Lost land – the shrinking of Rikiville

The following is a snapshot of a much larger story on Rikiville that appears in the 2022 issue of Ōtaki Yesterday

Rikiville was part of Ngāti Koroki land that originally extended from Dunstan Street, straddling Mill Road and across to Waerenga Road, as far west as Ōtaki School.

It was land owned by members of the Ngāti Koroki hapū and Rikihana whānau through their tūpuna as far back as Wīremu (Wī) Te Manewha, to whom it was gifted by Te Rauparaha.

Little is now left that remains in the hands of the Rikihana whānau. Much of that can be explained by the land policies of the Government, and local government, in the early 20th century. That was not confined to Ngāti Koroki; other Māori land throughout the Ōtaki district was also taken.

Of significance was the Native Land Amendment and Native Land Claims Adjustment Act passed in October 1928. Under section 32 of that Act, Māori land within the new Borough of Ōtaki – established in 1921 – that had outstanding rates could be vested in the Ikaroa District Māori Land Board. The governor-general needed only to issue an order to vest the land.

It meant Māori still owned the land, but had little power over what happened to it. Much of it was sold to the Crown.

For the Crown, perhaps vesting the land in the Ikaroa Māori Land Board was a compromise between Māori continuing not to pay rates and taking the land compulsorily, as advocated by Ōtaki Borough Council.

As part of their hāpū research for the Waitangi Tribunal, Queenie and Mishy Rikihana said Ngāti Raukawa Rangatiratanga and Kawanawatanga reports showed the burden of local body rates

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As Queenie’s brother, Jack Rikihana, said: “I remember Mum crying over the rates bill. It was only about £60 but that’s like $600 in today’s terms. It would come twice a year and that time it was for land owned by [relatives] Raita and Pari and we were going to lose it by not paying the rates.”

Ngāti Koroki hapū members related that the large piece of land owned by Rikihana Te Tarure and wife Enereta (Enereta was the daughter of Wī Te Manewha) once bordered about what is now Waerenga Road, Dunstan Street and the Haru-ātai stream, and extended to the present Ōtaki School. Over the years the land originally gifted to Wī Te Manewha and handed down via Enereta, ended up being just two main areas of land and papakāinga to various Koroki whānau.

One was known as Haru-ātai No 5 in the Native Land Surveyor’s maps. This was occupied by the Rikihana and Johnson whānau, and was later known colloquially as Rikiville. The other big block of land was called Makuratawhiti and encompassed where Ōtaki School is today. It was the papakāinga of the Carkeek, Bell and Rikihana whānau. Some whānau still live on this land, on Carkeek Drive next to the school.

These blocks were noted in the Māori Land Court among other blocks left to Enereta by her father.

For Māori of that generation and their ancestors before, it was an alien idea that when a person inherited land, to retain ownership they would need to pay rates to someone like Ōtaki Borough Council. On many blocks of land, there were often no council services, such as roads or water supplies.

Gabrielle Rikihana said the generation of local Māori in the 1920s were too busy working for their marae to have paid jobs.

“These are important contributing factors to how and why our people struggled to pay the rates to keep their land,” Aunty Gabe said. “Earning money for a long time was a foreign concept for our tangata whenua, who were already self-sufficient – growing, fishing and hunting for their own food.

“That generation worked for Raukawa very hard, but none worked for wages. They were too busy working for Raukawa.”