Te Petihana mō Ōrākei, 1943

Kāore e taea ngā mahi Māori ki te kāinga o te wā pakanga te tino mōhio mehemea kāore he titiro ki ngā tohetohe kia riro te utu me te manatika mō ngā nawe o mua.

 Ahakoa i whakapāngia te iwi Māori e te pakanga, ehara i te mea ka waiho katoatia ā rātou mahi noa, ngā auētanga rānei i whakapēhia ai rātou.  Tokomaha ngā waranatia Māori i haere ki tāwāhi whawhai ai, me ngā tini tāne, wāhine hoki i neke ki ngā tāone mahi ai i ngā mahi hirahira.  Engari, ahakoa te pakanga, kīhai ngā raruraru o mua i tukuna kia moe ana.  Hei tauira, i petihana tonu ngā iwi mō ō rātou whenua i raupatuhia i ngā pakanga o te tekautau 1860, ā, mō ō rātou matatika i raro i te Tiriti o Waitangi.

 Kei te titiro tēnei kōrero ki ngā petihana Māori i tukuna ki te Pāremata i te wā o te Pakanga Tuarua o te Ao.  Mā ēnei petihana e kitea nei, i mahi tahi a Ngāi Māori mō ngā take tōrangapū, ahakoa te kupu a te mema o te Taitokerau, o Paraire Paikea, e pai ana ki ngā Māori kia whakatārewatia ō rātou nawe me ā rātou kerēme mō te roanga o te pakanga kia puta mai te painga ki te motu.[1]

Te Hirahira o ngā Petihana

Mā ēnei petihana hoki e whakakitea nei ngā whakaoreore i puta mai i ngā hapori Māori, arā, mō ngā take e pā ana ki ngā kāinga pakupaku tae atu ki ngā take nunui o te motu.  Mai i 1940 ki 1945, 176 ngā petihana i āta tirohia e te Komiti mō ngā Mea Māori. He komiti tēnei nō te Whare Pāremata, i noho ai ngā mema Māori me ētahi atu ki te pānui i ngā petihana, ki te whakarongo ki ngā whakaaturanga e whākina ana, ki te tuku whakaaro hoki ki te Pāremata.

 E pā ana te nuinga o aua petihana 176 ki te whenua.  I rapu utu ētahi mō ngā raupatutanga o ngā whenua o ngā iwi “tutū” i whawhai ki te Karauna i te rautau o mua; i hiahia ētahi kia tūturu ō rātou tikanga hī ika, ā, tērā ētahi petihana nunui a te iwi Māori whānui, pērā me ngā mea a Rātana kia whakapūmautia te Tiriti o Waitangi.

ā te pakanga i puta mai ai ētahi petihana.  Hei tauira te Nama 66/1945 ‘Praying for the return from the Vienna Museum of a collection of Maori relics unlawfully removed from the King Country’.  I inoia kia whakahokia ngā kōiwi o ō rātou tīpuna he mea tāhae e te kairangahau taiao o Ataria, e Andreas Reischeck, i te tekautau 1880, he mea tuku hoki ki te Imperial Natural History Museum i Wiena.  Ka tonoa: ‘Now that Vienna has fallen we, your petitioners, humbly pray that that your honorable House will take steps to have restitution made on behalf of the Maori people by taking steps to have the whole of the collection herein referred to returned to the Dominion of New Zealand.’[2]

He petihana tōpū te nuinga o ngā petihana 176, arā, he nui atu i te kotahi ngā hainatanga.  Hui katoa aua petihana, ka āhua 15,500 ngā hainatanga, mai i ngā tāone nunui, mai i ngā kāinga ririki hoki, hei tauira, mai i Kai Iwi, i Pakipaki, i Rangitukia, i Poroporo me ngā tini wāhi kē.

 E mārama ana te mahi tahi ā-whānau, ā-kāinga hoki, ngā hiahia hoki o te iwi Māori i roto i tēnā petihana, i tēnā petihana. Ina titito tātou ki ngā take i puta mai ēnei petihana, ka kitea, ehara te nuinga o ngā whakahē i te wā kotahi, engari he tohe kē nō roto o ngā tohetohe maha hei whai i te tika.  He tauira hoki te petihana mō Ōrākei.

Te Petihana mō Ōrākei

Ko tētahi o ngā petihana tōpū nui rawa atu o ngā tau pakanga te pukapuka-inoi mō te kāinga o Ngāti Whātua ki Ōrākei.

