KOE KOE Ā
Making the Tenths’ whole – an update – KER ENSA JOHN STON
The customary owners of the Nelson Tenths’ and Occupation Reserves descend from the original Māori land owners of western Te Tauihu (Whakatū/Nelson, Tasman and Mōhua/Golden Bay) as identified by the Native Land Court in 1893. The families of the Nelson Tenths’ Reserves, which include the majority of Wakatū Owners, make up those whānau and hapū who settled Whakatū, Tasman and Mōhua and descend from four iwi: Ngāti Koata, Ngāti Rārua, Ngāti Tama, and Te Ātiawa. Led by our kaumātua Rore Stafford, we are working towards the just and honourable return of land to the customary owners. This land is known as the Nelson Tenths’ and the Occupation Reserves and is located in the Nelson rohe. The Crown failed to protect the land for the customary owners, as the Supreme Court ruled it was required to do under the law.
for the customary owners. This award was legally enforced by the Crown, by way of Crown Grant 1845. The reserved land area was to comprise 10 per cent of each of the ‘urban’ (1 acre), ‘suburban’ (50 acre) and ‘rural’ (150 acre) sections of the Nelson settlement – a total area of 15,100 acres plus pā, urupā, and cultivations. This was not done. The pā, wāhi tapu, urupā and cultivations were not protected. The rural sections were never reserved, although they were identified in places. Some land was reserved in the region and was held on trust for the benefit of the owners – this land comprises the corpus land of Wakatū Incorporation today. After 1845, the Crown removed many sections from the 5100 acres that had already been reserved for the benefit of the Trust. By 1850, the Nelson Tenths’ Reserves Trust comprised only 3953 acres, significantly less than what had been guaranteed by the Crown Grant 1845. Over the years, and while subject to Crown management via the Native Trustee and then Māori Trustee, more Tenths’ land was lost. When the land was finally handed back in 1977
HISTORY OF THE NELSON TENTHS’ RESERVES
to the customary owners to manage via Wakatū,
When the New Zealand Company and the Crown
the estate was just 1626 acres.
established the Nelson settlement in the 1840s,
22
Sites of special significance that have been lost
an award (known as the Spain award, after Land
include important mahinga kai such as the Nelson
Claims Commissioner William Spain) was issued.
Queen’s Gardens, as well as urupā and other
It stated that a tenth of all land to be used for
wāhi tapu, which are now recreational sites. Our
the Nelson settlement, plus pā, wāhi tapu, urupā
whānau also lost land that would have generated
and cultivations owned by the whānau and hapū,
significant income over this time, according to the
would be reserved by the Crown by way of a Trust
terms of the Trust.
