Ngāi Tūhoe

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Ngāi Tūhoe
Iwi of New Zealand
Ngāi Tūhoe.png
Rohe (location) Te Urewera
Waka (canoe) Mataatua, Nukutere
Population 32,760
"United Tribes" number 51
Website http://www.tuhoe.com

Ngāi Tūhoe (Māori pronunciation: [ˈŋaːi ˈtʉːhɔɛ]), a Māori iwi ("tribe") of New Zealand, takes its name from an ancestral figure, Tūhoe-pōtiki. The word tūhoe literally means "steep" or "high noon" in the Māori language. Tūhoe people also bear the sobriquet Nga Tamariki o te Kohu ("the children of the mist").

Contents

Traditional lands [edit]

Tūhoe traditional lands is Te Urewera (Te Urewera National Park) in the eastern North Island, a steep, heavily-forested area which includes Lake Waikaremoana. Tūhoe traditionally relied on the forest for their needs. The tribe had its main centres of population in the small mountain valleys of Ahikereru and Ruatahuna, with Maungapohatu, the inner sanctum of the Urewera, as their sacred mountain. The Tūhoe country had a great reputation among the neighbouring tribes as a graveyard for invading forces.[1]

The colonial period [edit]

Tūhoe had little direct contact with the early European settlers.[1] The first major contact occurred when the iwi fought against the settler government in the battle of Ōrākau in 1864. Rewi Maniapoto, who had some tribal links to Tūhoe, visited the Ureweras in 1862 and persuaded them to take part in the rebellion against the government against the wishes of some of the elders. Initially reluctant, Tūhoe showed their committment by giving Rewi ammunition to back the rebellion.[2] During a cease fire in the Battle of Orakau, under flag of truce, Gilbert Mair, a translator, was shot in the shoulder by a Tūhoe warrior. Nearly all Tūhoe at the battle were killed. The following year authorities accused Tūhoe of sheltering a Hau Hau murderer, Kereopa Te Rau who had killed,beheaded and eaten the eyeballs of CMS missionary Karl Volkner in the Volkner Incident. Initially Tūhoe had cooperated in tracking down the Hau hau leader and had even taken him prisoner. Tūhoe tried to use him as a bargaining chip but the government demanded Te Rau be handed over for trial . Tūhoe then released him and Te Rau hid in the Ureweras .[3] As punishment, the government confiscated 5700ha or about 7% of Tūhoe land on its northern coastal border in 1866. The confiscated Tūhoe land adjoined the land confiscated from Bay of Plenty rebels after the battle of Gate Pā. The Crown took Tūhoe's only substantial flat, fertile land and their only access to the coast for kai moana (sea food).[4] The Tūhoe people retained only interior, more difficult land, setting the scene for later famines.[5]

In 1868, Tūhoe sheltered the Māori leader Te Kooti, a fugitive who had escaped from imprisonment on the Chatham Islands.Te Kooti arrived in the area witha large group of escaped convicts,fully armed with modern weapons he had stolen from the ship he had hijacked. It is doubtful if Tūhoe could have resisted his demands for sanctuary. Some Tūhoe joined his armed Ringatū band but later it was also Tūhoe who betrayed Te Kooti's whereabouts to the government forces. Some even joined the government forces in hunting him down. Government forces punished Tūhoe who supported Te Kooti during the manhunt. Te Ara, the Online Encyclopedia of New Zealand, notes:

"Old enemies of Tūhoe fought on the side of the government; they carried out most of the raids into Te Urewera during a prolonged and destructive search between 1869 and 1872. In a policy aimed at turning the tribe away from Te Kooti, a scorched earth campaign was unleashed against Tūhoe; people were imprisoned and killed, their cultivations and homes destroyed, and stock killed or run off. Through starvation, deprivation and atrocities at the hands of the government’s Māori forces, Tūhoe submitted to the Crown."[6]

