Takahiwai (Northland ) Traditional Cache
Hidden : 9/16/2019
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size: small (small)

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Geocache Description:


Māori have proud history in Waipu and Bream Bay. Many people are unaware of the background to the devastating land loss that Patuharakeke have experienced and the reasons why. There is just an assumption that the land was purchased by the Crown and we suspect many people living in Waipu assume that there was no one living there before the Nova Scotians arrived which is certainly not the case. The Waipu block was 40,000 acres and the Ruakaka block 14,800 acres and NOT one single acre of these two blocks have been left by the Crown in Māori ownership, and so Patuharakeke were relegated to living just at Takahiwai from the 1850s. That is why the marae at Takahiwai is the ONLY one from the south side of the Whangarei Harbour all the way to Paki - because the Crown left no land for Māori in that whole coastal strip. James Busby purchased a large area at Ruakaka and Waipu in December 1839 - he paid 40 pounds and some other items including 60 blankets for an area of about 100,000 acres This purchase was not recognised as valid by the Crown following further investigations in 1841 and 1842. Historians have shown clearly that Maori who agreed to sell land in the 1840s and 1850s thought they were only selling a right for the buyer to use the land, that the land was based on a mutual benefit, not that the land was given forever. James Busy had been a British Resident in NZ based in Russell. He carried a lot of influence and his purchase might be seen as New Zealand’s first case of "insider trading" - He may have been aware that the land he was purchasing only 6 weeks ahead of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi may not be available following the signing of the Treaty. The British Crown had plans to stop Māori from selling land to anyone except the Crown once the Treaty was signed. Busby was paid 36,000 pounds in compensation in 1868 by the Crown (a huge amount in those days ) for his old claims at Ngunguru and Ruakaka - quite a capital gain over 25 years for a 40 pound outlay ( and some blankets). In terms of background, the block called Poupouwhenua was 5000 acres and included all of the Marsden Point area across to One Tree Point, down to the old freshwater lake, which is now filled in. It was immediately to the north of the Ruakaka block. This block was confiscated by the Crown late 1944 as compensation for a house that was burnt down in Matakana earlier that year by a group that included a chief from Patuharakeke. The settler's house was burnt down because of a dispute about the land it was on. The Auckland Provincial Governor was later quoted in the Southern Cross newspaper as saying that following an investigation he was satisfied that the events in Matakana had been exaggerated but the land was still taken. This is the land that Marsden Point Oil Refinery is located, also most of the Mighty River Power surplus lands, the Marsden Cove marina etc. The Crown Deed in 1854 regarding Poupouwhenua was in fact a payment of 10 pounds for the claims of two Whangarei chiefs to 150 acres of the 5000 acres of Poupouwhenua (an area called Rauri ). This was not a deed of purchase but just a payment to extinguish their claims. Poupouwhenua was of great importance to Patuarakeke and provided access to the rich coastal and harbour sea food sources. Ruakaka and Waipu blocks were purchased by the Crown in 1854 and the Patuarakeke Trust Board claim to the Waitangi Tribunal outlines lots of Treaty breaches by the Crown with these purchases. There was a lot of pressure to sell so that Nova Scotians could settle. The Crown paid 2 pence per acre for Waipu and 6 pence per acre for Ruakaka and straightaway on-sold this land to settlers for 10 shillings per acre (120 pence an acre) and so the price paid was unfair to Māori. Also the Crown purchaser Donald Mclean had been told by the Crown to leave some land of each block for Maori to live on. He set aside NONE of the Waipu block and the reserve set aside in Ruakaka block (1200 acres called Waiwarawara ) was not protected by the Crown as a reserve and sold 10 years later with the Crown’s encouragement leaving Patuharakeke with not one acre in Ruakaka, Waipu or One Tree Point. So Patuaharakeke missed out on the chance to have productive farms (the land at Takahiwai had also been broken up and about a third sold ) and owned no land that would be of value commercially. The tribe only have five acres now at TAKAHIWAI in communal ownership, out of an original 100,000 acres. The Crown has acknowledged that its actions left Whangarei Māori virtually landless and the claims are about trying to right the wrongs. Ireland and Scotland have similar stories of land being taken

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

unatvat nobhg

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)

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