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There’s hope today’s return of Rangiriri Pa and Te Wheoro Redoubt to Waikato Tainui and the Kingitanga is the start of more repatriations.
Title to the sites where Waikato Tainui first stood up to the invasion of their lands in1863 were returned to the iwi and the Kingitanga at Turangawaewae Marae today by Culture and Heritage Minister Maggie Barry.
The ceremonies started well before dawn, when taua were welcomed on to Rangiriri Pa to bathe in the Waikato River and to light seven fires on the site.
Tamaki Makaurau MP Peeni Henare, who has been attending this week’s Koroneihana Tua Ngahuru o Kingi Tuheitia, says tribes should be able to work alongside the crown to manage their sites of significance.
" And I think it will serve as an example for other places around the motu, not just Pukehinahina or Orakau but less familiar battle sites in Te Tarata, Waerenga a Hika and for the ones in the north like Ruapekapeka, Puketutu and places like that," says Peeni Henare
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