IN THE WAITANGI TRIBUNAL

IN THE MATTER of the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975

AND

IN THE MATTER of claims in relation to the Tauranga Raupatu by:

•       Toko Renata Te Taniwha on behalf of the Hauraki Maori Trust Board (Wai 650 and Wai 100)

•       Walter Taipari on behalf of the Marutuahu (Wai 454)

•       Clive Majurey on behalf of the Marutuahu (Wai 812)

together being Hauraki claims

STATEMENT OF EVIDENCE OF TOKO RENATA TE TANIWHA

Nga Puke ki Hauraki ka tarehua

E mihi ana ki te whenua

E tangi ana ki te tangata

Ko Moehau ki waho

Ko Te Aroha ki uta

Ko Tikapa te moana

Ko Hauraki te whenua

Ko Marutuahu te tangata

Tihei mauri ora

INTRODUCTION

1.        My name is Toko Renata Te Taniwha.

2.        I am a senior kaumatua of Ngati Whanaunga and other hapu and iwi of the Marutuahu Confederation, including Ngati Paoa and Ngati Maru.

3.        On my mother’s side I belong to Ngati Pukenga and Ngati Ranginui.

4.        I am also the Chairman of the Hauraki Maori Trust Board and the representative for Ngati Whanaunga on that Board.

5.        I give my Tainui whakapapa from Hoturoa:

HOTUNUI AND MARUTUAHU

6.       Hotunui was banished from Kawhia by his father in law for being wrongly accused of the hara of taking kumara seedlings. Hotunui found refuge at Whakatiwai on the shore of Tikapa Moana among Te Uri o Pou of Hauraki. Hotunui had left behind his pregnant wife, Mihirawhiti, who bore him a son, Marutuahu.

7.       On his coming of age, Marutuahu left his home to seek his father. Hotunui was living in degrading circumstances as a maker of nets. After discovering the plight of his father, Marutuahu began a campaign of war against Te Uri o Pou. He defeated them. He then settled at Te Puia pa and, along with his sons, eventually gained control of the whole district.

8.       Marutuahu married two sisters, Paremoehau and Hineurunga. Paremoehau bore him three sons, Tamatepo, Tamatera and Whanaunga. Hineurunga bore him two sons, Te Ngako and Taurukapakapa.

9.       These sons were legendary warriors.

10.      Tamatera and Whanaunga formed the two tribes after whom they were named. Te Ngako was the founder of Ngati Maru. Together they, along with Ngati Paoa whose origins are from the union of Tukutuku (granddaughter of Tamatera) and Paoa, formed the Marutuahu Confederation of tribes. The sons established their mana throughout Hauraki by conquest and intermarriage with the earlier peoples of Hauraki.

11.      One of the whakatauki of the Marutuahu Confederation is “Marutuahu kowhao rau” - “Marutuahu of a hundred holes”. This is a reference both to the separate mana of the family of Marutuahu and their strong interdependence. It is also a reference to the many pa and areas that the Marutuahu occupied and shared. Although the tribes of Marutuahu had

family disputes, the unity of the Marutuahu tribes has always been more important than our diversity.

12.      As with the Maori way, the conquest of Hauraki by Marutuahu was achieved by war as well as intermarriage with the original peoples of Hauraki. As a consequence, all of the tribes in Hauraki can whakapapa to Marutuahu. In them, you will see that although there has been war and disagreement among the iwi of Hauraki we are all closely related and our lines intersect the whakapapa of Te Kupenga Nui o Hauraki or the Great Net of Hauraki. This great net spreads from Moehau to Te Aroha and from Matakana to Matakana. At the centre of the net is Marutuahu.

WHANAUNGA

13.      Whanaunga was at Kawhia when his father, Marutuahu died and he then returned to Hauraki. Whanaunga was angered to learn that his father’s second wife and aunty, Hineurunga, had married his brother, Tamatera. My whanauga will elaborate on this part of our history as it forms an influential part of the background to why the rohe of Marutuahu extends in the south to Nga Kuri a Wharei and Matakana.

