Taranaki Maunga. Photo: Madeleine Lynch
- The Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passed its second and third readings in Parliament on Thursday
- The Crown apologised for its confiscation of Taranaki Maunga and 1.2 million acres of Māori land in 1865
- As part of the settlement the mountain will become a legal person jointly managed by iwi and the Crown and Egmont will cease to exist as an official name
The Treaty of Waitangi settlement for Taranaki Maunga passed its second and third reading in Parliament on Thursday.
Around 400 people from the eight iwi of Taranaki - Ngaa Rauru Kiitahi, Ngāruahine, Ngāti Maru, Ngāti Mutunga, Ngāti Ruanui, Ngāti Tama, Taranaki iwi and Te Ātiawa - were at Parliament to see the settlement become law.
The Crown profoundly apologised for its confiscation of Taranaki Maunga and almost half a million hectares (1.2 million acres) of Taranaki lands in 1865.
Iwi representatives outside Parliament. Photo: RNZ / Emma Andrews
As part of the settlement Mt Egmont will cease to be an official geographic name. The name of the national park, currently called Egmont National Park, will become Te Papa-Kura-o-Taranaki (meaning the highly regarded and treasured lands of Taranaki), while the highest peak will be Taranaki Maunga.
The park and its contents will be vested as a legal person, its peaks will be named Te Kāhui Tupua - so the park will effectively own itself. But Te Tōpuni Kōkōrangi, a collective of both iwi and Crown representatives, will manage the park and develop plans which will be approved by the Conservation Minister.
It was an emotional day for those who attended. Photo: RNZ / Emma Andrews
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and descendant of Ngāti Ruanui Debbie Ngarewa-Packer quoted Parihaka leader Dr Ruakere Hond in her speech to Parliament.
"Today Taranaki is freed from the shackles, is freed from the shackles of muru raupatu (confiscation)," she said.
Lead negotiator Jamie Tuuta said legal personhood recognised in law what the people of Taranaki have always known.
"So our worldview is our maunga are ancestors, they're not resources but they are living beings and so the notion of legal personhood fits well with our worldview."
It was pleasing that the government has had the courage to continue to support the partnership, he said.
"It actually speaks to what was envisaged I think in Te Tiriti o Waitangi - both iwi and the Crown working in partnership and so that's what it is. It's very much a co-governance model where iwi and the Crown look to work collaboratively first and foremost for the health and wellbeing of the maunga."
Lead negotiator Jamie Tuuta at Parliament today. Photo: RNZ / Pokere Paewai
End of a long journey
Iwi negotiator Liana Poutu (Te Ātiawa) said today marks the end of a long journey.
"Our negotiations team are the lucky last ones at the end of the line because, for years, the Taranaki Māori Trust Board have petitioned Parliament.
"So many people have fought for the recognition of our maunga as a tūpuna, the reinstatement and the recognition of his proper name. All of these things are coming to fruition today with these final readings of this bill."
It was not a journey she had started, but one she was able to be a part of to get over the line.
"But beforehand over 200 petitions were sent to Parliament for this exact same thing that we've been negotiating for. It has been a long journey and those that went before us that did the hard yards, they're not here to see the fruits of it, but their grandchildren, their mokopuna are here.
"My kids, for example, will never know that Taranaki's name was ever Egmont and that's pretty special actually. They will never know our maunga is anything but Taranaki."
Taranaki iwi chief executive Wharehoka Wano was confident that the name Egmont would eventually be phased out.
"When I was back in the 80s, Egmont was only the name it was really known by out of the Māori community. But now there's more non-Māori that are applying Taranaki as the rightful name and not Egmont, and another generation will flush that out again.
"At the moment, Taranaki is the ancestral mountain, our ancestor, and our descendants believe it'll always be Taranaki."
Taranaki Maunga has always been a tūpuna, he said.
"He's always been our tūpuna, and that's never changed. But in terms of having representation of our people on the overall management and governance of the maunga, that's one thing, but more importantly, bringing back some of our names, Te Papa-Kura-o-Taranaki as it's known now.
"Even the name Egmont hasn't got the presence that it had in the past, it's gone back to Taranaki. We've replaced some of those names, Te Tahuna o Tūtawa ki Panitahi, they had non-Māori names, so we've brought those names back. So there's that side of it.
"But there's also, a lot of our young ones are working on the maunga. They're working in the pest control work, and we're returning some of our native birds back onto the maunga, so our people have connection."
