The following are extracts from the summary of the Waitangi Tribunal’s 1987 report on the Orakei Claim.

The Orakei Block consists of 700 acres and is only a few kilometres from the centre of Auckland City , New Zealand . It is situated between Hobson Bay and Mission Bay , including the suburb of Orakei, Okahu Bay , Orakei Domain, the Savage Memorial, and Takaparawhau (Bastion Point). Ngati Whatua o Orakei who once owned the land, paid an immense price when it was lost.

The Founding of Auckland

In brief, Ngati Whatua held the mana of the central Auckland lands when Europeans arrived. They welcomed settlement on the signing of the Treaty invited Governor Hobson to establish a township on their lands. Thousands of acres were made available for the purpose, the cost of Auckland ’s establishment being funded from vast profits on the resale of their lands to settlers. Ngati Whatua bargained for 10% of the resale profit after the first land deals but, the greater part of even that went to public roads, hospitals and schools.

Ngati Whatua backed Auckland when warring tribes threatened the fledgling town. When the main wars loomed in the 1860’s, they hosted a two month conference of two hundred chiefs from throughout the country to secure their allegiance to the Crown. Later they called at Orakei the first Maori Parliaments.

Ngati Whatua sold thousands of acres – indeed all but the 700 acres of Orakei that comprised the sub-tribe’s main base. Even from 1840 they had made it clear that that block was special. It was not for sale. They wanted it reserved to them forever, Te Kawau seeking from Governor Grey “a Deed to make it safe”.

It is not at all that they wished to separate themselves from European contact. Part of the Orakei land they gifted to the Anglican Church to support a chapel and school, for they had a close association with the Church at that time. They had also an alliance with the Crown and in 1859, when it was thought the Russians were coming, gave a headland of Orakei for defence. They were gifts however and in the customary Maori way were meant to return if no longer required.

Similarly they had hopes of leasing parts of Orakei to Europeans for residential purposes, the rents to maintain tribal programmes. At Orakei, as it was intended, the sub-tribe would retain control and the land would be their endowment, the assurance of their continued existence as a people. It was important to Ngati Whatua that that land should remain in tribal ownership.

The Loss of the Orakei Block

It took only a hundred years for the actions of other people to completely deprive Ngati Whatua o Orakei of their remaining block of land. These are the main actions that took place over those hundred years:

The Native Land Court Declaration (1869)

The Crown was obliged to uphold the tribal form of ownership that the people clearly preferred. However, the troubles at Orakei really began when the Crown set up the Native Land Court . Its job was to award individual titles of ownership to native lands – the same ownership system that operated in Britain . In 1869 the Native Land Court awarded the whole block to only thirteen members of a sub-sub-tribe that evidence suggests numbered well over 300. With the stroke of a pen the majority of a large and compact sub-sub-tribe were disinherited.

Response of Ngati Whatua o Orakei: There were numerous protests from Ngati Whatua. They took the form of Court actions and a Parliamentary petition seeking the restoration of tribal ownership or at very least the inclusion of everyone of the tribe on the title. It was all to no avail.

The Taking of Land for Defence (1886)

In 1885 the Government built a fort at Kohimarama (or Bastion Point) because it commanded a good strategic position on Waitemata Harbour . Then in 1886 the Crown used the Public Works Act to take ownership of a further 13 acres of Bastion Point for defence purposes. Further to this, in 1898 the Native Land Court partitioned the whole of the rest of the block, dividing it between the thirteen owners or their successors.

From 1898 the Crown began investigations to buy the block for European settlement. The Government appointed a Commission comprising Chief Justice Stout and AT Ngata (later Sir Apirana Ngata) to decide what land was excessive to Maori needs and should be sold. The Commission determine the whole should be kept, the Commission found, as a tribal reserve for it was the sub-tribe’s last land and the sub-tribe was still living on it. That finding of the Commission, was entirely consistent with the Treaty. What was inconsistent was that shortly after, the Crown set about acquiring the block anyway.