14.      Whanaunga then broke away from the parent tribe and founded Ngati Whanaunga which occupied northern areas of the Coromandel Peninsula and areas directly opposite Whakatiwai.

15.      Several generations later, the descendents of Whanaunga expanded into Manaia and the territories formerly held by Ngati Huarere. Eventually, Ngati Whanaunga spread across the whole peninsula with strongholds as far south as Whangamata. In Captain Cook’s time, Ngati Whanaunga held much of the land on the eastern side of the Peninsula. The Whanaunga hapu of Ngati Karaua occupied land in the Whitianga district and the Mercury Islands.

ROHE OF MARUTUAHU

16.      The Hauraki rohe of the Marutuahu is bounded by Mahurangi north of Auckland and Nga Kuri a Wharei offshore of Katikati near Matakana Island. The area is recorded in the following pepeha:

Mai Nga Kuri a Wharei ki Mahurangi

From The Dogs of Wharei to Mahurangi.

A similar expression of our rohe is described as ‘Mai Matakana ki Matakana.

17.      Hauraki forms the eastern boundary of the Tainui waka domain which stretches from Mokau on the west coast of the North Island to the Tamaki area. This area is described thus:

Ko Mokau ki runga

Ko Tamaki ki raro

Ko Mangatoatoa ki waenganui

Ko Pare Waikato, ko Pare Hauraki,

Te Kaokaoroa o Patetere.

Mokau above

Tamaki below

Mangatoatoa in the middle

Pare Waikato, Pare Hauraki

The extended armpit of Patetere.

18.      In Tainui, the Coromandel Peninsula is likened to the ama or outrigger of the canoe. Its prow is located at Te Aroha and the stern piece licking the tide at Moehau or Te Whare Kai Atua (Cape Colville).

19.      The Coromandel Peninsula is also referred to as Te Tara o te Ika a Maui (The jagged barb of Maui’s fish). Our tradition likens the North Island to the whai (stingray) whose head (upoko) is at Te Whanganui a Tara (Wellington). The long narrow tail (hiku) ties the northern regions of Te Tai Tokerau (Northland). The inlet of Wellington Harbour and Lake Wairarapa to the east are its eyes (whatu), and Lake Taupo is the navel (pito). Taranaki and Te Tai Rawhiti (East Cape) extremities define the outspread wings (hope), the middle mountain chain, its spine (tuara), and the jagged barb (Te Tara o te Ika) thrusts out into Tikapa Moana and adjoining Pacific

CROWN INJUSTICE

20.      The raupatu actions of the Crown at Katikati-Te Puna are of huge significance for Marutuahu and Pare Hauraki.

21.      The rights of Marutuahu to Katikati-Te Puna were secured by take raupatu, ahi ka and intermarriage over many, many generations. Much blood was spilt on these lands by both my Marutuahu and Tauranga Moana tupuna over the generations of victory and counter victory on each side.

22.      Our traditions show Marutuahu to be a people full of aroha and manakitangi as some of the tribes who have interests in Hauraki know well, for example the tuku whenua tribes in Hauraki of Te Tawera (Ruahine) and Aitanga a Mate (Harataunga). However, we have always reacted to threats to our borders.

23.      Thus, no one can doubt that Marutuahu were in the ascendancy in Katikati-Te Puna in the 1800s. Through to the most tangible show of Marutuahu mana whenua by the taua of Taraia at Ongare in 1842, we maintained our mana whenua to our southern tribal markers at Nga Kuri a Wharei and Matakana. Under the rahui / tapu placed on the entire area by Taraia, nothing changed in the years following Ongare until the Crown’s Raupatu with the Katikati-Te Puna Blocks in 1866.

24.      This raupatu caused huge injustice to us.

25.      First, it undermined and deprived Marutuahu of rights secured over centuries. We were effectively forced from our southern lands by the Crown.

26.      Second, and disastrously for us, it effectively gave land over which we had mana whenua to non-Marutuahu / Hauraki people of Tauranga Moana by allocating our land and taonga to them, via for example reserve allocations. Quite apart from the dispossession of our lands, it has to this day created confusion in the minds of some over the location of the respective southern and northern boundaries of the Marutuahu and Ngai Te Rangi / Mataatua peoples.

