Increased tourism to the Chathams makes access to cultural sites commercially valuable. Claims to mana whenua do not create property rights over land, the Court of Appeal ruled in a dispute over control of Conservation land on the Chathams.
Chatham Islands’ bloody history was revisited in a dispute over control of cultural sites on the islands. In dispute, Taia Farm; 1200 hectares of low-lying sand dune and peat country containing carved images on living kopi trees. The area is currently an historic reserve under Conservation Department control. Management of the reserve is in dispute. Moriori claim mana whenua, saying they should have management control. Mana whenua is also claimed by Ngati Mutunga, who invaded in 1835, subjugating the then 2000-3000 Moriori living on the islands.
Ngati Mutunga point to an 1870 Native Land Court ruling confirming its native title as traditional owner of the land. This ruling was based on what is known as ‘the 1840 rule:’ who was the traditional owner as at 1840? By Maori custom, Ngati Mutunga’s invasion had extinguished Moriori ownership rights by 1840. Most Ngati Mutunga invaders in fact later returned to their ancestral Taranaki lands.
Now in the 21stcentury, Ngati Mutunga are in court arguing failure to give them management control of Taia Farm is a breach of property rights enshrined in the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act; an ‘unreasonable seizure of property.’
Mana whenua is not a property right in the classical western sense, the Court of Appeal ruled. Property rights introduced by European settlers have property as an asset capable of sale, mortgage and partition. None of these concepts apply to mana whenua; a Maori concept of having collective control over land and use of its resources.
Kamo v. Conservation – Court of Appeal (29.01.20)
20.024