Te Urewera

Geography

The extent of Te Urewera is not formally defined, but is shown by Te Urewera Board as extending from the shores of the Ōhiwa Harbour of the Bay of Plenty to south of Lake Waikaremoana, and includes the Huiarau Range and Ikawhenua Range. According to An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand (1966), "The Urewera Country originally included all lands east of the Rangitaiki River and west of a line along the lower Waimana River and the upper reaches of the Waioeka River. Its southern boundary was marked by Maungataniwha Mountain, the Waiau River, and Lake Waikaremoana." Much of it is mountainous country, covered with native forest, and it includes the Huiarau, Ikawhenua, and Maungapōhatu ranges. Lake Waikaremoana and Lake Waikareiti are in the south-eastern part.

Most of Te Urewera is in the eastern Bay of Plenty Region and northern Hawke's Bay Region, with a small part in the Gisborne District. All the settlements are outside the protected area. The region is isolated, with State Highway 38 being the only major arterial road crossing it, running from Waiotapu near Rotorua via Murupara to Wairoa.

History

The name Te Urewera is a Māori phrase meaning "The Burnt Penis" (compare ; ).

Because of its isolation and dense forest, Te Urewera remained largely untouched by British colonists until the early 20th century; in the 1880s it was still in effect under Māori control. Te Kooti, a Māori leader, found refuge from his pursuers among Tūhoe, with whom he formed an alliance. As with the King Country at the time, few Pākehā risked entering Te Urewera.

Between 1894 and 1912, with the approval of a Crown statute, the Urewera District Native Reserve Act 1896, leaders of Tūhoe were able to establish a traditional sanctuary known as the Urewera District Native Reserve, which had virtual home rule. However, between 1915 and 1926 the Crown mounted what has been called "a predatory purchase campaign", the Urewera Consolidation Scheme, which took some 70 percent of the reserve and relocated the Tūhoe to more than 200 small blocks of land scattered throughout what in 1954 became the Urewera National Park.

In the early 20th century Rua Kēnana Hepetipa formed a religious community at Maungapōhatu.

In 1999, the Waitangi Tribunal published a 520-page working paper which analysed the history of the region and concluded that the Crown had never intended to allow Tūhoe self-government. Between 2003 and 2005, a panel of the Waitangi Tribunal consisting of Judge Pat Savage, Joanne Morris, Tuahine Northover, and Ann Parsonson heard evidence on land claims in Te Urewera and designated an area which it called the Te Urewera inquiry district. Part One of its report, covering the period up to 1872, was published in July 2009 and found that the Crown had treated Tūhoe unfairly, especially with regard to the confiscation of a large area of land in the Eastern Bay of Plenty in 1866.

Status of the protected area

In 1954 much of Te Urewera was designated as the Te Urewera National Park, but that was disestablished in 2014, to be replaced by a new legal entity simply called Te Urewera.

A land settlement was signed in June 2013 after being ratified by all Tūhoe members. Under this, Tūhoe received financial, commercial and cultural redress valued at approximately $170 million; a historical account and Crown apology; and the co-governance of Te Urewera, put into law by enacting the Tūhoe Claims Settlement Act 2014.

The protected area is now administered by the Te Urewera Board, which comprises joint Tūhoe and Crown membership. having in 2014 become the first natural resource in the world to be awarded the same legal rights as a person.

The new entity continues to meet the International Union for Conservation of Nature criteria for a Category II National Park.

As of 2022, the members of the Te Urewera Board are Jim Bolger of Te Kūiti, a former prime minister of New Zealand, Maynard Manuka Apiata of Rūātoki, Lance Winitana of Waikaremoana, Marewa Titoko of Waimana, Te Tokawhakāea Tēmara of Rotorua, Tāmati Kruger of Tāneatua, Dave Bamford, a sustainable tourism consultant, John Wood, previously a chief Crown negotiator, and Jo Breese, a former chief executive of World Wildlife Fund New Zealand.

Flora and fauna

The crown fern (Blechnum discolor) is a widespread understory plant.

References

References

1. Te Urewera Board. (2017). "Te Kawa o Te Urewera".
2. (1966). "Urewera".
3. McKinnon, Malcolm. (23 March 2015). "Bay of Plenty places – Urewera lowland settlements".
4. (2009). "Encircled lands : Te Urewera, 1820–1921". Bridget Williams Books.
5. King, Michael. (2003). "The Penguin History of New Zealand". Penguin Books.
6. Webster, Steven. (June 2019). "Ōhaua Te Rangi and reconciliation in Te Urewera, 1913–1983". Journal of the Polynesian Society, at Thepolynesiansociety.org.
7. "Urewera District Native Reserve Act 1896 (60 Victoriae 1896 No 27)".
8. Anita Miles. "Te Urewera".
9. (July 2009). "''Te Manutukutuku'' Issue 63".
10. Ruru, Jacinta. (October 2014). "Tūhoe-Crown settlement – Te Urewera Act 2014". Māori Law Review.
11. (4 June 2013). "Crown and Ngāi Tuhoe sign deed of settlement". The Beehive.
12. (March 22, 2013). "Govt and Tuhoe sign $170m settlement". 3 News NZ.
13. "Crown offer to settle the historical claims of Ngāi Tūhoe". Māori Law Review.
14. (March 20, 2013). "Tuhoe's plans for $170M settlement". 3 News NZ.
15. (October 2014). "Tūhoe-Crown settlement – Tūhoe Claims Settlement Act 2014; Te Urewera report of the Waitangi Tribunal". Māori Law Review.
16. Te Urewera has [[legal personhood]], and owns itself,Te Urewera Act 2014, ss 11–12.
17. Gibson, Jacqui. (9 June 2020). "The Māori tribe protecting New Zealand's sacred rainforest". BBC Travel.
18. BBC's ''The Travel Show''. (29 September 2021). "Te Urewera: New Zealand's 'living' rainforest". BBC Travel.
19. (24 July 2014). "Tūhoe Claims Settlement and Te Urewera bills passed". Scoop.
20. "Meet the Board".