NGA KURI A WHAREI

27.      A recent example of this is to be found in the notification by the Hauraki Maori Trust Board in March 2001 to establish, on behalf of Hauraki tangata whenua, 26 rohe moana marine areas (and 13 kaitiaki positions) under the Fisheries (Kaimoana Customary Rights) Regulations 1998 (“Regulations”). These 26 areas collectively cover the tribal role of Marutuahu and Pare Hauraki, ‘mai Matakana ki Matakana’ and associated offshore islands and ocean areas.

28.      The southern boundary of the notification is at and around Nga Kuri a Wharei near Matakana, ie Te Uretara.

29.      In response to the notification, a number of groups opposed the notification, including people of Tauranga Moana and Mataatua. Some of these groups appear to claim mana moana over the southern parts of our notification areas.

30.      Under the Regulations, there is no effective mechanism to ensure that a resolution is achieved between tangata whenua seeking to establish rohe moana and any opponents. Consequently, the Trust Board made contact with all groups in opposition to meet face to face and attempt to resolve the issues.

31.      On 5 September 2001, I, and others of Hauraki attended a hui at Rereatukahia Marae at Katikati with kaumatua of Tauranga Moana and Mataatua Whanui.

32.      At this hui, the issues of Mataatua with our notification were raised. We agree that our respective (Tainui) southern and (Mataatua) northern boundaries are symbolically marked by Nga Kuri a Wharei, with the actual land boundary being in the Katikati area. What we do not agree on is the location of Nga Kuri a Wharei. Of real concern to me was the incredible claims by some who should know better that Nga Kuri a Wharei resides at Tairua, or even at Moehau.

33.      I believe part of this very unfortunate position originates from the acts of the Crown at Katikati-Te Puna. Not only have the Crown taken that which is ours, but it has made the situation worse by putting our Tauranga Moana relations onto our land and created new hara aggravating an often sensitive relationships with them.

34.      Moreover, as a result of this, in the minds of many people today, the rohe of Tauranga Moana extends to Waihi Beach or even Waihi township. Such a distortion of reality is the direct result of alienation by raupatu of Marutuahu and Pare Hauraki from our ancestral lands at Katikati - Te Puna.

35.      It is, perhaps, understandable that some may not see as having mana whenua at Katikati because we are simply not seen there on the land. Why is that? Simply because the Crown forced us away and put others there.

36.       To this day, this fiction of our rohe ending at Waihi continues. Sadly, it seems, even in the office of the Waitangi Tribunal.

37.       We have been told on several occasions now that the inquiry boundaries of the Tribunal are mainly set for administrative reasons and should not be taken to represent the mana whenua mana moana of the various tribes. We have been told this in relation to the Tauranga Inquiry boundaries, the Hauraki Inquiry boundaries and the likely Tamaki Inquiry boundaries. Yet, when our old people want to hold this hearing at a Marae of our choosing, we are told that we have to have the hearing in “the Tauranga boundaries”.

NGATI WHANAUNGA INTERESTS AT KATIKATI - TE PUNA

38.       As is clear that the strongest interests of the Marutuahu at Katikati - Te Puna lie with Ngati Tamatera. However, the rest of the Marutuahu also have interests including Ngati Whanaunga.

39.       That is why our Ngati Whanaunga tupuna Te Ruihana and my great grandfather Kitahi Te Taniwha were named in the forced sale agreement.

CONCLUSION

40.       In our claims and in all things, Te Kupenga Nui o Hauraki binds all of the iwi to the land and the sea. In these claims we have come together as Marutuahu and Pare Hauraki. I am pleased at this because I know that all of the iwi in Hauraki can whakapapa to Marutuahu, Ngati Whanaunga and me. As our whakatauki says:

He nui nga kai kei runga i a Moehau

Me he tangata koe whai mai.

There is much food at the peak of Moehau

If you are a person you should come.