After these events, Tūhoe isolated themselves, closing off access to their lands by refusing to sell, lease or survey them, and blocking the building of roads. Historian Jamie Belich describes the Urewera as one of the last zones of Māori autonomy[2] and the scene of the last case of armed Māori resistance: in 1916 the New Zealand Police Force arrested the Tūhoe prophet Rua Kenana on charges of making illegal alcohol after a gun-battle in the Urewera left 10 people killed or wounded.[1] The police conducted the raid "like a military operation" entering alien territory.[7] Belich states that significant European penetration did not occur in the Urewera district until the 20th century. A road was built by the government from Rotorua to Ruatahuna in 1901 to end the isolation of Tūhoe by opening up the first motor road. Tūhoe did eventually realise especially in the Great Depression that to grow their local economy they needed good roads to the outside world. They went as far as donating land for roads. As early as 1906 Tūhoe had given land for roads and even offered free labour to assist in the construction but building arterial roads in the Ureweras had a low government priority. In the early 1900s traces of gold were found in the Ureweras and Rua Te Kanana tried to sell illegal mining rights to raise money. At the same time Rua wished to sell very large areas of land to the government to raise funds for his new Jerusalem, but despite having a petition signed by every Tūhoe adult the government insisted that he stick to the law. In the 1920s Gordon Coates, Minister of public works went to the area to check its suitablity for a railway and to discuss roads. The land was very steep with the Poverty Bay Herald descibing the gradient as "one in nothing". Coates knew that by this time Tūhoe were refusing to make any contribution to the road at all. The mountainous terrain was daunting for farming. Tūhoe could not accumulate any capital to develop land they had cleared from 1907. Instead they sold all their sheep and cattle to pay for legal costs. These debts were not paid until 1931. In the early 1930s the government helped develop Tūhoe land at both Ruatoki and Ruatahuna. The government were aware that, like many New Zealanders in the Great Depression, Tūhoe had hard times. In 1934 a teacher wrote that "they have no money apart from what is given by government as Family Allowances and Old Age Pensions".[8] In 1936 a report recognised that land development at Maungapohatu Mountain (a Ringatu stronghold),"would be a social success if undertaken". The report pointed out that the venture would probably fail if Tūhoe were required to pay back both the interest and the capital. In 1937 after several other studies the government decided that it was uneconomic to invest in roads or settlements. By this time the isolated Maungapohatu settlement had collapsed anyway.[9] The Tūhoe population was always small. Living conditions were very bad. School records from the 1920s and 1930s show a very high death rates especially of children. 75%of those who died were people under 25. The main causes of death were infectious diseases such as influenza, gastro enteritis, typhoid and whooping cough. Between 1924 and 1936, the Depression period,57 people died in a community of 30 families.[10]

Tūhoe today [edit]

Tūhoe people have a reputation for their continued strong adherence to Māori identity and for their unbroken use of the Māori language, which 40% of them still speak (2001 figure).

Of the Tūhoe people, estimated to number between 33,000 and 45,000,[11] about 19 per cent still live on their tribal lands; most of the rest live in towns on the fringes of Te Urewera and in the larger North Island cities. At least 5,000 live in Australia.[12] Tūhoe continue to maintain camps in Te Urewera and help run conservation programmes for endangered birds such as the kiwi and the kokako. Many Tūhoe return to their homelands every two years for the Te Hui Ahurei ā Tūhoe (Tūhoe Festival), which features kapa haka, debates, sports competitions, and fashion shows. The event provides an important opportunity to maintain ties between friends and relatives.

From the late 1990s some Tūhoe started referring to themselves as the "Tūhoe nation".[5] Observers note that Tūhoe and the Crown have long had a strained relationship, with widespread rejection of Pākehā rule.[citation needed] Some Tūhoe people say they have never signed the Treaty of Waitangi and never gave up their sovereignty.[13]

In March 2013, Tūhoe signed a deed of settlement, settling the tribe's claims at the Waitangi Tribunal. Under the deal, Tūhoe will get $170 million and more control over Urewera National Park. The deed is yet to be ratified by all Tūhoe members.[14]

Tamati Kruger is the Tūhoe Chief Negotiator

Subtribes of Tūhoe include Ngāti Koura.