 E kīa ana he ‘largely-signed petition’, engari e whā ēnei pukapuka-inoi. E 3,319 ngā ingoa i tuhia ki te mea nui rawa atu, he mea whakarite e Te Puea Hērangi. He maha ngā petihana mō ngā take kāinga, engari, i whakaoreoretia ngā tini tāngata mō Ōrākei, puta noa te motu.  Nō te orokohuinga mai o te Komiti Petihana mō Ōrākei i ngā rā tōmuri o Noema 1942, ka timata te whawhai nei.  I te tukunga atu o ngā petihana e whā i Pēpuere 1943, e 5,039 ngā tuhinga ingoa, tae atu ki ngā pito katoa o te motu.

 I roto i te petihana he inoi kia whakahokia te papakāinga tāpui e 25 eka; kia whakapūmau ki a Ngāti Whātua te mana noho ki runga i te papatipu, ā, kia tuku pūtea te kāwanatanga kia whakapaitia ngā taonga whakaahuru mō ngā tāngata o Ōrākei.  I whakahēngia hoki te kaupapa a te Kaunihera o Ākarana kia whakanekea te iwi i ‘the last remnant of land in Auckland under Māori occupation’, nā te mea, ko tō rātou kāinga a Ōrākei, ā, he wāhi whakahirahira tēnei mō ngā tini Māori e neke ana ki Tāmaki-makaurau mahi ai ki roto i ngā wāhi ahumahi.  Ko te whakanekenga o ngā whānau me te mukunga o te kāinga ‘as a residential quarter and consequently as a marae would impose a grave injustice not only on the Ngāti Whātua tribe, but also on the Maori people generally, who went there from various parts of the country.’[3]

 Kei te whanga o Ōkahu i Tāmaki a Ōrākei.  Pērā me ngā kupu a te petihana, kua timohia te whenua e te Karauna kia toe anake he eka ruarua.  Ehara tēnei i te wā tuatahi i petihana ai te iwi kia whakahokia tō rātou papatipu, kia whakapaitia rānei tō rātou papakāinga.[4]

I te tau 1942, ka tautoko ētahi Pākehā i te iwi o Ōrākei.  I tāna reta ki te Auckland Star i taua tau mō te pēwheatanga o Ōrākei, ka tuhi a D. Burleigh ‘On numerous occasions we have read of the generous sums collected by the Maori and donated for patriotic purposes, we also read of their bravery on the battlefield – fighting so we may be free. Therefore, let them and theirs also be free to retain what is sacredly theirs’.[5]

Ka kitea hoki te tautoko Pākehā i roto i te Komiti Petihana mō Ōrākei i mahi tahi ai a Te Puea me te General Labourers Union, me te Kaunihera Kaimahi o Ākarana (Auckland Trades Council).  Nō Ngāti Whātua a Ōrākei, engari nā te ngākau pirihongo o mua o Tainui ki a Ngāti Whātua, ka uru a Te Puea ki roto i tēnei whawhai.

 Ahakoa ngā pukapuka-inoi, ka tahuri hoki ngā kainoho me te hunga tautoko ki te porotehe.  Mai i Āperira 1943, ka mahi ngātahi te iwi me ngā kaimahi uniana e 200 ki te hanga i tētahi taiepa, e 300 putu te roa, e āwhio ana i te pā.  I titia he pou tōtara ki roto i te tumu raima, me ngā rākau mānuka kei waenganui.[6]   I mahi tahi ngā tāne, ngā wāhine me ngā tamariki, ā, ka tukua e ētahi wāhine Māori kia topea ana ngā rākau mānuka o ō rātou whenua.  I whakatūria hoki he tomokanga whakairo.

 He tino tangata a Te Puea nō te porotehe nei.  E ai ki te Pūrongo o te Taraipiunara o Waitangi mō Ōrākei, i whakatūpatoria a Te Puea e te Pirimia, e Peter Fraser, kia kaua ia e  uru ki roto i ngā mahi a te Kaunihera Kaimahi ki te whakahaumaru i te kāinga, kei hopukina ia e ngā pirihimana, ā, ka tōia ki te whare herehere.[7] Engari, ka ngawhere a Fraser; he hirahira rawa nō te Kaunihera Kaimahi i roto i te taha tōrangapū, ā, he hirahira rawa nō Te Puea Kaimahi i roto i te ao Māori.

