Iwi Interests in the Marlborough Sounds David A. Armstrong HistoryWorks July, 2011

26 Pages·2011·9.24 MB·English

Iwi Interests in the Marlborough Sounds

David A. Armstrong
HistoryWorks
July, 2011
Table of Contents

1. Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1
2. Location Maps .......................................................................................................... 2
3. Executive Summary ................................................................................................. 4
4. The Kurahaupo Iwi - Ngati Apa, Ngati Kuia and Rangitane .............................. 6
5. Kawhia/Taranaki Iwi Migrations and Conflict with the Kurahaupo Tribes ..... 8
6. The Tuku and its Boundaries ................................................................................. 9
7. The Kawhia/Taranaki Tribes Invade the South Island ..................................... 14
8. The Impact of Kawhia/Taranaki Invasions on the Kurahaupo Iwi .................. 17
9. Relative Iwi Interests in Proposed Salmon Farm Sites ...................................... 23
References ................................................................................................................... 24
1. Introduction

1. My name is David Anderson Armstrong. I hold a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in
history and a Bachelor of Laws degree from Victoria University of Wellington. I
am currently a Director of HistoryWorks Ltd, a Wellington-based research
company.

2. Since 1989 I have worked as a professional historian, specialising in historical
Treaty of Waitangi claim research. I have carried out research on behalf of two
iwi in the top of the South Island, Rangitane and Ngati Apa, and presented
evidence on behalf of these iwi to the Waitangi Tribunal in 2003. More recently I
have assisted Ngati Apa and Rangitane in their Treaty claim settlement
negotiations. I have also presented evidence to the Environment Court (in August
2010) in respect of the King Salmon White Horse Rock resource consent
application.

3. This report was commissioned by New Zealand King Salmon. King Salmon is
seeking a private plan change in respect of a number of specific sites in the
Marlborough Sounds, located at Waitata Reach (Waitata, Kaitira, Tapipi,
Richmond), Port Gore (Papatua), Queen Charlotte Sound (Kaitapeha, Ruaomoko),
and Tory Channel (Ngamahau), in order to develop new salmon farms.

4. In my capacity as a professional historian, I have been asked by King Salmon to
provide an independent report that:

i) identifies the iwi who claim or possess customary rights in areas associated
with the proposed salmon farms
ii) explains the nature and extent of those customary rights.

5. I do not speak Maori, and have no expertise in Maori oral traditions of the
northern South Island. My area of expertise is the analysis of documentary
records. I have relied in particular on volume I of the Waitangi Tribunal's 2008 Te
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Tau Ihu o te Waka a Maui Report on Northern South Island Claims (which deals
extensively with customary interests), volume I of the Mitchells' Te Tau Ihu o te
Waka, A History of Maori of Nelson and Marlborough, evidence presented to the
Tribunal by various iwi during the hearing process and Native Land Court
minutes. While I have no expertise in Maori oral tradition, I note that these
sources all record and discuss oral traditions. A full list of my sources can be
found in the reference section below.

2. Location Maps

Source: Te Ara - Encyclopaedia of New Zealand

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Source: Te Ara - Encyclopaedia of New Zealand

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3. Executive Summary

6. There are eight iwi who may claim customary interests in the proposed salmon
farm sites in Waitata Reach, Port Gore, Queen Charlotte Sound and Tory Channel.
Three of these iwi - Rangitane, Ngati Kuia and Ngati Apa - trace their descent
from the Kurahaupo waka, and can be termed 'Kurahaupo iwi'. They have been in
occupation of the Marlborough Sounds since the sixteenth or seventeenth
centuries.

7. The main Ngati Apa areas of interest are in the west (Golden Bay and the northern
West Coast), but they also occupied Tarakaipa Island (Tennyson Inlet) and
Anamahanga (Port Gore). Ngati Kuia occupied Pelorus Sound, Tawhitinui Reach
and Waitata Reach. Rangitane occupied Queen Charlotte Sound and Tory
Channel. There was some overlap of Rangitane and Ngati Kuia interests in Queen
Charlotte Sound. Ngati Kuia and Rangitane were also linked to Port Gore through
the Kupe traditions associated with that place. Ngati Apa, Ngati Kuia and
Rangitane can all trace whakapapa (genealogical) connections to Kupe.