Response of Ngati Whatua of Orakei: Ngati Whatua reacted once more with a petition challenging the title of the handful of owners, warning off the would-be purchasers and seeking restoration of tribal ownership. That plea had previously failed before Parliament and the Courts, but the new petition received the support of the Native Affairs Committee of the House. After hearing lengthy evidence, the Committee recommended an inquiry into the title. The inquiry was never held.

The Sewer Outfall (1908)

Meanwhile the villagers were experiencing another foretaste of what compulsory acquisition meant. Under a special Act of parliament a sewer pipe was laid across the beach in front of their village. The large raised pipe also blocked their harbour access and caused the village to swamp.

Response of Ngati Whatua o Orakei: Despite their objections by 1914, Auckland ’s raw sewage was discharged into Okahu Bay . Many people left Orakei to find a place elsewhere and the sub-tribe began to break up.

Compulsory Acquisition of Land (1912-1950)

Through successions there were by then many owners in several allotments on the block. The petition discloses that owners and non-owners were opposed to sales. In the year that buying began, in 1913, the Government changed the law to enable it to deal privately with individual owners and to buy their individual shares. Previously the Crown had been able to buy an allotment of Maori land only on the majority vote of owners assembled at a meeting. We know that the owners were not all agreed on selling. It may be that seen the majority were not in favour. The law change, the Tribunal found, was contrary to the Treaty. It was the final denial of any tribal or group right, yet group identity is at the heart of Maori society.

Crown buying began in 1913. Many claimed to have sold on a promise that the village would be spared. In fact, nothing was spared. Several sold, they said, on undertakings that house sites would be reserved for them. None were. House sites were reserved only for the European lessees. Others simply gave up and sold once the Crown had acquired several shares in the blocks in which they had interests.

Response of Ngati Whatua o Orakei: Ngati Whatua o Orakei firmly resisted the sales between 1912 and 1950. There were numerous complaints and actions in their endeavour to save their land, village and homes including eight actions in the Maori Land Court , four in the Supreme Court, two in the Court of Appeal, two in the Compensation Court , six appearances before Commissions or Committees of Inquiry and fifteen Parliamentary Petitions. Those were the efforts of a people whom the Crown was to brand as ‘willing sellers’.

The evidence, the Tribunal says, suggests that many, who sold, sold under duress or in the hope that by selling a part, the village would be saved and house sites would be secured to them. The evidence is clear that several were opposed to any sales. No doubt some sold willingly, but it is obvious Ngati Whatua did not sell for Ngati Whatua as a sub-tribe were denied the title and that was the nub of the sub-tribe’s complaint. Those given an interest were but a small minority.

As it turned out, compulsory acquisitions were made in any event. In 1950 the Crown used the Public Works Act to take the interests of those who still held out. The takings were contrary to the Treaty of Waitangi.

The Evictions (1952)

The old village site was wanted by the Crown for a park, so in 1952 the remaining inhabitants were evicted from their homes and relocated as tenants of 35 state houses on another part of the block. The marae, homes and buildings were pulled down and burnt by the Crown.

Response of Ngati Whatua: The final eviction was extremely traumatic for those who had fought so long, their petitions to Parliament still continuing at the time.

The National Marae (1959)

Other land was set aside for a Ngati Whatua marae in 1954, near the state homes. But other people were wanting a marae for Auckland or a national marae and in 1959 the Crown allowed the land to be given over for that public purpose. The marae however was part of Ngati Whatua ancestral lands and adjoined homes where the remnants of the tribe were living.

Response of Ngati Whatua: They had no control of it and in the events that followed the tribe was to witness the take-over of even their culture, as a marae was built and named, by others, for the tribal ancestor.

Plans to subdivide Bastion Point (1976)

In 1976 the Crown moved to a final disposal of its remaining lands at Orakei. This was the last 60 acres of uncommitted land at Orakei that the hapu had notified their interest in settlement of their claims.

Response of Ngati Whatua: In the event, a section of Ngati Whatua led by Joseph Parata Hawke, protested by occupying Bastion Point for 506 days. It was the culmination of 100 years of Ngati Whatua petitions through formal channels. It followed dispossession, and a legacy of bitterness.

On 25 May 1978 the Government sent in a massive force of police and army to evict them. Two hundred and twenty two protesters were arrested for trespass on Bastion Point.