A significant housing agreement between Ngāti Rangi and the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) will see 50 homes built on iwi-owned land at Waiouru Military Camp. The agreement fulfils commitments made through the Ngāti Rangi Treaty settlement. Land returned to the iwi will be leased back to the NZDF to provide housing for military personnel.
The signing took place at the New Zealand Army National Marae (Rongomaraeroa o Ngā Hau e Whā), fulfilling commitments made through the Ngāti Rangi Treaty settlement, where the documents covered the land, leases, and planned construction.
The ceremony was attended by the Minister of Defence, Paul Goldsmith, Tomairangi Mareikura, the Chair of Te Tōtarahoe o Paerangi, as well as the Chief of Army, Major General Rose King.
Mareikura says that, while agreement allows Ngāti Rangi to participate in a commercial arrangement, the return of the land carries much deeper significance.
“We have experienced generations of disengagement and alienation from whenua, wāhī tapu in particular. We drive past an area that is significant to us often, and we can’t touch and feel it. We can’t access it,” she says.
“What it does mean is within the landscape of the Waiouru township and the military base based there, we will have a physical presence back in that landscape - and that is huge for Ngāti Rangi,”.
Major General King says the commitment emerged not only from the Treaty settlement journey, but also from a shared determination to build a better future.
“It is about the enduring relationship between those who hold the stories of this whenua and those who have lived, trained, worked, and served upon it for generations,” she says.
A land confiscated for government and military use
Stories of iwi land confiscation date back to the 1930s when the military base was established. The iwi signed their deal of settlement in 2018 but still have places of significance that require permission to enter while military work goes on.
“While we acknowledge the role that the military plays in terms of defending New Zealand, it does mean we can’t go to sites of significance in wāhi tapu for us, and so we see those areas, we long for them, and we feel for them,” she says.
Mareikura recalls a recent visit to a significant site at the base of Mount Ruapehu where Wahianoa river flows. She says Ngāti Rangi once went there to wānanga and contemplate but only a dozen of her cousins have had the opportunity to go back.
“In order to access that, we need to seek permission both from the forester and the Defence Force. At my most recent visit in February this year to that class, having sought the appropriate permissions to go there as a board, we went there.
“We ascended our tūpuna maunga; we were surrounded by military training forces in full camouflage. That was a surreal experience - we also heard live bombing.
“The shifting of the land beneath your feet and the resonating sounds of the bombing exploding on whenua that you can no longer access to feel your fullest self sits with you forever, so that’s really what it means for us today”.
Mareikura says, however, the signing provides an opportunity to reset the relationship between Ngāti Rangi and NZDF.
“While we can’t go back to those places right now, we are encouraged by the opportunity to have a physical presence back within the Waiouru landscape,” she says.
The NZDF will manage the procurement and construction of the 50 homes, which are expected to take approximately three years to complete.
