Unsung Heroes

In 1849 Matiaha Tiramōrehu wrote a petition to Queen Victoria signed by all the leading rakatira of the time seeking the Crown to put aside adequate reserves of land for the iwi, as agreed to under the terms of its land purchases. In the 20 years from 1844, Ngāi Tahu signed land sale contracts with the Crown for some 34.5 million acres, approximately 80% of the South Island, Te Waipounamu. The Crown failed to allocate one-tenth of the land to the iwi, nor did it pay a fair price, as it agreed.

Over the ensuing seven generations, individuals, whānau and hapū tirelessly pursued Tiramōrehu’s vision through petitions, and a series of commissions of inquiry to seek redress from the Crown, with this work becoming known as Te Kerēme – The Ngāi Tahu Claim. The protracted labours of Ngāi Tahu people in pursuit of redress and compensation against the Crown for nearly 150 years is alluded to in the following Ngāi Tahu whakataukī – ‘He mahi kai takata, he mahi kai hōaka – It is work that consumes people, as greenstone consumes sandstone’.

In 1986 the Ngāi Tahu Māori Trust Board lodged the Ngāi Tahu Claim with the Waitangi Tribunal, which resulted in three years of hearings and nine years of direct negotiations with the Crown resulting in the passing of the Ngāi Tahu Settlement Act in 1998. During the Waitangi Tribunal hearings the Crown resources far outweighed those of the Trust Board with the Crown lining up all of their staff against the Trust Board’s one lawyer.

This series will uncover all of those people who supported the Ngāi Tahu Claim proceedings to the Waitangi Tribunal, including those who provided evidence, the Pākehā historians who were taken under the wing of our Ngāi Tahu people, and all of those other people who played crucial supporting roles behind the scenes bringing closure to Tiramōrehu’s original petition of 1849.