and 1900s, land confiscations are still happening today, for example, what is happening up in Ihumatao. The people of Ihumatao aims and protest for the New Zealand Government to stop new houses being built on their land therefore people from around New Zealand and around the world have been supporting them to save Ihumatao. Another example is the Bastion Point. In 1976 the government proposed to sell parts of the land to them so they could reserve it for luxury housing. It was on ancestral land that Ngāti Whātua (one of the tribes of Bastion Point) hopped to get back. So the Tangata Whenua started protesting. But the protectors ended when the government sent in the police force to clear the protesters and destroy their makeshift homes. These terrible tragedies have happened all around New Zealand.

Have you or your family/ancestors had any experience with land confiscations?

For my expert question, the expert that I asked was my father. My dad used to go on about how his mother getting her land taken off her and her whanau. My nana and all her whanau owned and lived on Moturoa Island in the Bay of Islands where everything was self-sufficient with fruit trees, fishing, kai Moana, vegetable gardens, and a few cattle. In 1882 the GOVT introduced the Native Land Rating Act meaning the GOVT introduced rates (in dollars) on Maori land where the Maori landowners had to pay and if not paid by a certain time, that land was confiscated. My nanas parents and their parents were unsure how to pay as money did not mean anything to them as they lived off the land. Because money was very foreign to them, they had no lawyers, etc to understand why the GOVT made this law. At the beginning of the 1930s, my whanau were forced to leave the island because they had not paid their rates over many years and moved to a place called Rawhiti. Moturoa Island was occupied by European settlers who now own the land and passed down through their family. My nana’s heart is so hurt even today that the land was confiscated because the GOVT introduced this law. She so longs to go back but can’t because the island that she was once brought up on has been taken away.

Can this problem be solved?

Well there are many possible solutions to this problem but some may change the New Zealand lifestyle. 1 possible way is to give the land back. The pros of giving the land back to the Māori is that they will get there land back and there will not be as much conflict between Māori and Pakeha. The cons of giving Māori back all of their land is: There have been houses and buildings already constructed on the land, another con is as previously mentioned Māori have spiritual bonds to that land and after what has happened they won’t feel the connections to the land again. A second solution is for the government to pay for all of the land that they have stolen, confiscated, and underpaid land. Pros: Maori don’t feel any negative emotions towards the Pakeha, the money that they get could be used to buy the land back that was stolen from them or use it for other things and the english GOVT won’t be carrying that guilt around of their ancestors stealing or underpaying for the land. The cons are: the GOVT might not have the money to give the Māori.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this inquiry has helped me realize the different ways in which Māori land has been stripped from them. A lot of people and tools have helped me get to this stage in my inquiry including my father, teachers, websites, and books. As well as doing my inquiry and completing work I have also learned a lot about my culture, and what happened in the past to my family, and one of the most important thing that I learned was what are the different ways in which land has shifted from Maori guardianship to non-Maori ownership. The obvious way is buying land. But when the Europeans tried to make a deal with the Māori, the Māori would refuse, so the British would bring in new laws so that they could obtain the land and use it for their own purpose. One law that Europeans brought in was a law called ‘Native Land Rating Act’ which is a law that says ‘If you haven’t paid the rates for your land the land would be confiscated,’ and the British knew that Māori didn’t have enough money to pay rates so they confiscated the land.