A Gisborne hapū has decided to occupy a row of sheds near the town’s harbour, following a breakdown in negotiations for the return of their historic land.
The Good Oil spoke to Charlotte Gibson, chair of the Ngāti Oneone hapū and Te Poho-O-Rāwiri Marae, who explained that an area of land near Eastland Port was forcibly taken over 95 years ago under the Public Works Act and the Harbour Board Act. Both of these acts empower the government to seize privately owned land.
Ngāti Oneone’s land was taken on the basis that it was needed for “core harbour board business”. At the time, the hapū dealt with it philosophically: when their marae buildings were demolished, they bought a piece of land and rebuilt the marae. Now, however, some of the land is being used for private business, non-essential purposes (such as storing boats) or simply not used at all. It is this land that the hapū wants returned.
The hapū has been in negotiations with Trust Tairāwhiti, which is the 100 per cent shareholder of Eastland Port, and got as far as having a sale and purchase agreement. The trust had undertaken to gift Ngāti Oneone the $1,400,000 needed to buy the land from Eastland Port (the money would effectively have returned to the trust, since it owns the port). However, the agreement included the condition that the harbour board would have to approve all future uses of the land, and this the hapū found to be unacceptable as it effectively negates the return of the land.
Ngāti Oneone are not able to take their case to the Waitangi Tribunal because their iwi, Ngāti Porou, has had its final Waitangi settlement, which did not take the harbour situation into consideration. They have the option of trying to make a claim under the Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki iwi’s Treaty claim, which is still live; however, they have decided to take the path of direct social action, which could set a precedent for others – Māori or not – who have had land unfairly seized.
Charlotte Gibson said that a unique feature of the situation is that there is no real dispute. Everyone agrees about what happened, but the intricacies of the law make the process of returning the land complicated.
Trust Tairāwhiti did not respond to a request for comment.
The occupiers, who have settled in comfortably with furniture and food supplies, are hoping that their action will keep up the pressure to resolve the case. The mood in the sheds is friendly, with people dropping in to tell their stories and truck drivers tooting as they rumble past towards the port.
The occupation began on Monday, following a protest march through the streets, and is set to continue for “as long as it takes”.