8. The five other iwi invaded the northern South Island under the leadership of Te
Rauparaha in the 1820s and 1830s. These tribes may be termed 'Kawhia/Taranaki'
iwi. They are Ngati Toa, Ngati Koata, Ngati Rarua, Ngati Tama and Te Atiawa.
They defeated the Kurahaupo tribes and occupied the northern South Island,
including the Marlborough Sounds.

9. The Kawhia/Taranaki tribes who settled in the Marlborough Sounds and
established customary rights (based on conquest and subsequent occupation) were
Ngati Toa and Te Atiawa. Ngati Toa were strongly associated with the
Pelorus/Tawhitinui Reach/Waitata Reach area. Te Atiawa were strongly
associated with Queen Charlotte Sound and Tory Channel. Ngati Toa and Te
Atiawa both occupied the Tory Channel area.

10. Ngati Koata occupation was confined to D'Urville Island, the adjacent coastline
and areas to the west. Ngati Rarua are principally associated with the Wairau
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district (not including the Marlborough Sounds), Motueka and the West Coast.
Ngati Tama settled in Tasman Bay, Golden Bay and the West Coast.

11. The Waitangi Tribunal has found that despite their defeat and subjugation, the
Kurahaupo tribes remained on the land and retained a range of customary rights.
Later they were able to reassert and strengthen their interests, and two iwi (Ngati
Kuia and Rangitane) achieved recognition in two Crown purchase deeds in 1856.
The Crown has recently acknowledged that Ngati Apa were wrongly omitted from
these transactions. Ngati Apa did, however, achieve some recognition of their
interests in Port Gore at an 1889 Native Land Court hearing.

12. Kurahaupo iwi areas of interest, as they relate to the sites of proposed salmon
farms, are as follows:

Area of Proposed Salmon Farm Sites Kurahaupo Iwi Interests
Waitata Reach Ngati Kuia
Port Gore (Anamahanga) Ngati Apa, Ngati Kuia, Rangitane
Queen Charlotte Sound Ngati Kuia, Rangitane
Tory Channel (Totaranui) Rangitane

13. Kawhia/Taranaki iwi areas of interest, as they relate to the sites of proposed
salmon farms, are as follows:

Area of Proposed Salmon Farm Sites Kawhia/Taranaki Iwi Interests
Waitata Reach Ngati Toa
Port Gore (Anamahanga) Te Atiawa
Queen Charlotte Sound Te Atiawa,
Tory Channel (Totaranui) Te Atiawa, Ngati Toa

14. The Kurahaupo and Kawhia/Taranaki tribes with interests in the proposed salmon
farm sites are (in no particular order):

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Area of Proposed Salmon Farm Sites Iwi Interests
Waitata Reach Ngati Toa, Ngati Kuia
Port Gore (Anamahanga) Te Atiawa, Ngati Apa, Ngati Kuia,
Rangitane
Queen Charlotte Sound Te Atiawa, Ngati Kuia, Rangitane
Tory Channel (Totaranui) Te Atiawa, Ngati Toa, Rangitane

15. It is difficult to identify a 'hierarchy' of interests or otherwise prioritise customary
rights. In addition, all customary interests and associations, whatever their basis
and however large or small, are important. Nevertheless, the evidence permits a
conclusion that from the 1830s Ngati Kuia and Ngati Toa were associated with
Waitata Reach. Ngati Apa and Te Atiawa were associated with Port Gore, while
Te Atiawa and Rangitane were associated with Queen Charlotte Sound and Tory
Channel. It should be emphasised that no single iwi has exclusive interests in any
of the proposed salmon farm site areas.