 I tauākītia kē e Fraser he kaupapa kia hangaia he whare mō ngā whānau Māori o Ōrākei ki te taha rāwhiti, kia tū tonu te marae ki te papatahi, ā, kia hangaia e te kāwanatanga me te Kaunihera o Ākarana he wharenui hou i te wāhi i noho nei te whare tawhito.  Heoi, ki a Ngāti Whātua rātou ko Te Puea he whakaneketanga kau tēnei, nā reira, kīhai rātou i whakaae.[8]

 Ruarua ngā tau i muri i te pakanga, ka whakahau te Tari o ngā Take Māori kia hokona te whenua e toe ana, engari, ka whakaparahakotia tēnei tono e te iwi. Nā konei, ka riro whakature te whenua i te tau 1951. I te tau i muri, ka kāwhakina ngā tāngata, ā, ka pau ngā whare katoa i te ahi.  I noho whenua-kore a Ngāti Whātua ki Ōrākei.

 He whawhai ā-motu te whakahaumaru i Ōrākei i te tau 1942, 1943 hoki.  Engari, he wāhi mō tētahi atu whakaoreore tōrangapū taua kāinga i te wā pakanga, arā, ko te wāhi i whakarewaia e te mema o Te Taitokerau, e Paraire Paikea (Ngāti Whātua) te Māori War Effort Organisation i te tau 1942.  He tōpūtanga ā-iwi tēnei, he mea tautoko e te kāwanatanga, kia akiakina ngā Māori kia haere ki tāwāhi whawhai ai, kia tae atu ki ngā tāone mahi ai.   Pērā me ngā whakaaro i miramiratia e ngā kaipetihana, ko Ōrākei te manawa o te ao Māori o Tāmaki-makaurau, ā-tikanga, ā-tōrangapū, ā-ohanga hoki, ā, nā ā rātou whakatau i ngā Māori e mui mai ana ki te tāone mahi ai, i te tautoko ngā kainoho o taua kāinga i ngā mahi pakanga.

 Ehara te Petihana mō Ōrākei te nonoke tuatahi o reira, ehara rānei i te mea whakamutunga.  I te tau 1977 ka whakatakoto te kāwanatanga i te kaupapa kia hokona atu te whenua kia hangaia ai he whare mō ngā tāngata whairawa. Nā konei ka nohoia te wāhi e Ngāti Whātua mō ngā rā e 507 kia kāwhakina rātou e ngā pirihimana.  Engari, nā tēnei porotehe te hokonga i mutu ai.[9]

 Whakahokia rawatia a Ōrākei e te kāwanatanga ki a Ngāti Whātua i te tau 1988. I muri mai nei, kua piki ake a Ngāti Whātua hei kaihautū ā-ōhanga, ā-tikanga hoki ki Tāmaki-makaurau.[10]

 He wāhanga ngā petihana me ngā porotehe nō ngā tini mahi Māori o te wā pakanga.  I ngā hōia Māori e whawhai ana ki tāwāhi kia riro ai “te utu o te kirirautanga”, i te rapu tonu ō rātou whānau kia whakatikatia ngā hē o mua, kia kore ai hoki e puta he kino kē.

Whakaahua: In Print, 9 Hune 1943, wh.3.

Whakatemauī: “New Military Exercises. – Men of the Forces turned up in strength. Private O.B.Y. Gregory looks pleased that it’s 1943 and not 1863—better to building the pallisade than ordered to attack it.”

Whakatekatau: “Women Work as well as Men. Not only preparing, serving and clearing the meals, but on the actual job Maori and pakeha women worked, often alongside the men.  Above. On the job barking the manuka, is Mrs. Whaititiri Matekitawhiti, one of those who gave the use of their land at Waitakerei for cutting manuka.”

[1] “New Zealand: Production for the War”, The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs 33, no.131 (1943): 298.

[2] Evening Post, 27 Hepetema 1945, wh.6.  See also “Maori Affairs Committee (Reports of the)”, Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, I-03 (1946): 7-8.  He kōrero mō ēnei kōiwi, taonga hoki,, kei Raymond Firth, “Maori Material in the Vienna Museum”, Journal of the Polynesian Society, 40, 159 (1931): 95-102.

[3] Auckland Star, 25 Pēpuere 1943, wh.4.

[4] On this long history see: https://waitangitribunal.govt.nz/publications-and-resources/school-resources/orakei/the-loss-of-the-orakei-block/

[5] Auckland Star, 28 Hepetema 1942, wh.2.

[6] In Print, 9 June 1943, wh.3.

[7] Waitangi Tribunal, The Orakei Claim (WAI-9) (Wellington: Tribunal, 1987), wh.121.

[8] Tribunal, The Orakei Claim, wh.121.

[9] Aroha Harris, Hīkoi: Forty Years of Māori Protest, Wellington: Huia Publishers, 2004, wh.81-87

[10] See: https://www.stuff.co.nz/pou-tiaki/124892684/how-ngti-whtua-rkei-turned-a-piece-of-land-into-a-billiondollar-enterprise-for-our-people