More than a century after their tūpuna carried petitions and claims to Wellington seeking justice, Waikaremoana hapū have watched Parliament pass legislation acknowledging the Crown breaches that left their people virtually landless and returning significant whenua to Te Urewera.
The Ngāti Ruapani mai Waikaremoana Claims Settlement Bill has passed its third reading, clearing a historic parliamentary milestone for Ngāti Ruapani, Ngāti Hinekura, Whānau Pani and Ngāi Tarapāroa.
The legislation gives legal effect to the Deed of Settlement signed on the shores of Waikaremoana in February and records the Crown’s acknowledgements and apology for historical breaches against Waikaremoana hapū.
Once the legislation receives Royal assent, the settlement will take effect and complete the Crown’s historical Treaty settlement negotiations across Te Urewera.
From petitions to Parliament
Ngāti Ruapani mai Waikaremoana Trust Chair Kara Puketapu-Dentice says the legislation represents an answer generations of tūpuna were denied.
Their ancestors travelled to Wellington carrying petitions and claims but returned to Waikaremoana without the resolution they sought.
The passage of the settlement legislation means those grievances are now formally recorded in New Zealand law.
But for the hapū, the settlement does not create their identity or their relationship with Waikaremoana.
Rather, it recognises relationships that have endured despite generations of Crown actions, land loss and displacement.
The hapū remain of Waikaremoana and Te Urewera, just as their tūpuna were before them.
Armed attacks, starvation and land loss acknowledged
The settlement records Crown breaches against Waikaremoana hapū dating from 1866.
Those include armed attacks on kāinga at Te Kōpani and the use of scorched-earth tactics that displaced whānau and contributed to starvation.
The settlement also acknowledges the coerced acquisition of approximately 178,000 acres of land under threat of confiscation.
The consequences were devastating.
By 1895, the hapū were virtually landless.
The legislation now places the Crown’s acknowledgement of that history and its apology on the statutory record.
For descendants, it provides formal recognition that the loss of whenua was not simply an unfortunate chapter of history, but the result of Crown actions that breached its obligations.
$24 million settlement and whenua returned
The settlement includes $24 million in financial and commercial redress, alongside an undivided half share of Patunamu Forestry.
It also provides four commercial redress properties and two cultural redress properties.
Culturally significant sites will be returned, including Turi-o-Kahu at Onepoto.
But one of the most significant elements of the settlement involves around 12,000 hectares of Crown land, which will be vested in Te Urewera, the legal identity established under the Te Urewera Act 2014.
For Puketapu-Dentice, returning that whenua to Te Urewera reflects a relationship that cannot be understood simply through conventional concepts of land ownership.
Waikaremoana is not merely a resource or property surrounding the hapū.
It is part of who they are.
Waikaremoana remains
The settlement carries particular significance because of the distinctive legal status of Te Urewera.
The Te Urewera Act 2014 recognised Te Urewera as a legal entity in its own right, moving away from the idea of the whenua simply being Crown-owned conservation land.
The latest settlement builds upon that framework.
Puketapu-Dentice says Waikaremoana has endured every generation that has lived alongside it and will continue long after the present generation has gone.
The return of Crown land into Te Urewera is therefore seen not simply as transferring an asset, but as returning whenua to where it belongs and strengthening the role of hapū whose identity is inseparable from that place.
It is an expression of whakapapa and kaitiakitanga across generations.
Onepoto central to the journey home
The return of Turi-o-Kahu at Onepoto also carries significance for the next stage of the settlement journey.
Puketapu-Dentice says the focus now turns towards strengthening the physical presence of Waikaremoana hapū around the lake.
That includes bringing people home to Waikaremoana, rebuilding their presence at Onepoto and strengthening marae.
After generations shaped by land alienation and displacement, the settlement provides resources and whenua from which that rebuilding can continue.
But the Trust is clear that this cannot be achieved overnight.
It is generational work.
Settlement a foundation, not the finish
For Waikaremoana hapū, the third reading does not erase what happened after 1866.
Nor can financial redress restore generations of lost opportunity, whenua or time.
Instead, the settlement establishes a new foundation.
The Crown’s breaches are acknowledged.
An apology is recorded.
Whenua is returned.
Financial and commercial resources are provided.
And the historical Treaty claims of Ngāti Ruapani, Ngāti Hinekura, Whānau Pani and Ngāi Tarapāroa move towards their formal conclusion.
What happens next will increasingly be determined by the hapū themselves.
The challenge will be turning settlement assets into stronger marae, greater economic independence, reconnection with whenua and opportunities that allow future generations to live, work and thrive at Waikaremoana.
An answer carried home to Waikaremoana
The passage of the Bill carries symbolism that stretches well beyond Parliament’s debating chamber.
Generations ago, Waikaremoana tūpuna made the long journey to Wellington seeking answers from the Crown.
They carried petitions.
They carried claims.
And they carried the expectation that the injustices inflicted upon their people should be heard.
Many returned home without the answer they sought.
This generation has now stood inside Parliament as those historical wrongs were placed into law.
The legislation cannot undo the armed attacks, the displacement or the loss of 178,000 acres that helped leave Waikaremoana hapū virtually landless.
But it records those events, acknowledges the Crown’s responsibility and returns significant whenua to Te Urewera.
For Waikaremoana hapū, the settlement closes one long chapter — while opening another centred on returning home, restoring their presence around the lake and ensuring the generations that follow remain firmly connected to the whenua that shaped their tūpuna.
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