16. One matter of contention concerns a possible Ngati Koata claim to have interests
in Waitata Reach. A number of historians, and the Waitangi Tribunal, have stated
that Ngati Koata interests extended into Waitata Reach and the Pelorus Sound as a
result of the tuku (a gift of use and occupation rights) of the Kurahaupo chief
Tutepourangi. This is based on a misreading of the evidence. The tuku extended
from Clay Point (the eastern entrance to Admiralty Bay, to the north of Port Ligar)
to the west. It did not include Waitata Reach or Pelorus Sound. Ngati Koata
customary rights, associations and interests established through the tuku did not
extend east of Clay Point, and they have no interests in the Waitata Reach.1

4. The Kurahaupo Iwi - Ngati Apa, Ngati Kuia and Rangitane

17. Ngati Apa, Ngati Kuia and Rangitane all trace their descent from the crew of the
Kurahaupo waka. They began to occupy the Marlborough Sounds and the wider

1 Ngati Koata interests in Waitata Reach was fully explored in a brief of evidence which I presented to
the Environment Court in August 2010 in connection with New Zealand King Salmon's White Horse
Rock resource consent application. Some of the matters traversed in that brief are repeated below.
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northern South Island region in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, gradually
conquering and assimilating the people they found there (including Ngati
Tumatakokiri, Ngati Wairangi and Ngati Tara).2 By the end of the eighteenth
century the Kurahaupo iwi controlled a vast area stretching from the Wairau (the
Marlborough district) and the Marlborough Sounds to the northern West Coast of
the South Island.

18. Shared Kurahaupo origins and whakapapa connections resulted in a range of
overlapping and intersecting customary associations, rights and interests. While
Ngati Apa resided at Port Gore and have a very close connection with that area,
Ngati Kuia and Rangitane also have associations through overlooking maunga
(mountains) and strong Kupe traditions associated with Port Gore and its
environs.

19. While it is not possible to define these rights by lines fixed on maps, primary
Ngati Apa, Ngati Kuia and Rangitane interests in the Marlborough Sounds can be
identified with reasonable accuracy. These interests are summarised in the
following table. It should be stressed that When Kurahaupo people referred to
'Pelorus' they were describing a much broader area than what is known today as
Pelorus Sound. For them 'Pelorus' extended from the mouth of the Pelorus River
and included what is currently known as Pelorus Sound, the Tawhitinui Reach and
the Waitata Reach. This broader area was (and is) often referred to by them as 'Te
Hoiere'.

Iwi Marlborough Sounds Area of Interest
Rangitane Strongly associated with the Wairau,
Queen Charlotte Sound (Totaranui), Tory
Channel, and shared the Kaituna River
Valley and Totaranui with Ngati Kuia.3
Links with Port Gore through the strong
Kupe traditions associated with that

2 Waitangi Tribunal. Te Tau Ihu o te Waka a Maui Report on Northern South Island Claims. 2003. Vol.
1. 27.
3 Waitangi Tribunal. 29.
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Iwi Marlborough Sounds Area of Interest
place.

Ngati Kuia Strongly associated with Te Hoiere
(Pelorus River, Pelorus Sound,
Tawhitinui Reach, Waitata Reach) and
Rangitoto (D'Urville Island, and shared
the Kaituna River Valley and Totaranui
with Rangitane.4 Links with Port Gore
through the strong Kupe traditions
associated with that place.

Ngati Apa Interests extended from Wakatu (Nelson)
to the west, but they also maintained a
strong presence in the outer Sounds,
including Anamahanga (Port Gore). 5

5. Kawhia/Taranaki Iwi Migrations and Conflict with the Kurahaupo Tribes

20. The Kurahaupo pattern of occupation in the Marlborough Sounds, which had
remained relatively stable for some time, was significantly disrupted in the 1820s
and 1830s by the arrival of migrant people from Kawhia and Taranaki - Ngati
Toa, Ngati Rarua, Ngati Tama, Te Atiawa and Ngati Koata.

21. This process had its genesis in around 1820, when the Kawhia/Taranaki iwi, under
the leadership of Te Rauparaha, began to move south into the Rangitikei,
Manawatu and Horowhenua districts of the lower North Island. This area was
occupied by Muaopoko and other iwi related to the Kurahaupo tribes of the

4 Waitangi Tribunal. 29.
5 Waitangi Tribunal. 29.
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