Moehau te maunga ki Te Aroha
Tikapa te moana
Marutuahu te tangata"
Ki a ratou tupuna kua wehe ai ki po... me matou kaumatua kua hinga i nga tau, ia tau, ia tau... haere atu ra koutou ma, e honoa ki a ratou ma o te hunga wairua i tua o te arai, na reira ka nui te aroha ki a koutou kua ngaro ki te po, ka nui te whakaaro o koutou kupu ma te hokinga o tatou mana motuhake, na reira haere atu ra ki ta tatou Matua nui i te rangi, na reira haere, haere, haere atu ra koutou... apiti hono tatai hono koutou te hunga wairua ki a koutou.
E huri ake nei ki tatou o te hunga ora, e mihi nui ki a koutou... na reira nau mai, haere mai, whakatau mai nga manuwhiri tuarangi, nga hapu, nga whanaunga, nga whanau hoki, nau mai haere mai ki tenei waahi rorohiko o te iwi o Patukirikiri o Hauraki o Tamakimakaurau o Marutuahu whanui, na reira tena ra koutou katoa.
Anei he korero iti o nga iwi o Patukirikiri....
THE ORIGINS OF PATUKIRIKIRI
The eponymous ancestor of the Patukirikiri tribe is 'Kapetaua.' He was born in Auckland at Oue Pa (Duders Beach). His father was Tawake, a descendant of the Ngatokimatawhaorua waka of Northland while his mother Te Auwhangarahi was a local woman of Wai o Hua and Te Uri o Pou descent.
In his youth, Kapetaua was treated harshly by his brother-in-law Tarakumukumu which resulted in the name "Te Toka a Kapetaua" (The rock of Kapetaua), being applied to what is now more commonly referred to as 'Bean Rock' in the Waitemataa Harbour. Reaching adulthood Kapetaua concluded his insult by taking possession of his brother-in-laws Wai-o-Hua domains in Auckland, being at the time, Waiheke Island, Orakei, Kohimarama and Mahurangi.
After residing at most of these places he decided to migrate to the Moehau region and establish himself there so leaving some of his people as kaitiaki in their Auckland areas, he crossed over to Moehau and using the famed Ngati Huarere cultivation 'Te Rakato" as an excuse, he forced the local Ngati Huarere from their lands at 'Kapanga' (Coromandel) and took possession of the area.
Later his descendants began to intermarry with the newly arrived Marutuahu people, resulting in strong whakapapa links being forged with Ngati Tamatera, while in Auckland his people formed these same whanau links with Ngati Paoa, which new whanau bonds directly involved them in the struggle between Ngati Huarere and the Marutuahu people where the latter were victorious some four generations later. This hard earned victory however persuaded many Patukirikiri descendants to accept their Marutuahu whakapapa and heritage as their principal bloodline.
During this time of unrest, one battle of significance for the descendants of Kapetaua occurred when Ngati Huarere launched a sneak attack against them at Motutapere (Peters Island) in the Coromandel Harbour in the early hours before dawn however their arrival on the shingle beach was heard by two women of senior rank who went to investigate and recognising the danger raised the alarm, which signalled their immediate doom. With the Island's inhabitants now alerted the invaders fled but were quickly overtaken and destroyed near the centre of the current Coromandel township.
This single event and the importance of the two slain women saw the name "Patu-Kirikiri" (slain on shingle) applied to all the descendants of Kapetaua.
During the time of Pita Taurua, his siblings expressed a desire to migrate and reconnect with their Tawake links in Northland, which Pita as the Patukirikiri paramount chief reluctantly accepted, however just prior to their departure he announced to them all;
"Naku anake i konei, kei kora ta koutou" - Here belongs to me, yours there belongs to you.
...meaning he would not challenge their rights or interests in Northland and they should not challenge his in Hauraki and Auckland, and with this the whanau separated and went their separate ways.
Despite sharing the same whakapapa and a common history, both branches of Patukirikiri now reside in their respective tribal regions each with its shared common histories, and now each with its own separate histories, and each with its own respective mana but more importantly, each with its own autonomy as Patukirikiri.
TE PATUKIRIKIRI IWI INCORPORATION
Patukirikiri like many modern day Iwi today fell victim to the Crown's land acquisition methods of the past and has struggled against the Crown for justice since that time, which long standing struggle has involved many generations of Patukirikiri people.
The tribe evolved with the times trying to bring the Crown to account for its past mis-deeds continuing to manage tribal affairs via a runanga made up of family heads, however their tribal voice continued to be ignored by the Crown and the Government, so in 1997 the tribe restructured for formal recognition and incorporated itself under the Incorporated Societies Act 1908 and bought all their tribal and whanau affairs under one management entity... Te Patukirikiri Iwi Incorporation (TPI).
The TPI structure contains a governance level and supporting executive structure for accountability and transparency purposes. While there are formally ten runanga trustees and four executives... and while every legal entity has the right to manage its shareholders affairs within a 'trustee only' environment, this right is not practiced nor supported by Patukirikiri or its entity TPI. Every TPI runanga hui facilitated by TPI allows every descendant of Pita Taurua to participate in the discussion, the moving of motions and voting rights as one would be permitted to undertake at any tribal hui-a-Iwi and in that way every tribal member attending, whether registered with TPI or not, is involved in the tribes decision making processes. TPI is the servant organisation of its Patukirikiri people.
Back in 1988 Patukirikiri had become a governance member of the Hauraki Maori Trust Board (HMTB) and worked alongside other Hauraki and Auckland tribes to present the Wai 100 claim, a blanket claim for all the lands of Hauraki. However after the Wai 100 presentation many Patukirikiri members felt their specific tribal grievances had not been fully covered by the presentation, so in 1999 Patukirikiri lodged its own claim being recognised by the Waitangi Tribunal in 2000 as Wai 811.
After some direction from the Crown regarding claimants forming cluster groups and large natural groupings with common ancestry etc, Patukirikiri with about fifteen other claimants established the Marutuahu Claims Committee (MCC) and in due course presented their Wai 811 claim in 2002. After the MCC presentation the claimants under their tribal groupings formed a large natural grouping called the Marutuahu Working Group (MWG) to carry them through to the next part of the mandating process, however the HMTB viewed the MWG as rivals and raised representation issues forcing the mandating process to be halted in 2005.
The Auckland tribes progress were in a similarly stalled predicament but for different reasons whereby Sir Douglas Graham was tasked by the Crown to find a way through the predicament. In 2009 Sir Douglas offered the tribes a solution being the appointment of their own tribal interim negotiators to continue the mandating process, which offer was accepted by all.
At a Hui-a-Iwi on 29 November 2009, Patukirikiri appointed its interim negotiators being;
... Whereby both active negotiators still participate in negotiations in Auckland and Hauraki and have reported back to their Patukirikiri people at hui-a-iwi and runanga hui at the very least once a month since January 2010, with a few of these hui involving the Chief Crown Negotiator.
The negotiations process is still underway.
It is the general intention of Patukirikiri and TPI to negotiate a full settlement for all Patukirikiri interests particularly former land estate so that these lands when returned by the Crown will be delivered back to the descendants of the original owners.
Na reira koutou, haere atu ra, ma te Atua e tiaki e manaaki ki a koutou katoa.
For further enquiries contact;
David Williams; 021 0221 9658 david@patukirikiri.iwi.nz
To Register with Patukirikiri: http://haurakicollective.maori.nz/register/
For more Hauraki and Auckland Settement Information: www.haurakicollective.maori.nz
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