Waitangi Tribunal [edit]

Tūhoe and other local iwi have brought the Urewera claim to the Waitangi Tribunal, a commission of inquiry set up in 1975 to compensate Māori for past land-confiscations on the part of the New Zealand government. The Urewera tribunal, set up in 2002, accepted submissions until 2005 and expected to report in 2007[15]

In October 2012, the Crown offered to settle Tūhoe's claim in the Waitangi Tribunal with an offer that includes "financial, commercial and cultural redress valued at approximately $170 million; an historical account and Crown apology; [and] the co-governance of Te Urewera lands"[16][17]

The settlement was signed in March 2013.[18]

2007 Urewera police raids [edit]

Main article: 2007 New Zealand anti-terror raids

A major armed-police raid in the Ureweras on 15 October 2007 focused attention on the Tūhoe people, and claims emerged that some Tūhoe had run terrorist training-camps in the Ureweras.[19] The New Zealand Police arrested 17 people nationwide and charged them with firearms offences.[20] Solicitor-General David Collins rejected a bid by police to lay charges of terrorism against 12 of those arrested because of concerns over inadequacies of the Terrorism Suppression Act, but said the raids had stopped some "very disturbing activities".[21]

New Zealand Attorney-General at the time Michael Cullen drew attention to Mr Collins' statement that the police had acted appropriately but the threshold was very high.

"Anybody who claims this is some kind of vindication for all those involved is misreading what the Solicitor-General said."[21]

Police Commissioner Howard Broad publicly apologised for the actions of his officers during the raid, acknowledging they had set back relations between police and Tūhoe people. He said:

"We regret the hurt and stress caused to the community of Ruatoki and we will seek an appropriate way to repair the damage done to police-Maori relations. History tells us that episodes such as this can and do take decades to heal."[22]

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b c James Belich (1986). The New Zealand Wars. Penguin. ISBN 0-14-011162-X. 
  2. ^ Stories without End.J. Binney.Bridget Williams.2010.
  3. ^ Stories Without End.J. Binney. Bridget Williams.2010.
  4. ^ Stories without end.J Binney.Bridget Williams. 2010.
  5. ^ a b Laugesen, Ruth (21 October 2007). "A brief history of Tūhoe". The Sunday Star-Times. Retrieved 30 October 2011. 
  6. ^ Te Ara encyclopedia entry on Ngāi Tūhoe
  7. ^ Peter Webster, Rua and the Maori Millennium, 1979, as quoted by Belich. The Ringatu religious leader Rua had been illegally brewing whiskey. During the attempted arrest a gun battle broke out. Rua was jailed for 2 years.
  8. ^ Storeis Without End j.Binney.P363 Photo Caption.
  9. ^ Stories Without End. Maungapohutu Revisted . J.Binney. Bridget Williams. 2010
  10. ^ Stories Without End. J. Binney.Bridget Williams.2010.
  11. ^ "2006 Census for Tūhoe", tpk.govt.nz
  12. ^ Ihaka, James (18 October 2007). "Q & A: Who are the Tuhoe people?". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 30 October 2011. 
  13. ^ Catherine Masters and Patrick Gower (20 October 2007). "Guerillas in the mist". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 30 October 2011. 
  14. ^ "Govt and Tuhoe sign $170m settlement". 3 News NZ. X March 22, 2013. 
  15. ^ "Tuhoe have sense of injustice", The Press, October 17, 2007
  16. ^ [1]
  17. ^ "Tuhoe's plans for $170M settlement". 3 News NZ. March 20, 2013. 
  18. ^ "Govt and Tuhoe sign $170m settlement". 3 News NZ. X March 22, 2013. 
  19. ^ "Claims of Maori separatist plot begin to unravel", London Independent, October 23, 2007
  20. ^ Trevett, Claire (14 November 2007). "Raids hikoi due at Parliament". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 30 October 2011. 
  21. ^ a b Claire Trevett and Alanah Eriksen (9 November 2007). "Why terror law failed in face of 'very disturbing activities'". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 30 October 2011. 
  22. ^ "Sufficient and proper basis for investigations under Terrorism Suppression Act" New Zealand Police website, December 18, 2007.

External links [edit]
Northern
Tainui
West coast
Te Arawa
Mataatua
East coast
Southern North Island
South Island
Urban "pan-tribal"
‡ Tribes that are located in both the North and South Island
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