Te Urewera

For the former national park, see Te Urewera National Park.

Te Urewera is an area of mostly forested, sparsely populated rugged hill country in the North Island of New Zealand, a large part of which is within a protected area designated in 2014, that was formerly Te Urewera National Park.

Lake Waikaremoana in Te Urewera

Te Urewera is the rohe (historical home) of Tūhoe, a Māori iwi (tribe) known for its stance on Māori sovereignty.^[1]

Geography

The extent of Te Urewera is not formally defined. 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."^[2] Much of it is mountainous country, covered with native forest, and it includes the Huiarau, Ikawhenua, and Maungapohatu ranges.^[2] There are a few flat mountain valleys, chiefly the Ahikereru valley, where the settlements of Minginui and Te Whaiti are, and the Ruatāhuna valley. In the north, towards Whakatāne and the coast, are lowland areas, where the settlements of Tāneatua, Ruatoki and Waimana are located.^[3] 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.

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.^[4]

A land settlement was signed in June 2013, after being ratified by all Tūhoe members.^[5][6] Under this, Tūhoe received financial, commercial and cultural redress valued at approximately $170 million; an historical account and Crown apology; and the co-governance of Te Urewera,^[7][8] put into law by enacting the Tūhoe Claims Settlement Act 2014.^[9]

The protected area is now administered by the Te Urewera Board, which comprises joint Tūhoe and Crown membership.^[4] Te Urewera has legal personhood, and owns itself,^[10] having in 2014 become the first natural resource in the world to be awarded the same legal rights as a person.^[11][12]

The new entity continues to meet the International Union for Conservation of Nature criteria for a Category II National Park.^[13]

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 Taneatua, Dave Bamford, a sustainable tourism consultant, Dr John Wood, previously a chief Crown negotiator, and Jo Breese, a former Chief Executive of World Wildlife Fund New Zealand.^[14]

History

The name Te Urewera is a Māori phrase meaning "The Burnt Penis"^[15] (compare Māori: ure, lit. 'penis'; Māori: wera, lit. 'burnt').

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.^[1]

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.^[16][17]

In the early 20th century Rua Kenana 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.^[18] 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.^[19]

Flora and fauna

All North Island native-forest bird species, except for the weka, live in the area.^[20] The crown fern (Blechnum discolor) is a widespread understory plant.^[21]

See also

• Environmental personhood
• Protected areas of New Zealand

References

1. King, Michael (2003). The Penguin History of New Zealand. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-301867-1.
2. McLintock, A.H., ed. (1966). "Urewera". An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand.
3. McKinnon, Malcolm (23 March 2015). "Bay of Plenty places – Urewera lowland settlements". Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand.
4. Ruru, Jacinta (October 2014). "Tūhoe-Crown settlement – Te Urewera Act 2014". Māori Law Review: 16–21. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
5. "Crown and Ngāi Tuhoe sign deed of settlement", 4 June 2013, The Beehive
6. . 3 News NZ. 22 March 2013. Archived from the original on 2 June 2013. Retrieved 22 March 2013.
7. "Crown offer to settle the historical claims of Ngāi Tūhoe"
8. "Tuhoe's plans for $170M settlement". 3 News NZ. 20 March 2013. Archived from the original on 13 April 2013.
9. "Tūhoe-Crown settlement – Tūhoe Claims Settlement Act 2014; Te Urewera report of the Waitangi Tribunal", October 2014 Māori Law Review
10. Te Urewera Act 2014, ss 11–12.
11. Gibson, Jacqui (9 June 2020). "The Māori tribe protecting New Zealand's sacred rainforest". BBC Travel. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
12. BBC's The Travel Show (29 September 2021). "Te Urewera: New Zealand's 'living' rainforest". BBC Travel. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
13. "Tūhoe Claims Settlement and Te Urewera bills passed". Scoop. 24 July 2014. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
14. "Meet the Board", ngaituhoe.iwi.nz, accessed 19 July 2022
15. Binney, Judith (2009). "1". Encircled lands : Te Urewera, 1820–1921. Wellington, N.Z.: Bridget Williams Books. p. 21. ISBN 9781877242441. Retrieved 22 June 2018. Tūhoe are guardians of the lands they named 'Te Urewera', the Burnt Penis. Its fearsome name depicts the fate of Mura-kareke, a son of Tuhoe-potiki, the eponymous ancestor. One version narrates that Mura-kareke chose this death in protest at his sons' treatment of their youngest brother, his 'favourite' child. A different and grimmer version tells that Mura-kareke burnt the severed penis of his younger brother, Mura-anini, in a cooking fire. This was his revenge for Mura-anini's adultery with Mura-kareke's wife. Both versions – one stoic, one savagely vengeful – recall family lines in conflict.
16. Webster, Steven, "Ōhaua Te Rangi and reconciliation in Te Urewera, 1913–1983", Journal of the Polynesian Society Vol. 128, No. 2, June 2019, at thepolynesiansociety.org, accessed 19 July 2022
17. "Urewera District Native Reserve Act 1896 (60 Victoriae 1896 No 27)", nzlii.org, accessed 19 July 2022
18. Anita Miles, "Te Urewera", waitangitribunal.govt.nz, accessed 19 July 2022
19. Te Manutukutuku Issue 63, July 2009, accessed 19 July 2022
20. "Te Urewera National Park". Department of Conservation. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
21. Hogan, C. Michael. "Crown Fern Blechnum discolor". iGoTerra. Retrieved 13 October 2014.

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