Crown apology
To the ancient and resilient Ngāti Hāua, to your tūpuna who have passed and your mokopuna who will lead you into the future, the Crown makes the following apology:
Ngāti Hāua, the Crown recognises that you have maintained your place at the upper reaches of the Whanganui River for centuries, weaving together te taura whiri a Hinengākau (the plaited rope of Hinengākau) through brokering peace and fostering connection. Your tūpuna had a vision of partnership and mutual benefit when they signed te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi. The Crown is greatly sorry that it did not live up to the promise of te Tiriti/the Treaty, and instead brought discord, death, and division to your iwi.
The Crown is deeply ashamed of and sorry for the horrific and reprehensible execution of your tupuna in 1846, and profoundly regrets that its behaviour toward Ngāti Hāua in the 1840s sowed deep and well-deserved mistrust of the Crown.
In the 1860s, Crown actions led to warfare between the Crown and Ngāti Hāua. The Crown is sincerely sorry for the severe toll warfare has had on Ngāti Hāua and the intergenerational stigma you still carry from being labelled rebels and fanatics.
Ngāti Hāua have shown persistent commitment to their rangatiratanga by joining and leading land retention movements and guarding the southern boundary of Te Rohe Pōtae. Ngāti Hāua ultimately had no choice but to engage with the Crown’s determined drive to obtain land. The Crown gained access to Te Rohe Pōtae to complete the North Island Main Trunk Railway by giving assurances that it did not honour. The Crown not only took land for the railway without paying compensation, but purchased extensive amounts of land for European settlement.
The Crown is truly remorseful for acquiring so much land that Ngāti Hāua became virtually landless, severed from resources, wāhi tapu, and taonga. The Crown compulsorily acquired further land for public works. The Crown did not consult with Ngāti Hāua before establishing the Tongariro National Park nor include you in the management arrangements, leaving you unable to safeguard wāhi tapu within the Park. The Crown is greatly regretful and sorry that it gained so much from its breaches of te Tiriti/the Treaty at an immense cost to Ngāti Hāua and left many of you feeling marginalised in your own rohe, like second-class citizens.
You have worked tirelessly for so long to make the Crown aware of these injustices. You have had to learn and navigate the Crown’s systems and processes while the Crown has broken promises, ignored your protests, and shown Ngāti Hāua a profound lack of care when you have clearly been struggling. The Crown’s acts and omissions have hindered the socio-economic development of your people. Poor health, inadequate housing, low educational outcomes, and a lack of economic opportunities have contributed significantly to many of your people leaving the rohe.
The Crown is unreservedly sorry for all of its breaches of te Tiriti/the Treaty and the harm they have caused you and pays tribute to your resilience.
Through this settlement, including this apology, the Crown hopes to build a platform on which we can form a new relationship, one that is based on the spirit of partnership that your tūpuna saw in te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi.
Statutory pardons
Along with this apology, the deed contains the Crown’s acknowledgements of its breaches of the Treaty, where it takes responsibility for its acts and omissions that have caused so much harm to Ngāti Hāua.
Among them is exceptional harshness of the Crown’s punishment of your tūpuna, Mātene Ruta Te Whareaitu and Te Rangiātea. In 1846 your tūpuna were tried under martial law and convicted for being in rebellion against the Crown. The Crown responded with exceptional harshness and sentenced Te Whareaitu to death and Te Rangiatea to confinement for life. Though their bodies have not been found, their character, reputation, and mana will not be forgotten.
It is a matter of mana for the Crown to right its wrongs. Te Pua o Te Riri Kore and the settlement legislation record the Crown’s treatment of Te Rangiātea and Mātene Ruta Te Whareaitu and the resulting intergenerational stigma and mamae experienced by their uri and by Ngāti Hāua.
The settlement legislation will enact long-overdue statutory pardons for your tūpuna who were treated so harshly by the Crown so early in our relationship.
Awa FM – Te Reo Irirangi o Whanganui
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