OUR STORY
Ko Wai Mātou
OUR TRADITIONAL HISTORY
Ngā Kōrero
Ngāti Kearoa, Ngāti Tuara are the descendants of Kearoa and Tuara, two esteemed Te Arawa women. Kearoa was a rangatira and the wife of Ngatoroirangi, tohunga and navigator of Te Arawa waka. Tuara was a descendant of Ika who traveled on Te Arawa waka. The two lines of descent come together in the union of Te Rangiwahitu and Te Uira.
Ngāti Kea Ngāti Tuara first came to Horohoro over five hundred years ago led by Te Aokawhai. Some years later his grandson Haukapuanui led a group which conquered Ngāti Kura-Haumia on the Patetere lands to the west and Ngāti Kea settled there. Ngāti Tuara settled on lands at Tihi-o-Tonga and Tarewa and, over time, Ngāti Kea and Ngāti Tuara came together as one iwi.
The bush country around Horohoro provided lots of food: birds such as kereru, kākā, and tūī, fish and waterfowl in the streams and waterways, and plants such as pōhue, and aruhe.
OUR TRADITIONAL LAND
Tō Mātou Whenua
The ancestral lands of Ngāti Kea Ngāti Tuara surround our maunga Te Horohoroinga o ngā ringa o Kahumatamomoe. These lands once covered at least 45-50,000 acres from the base of Horohoro maunga, north to Tihi-o-Tonga and Tarewa, west across the rugged and deeply gorged bush lands and the high plateau of Patetere from Te Moana to Pukaki, south across the plains to Te Uraura, near Tokoroa, east to the peak of Tikorangi, across the Matahana basin and around the southern end of the mountain back to Horohoro.
Today we have about 4,000 acres of land let in hapū ownership and of that about 2,500 acres is in farm land and forestry. Ngāti Kea Ngāti Tuara have set aside 586 hectares on Horohoro maunga as a bush reserve.
Ngāti Kea Ngāti Tuara, as an affiliate of Te Pumautanga o Te Arawa, is working to regain some of our traditional lands as part of a Treaty of Waitangi settlement.
Our Organisations
Our Rūnanga
Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Kearoa Ngāti Tuara is a post-settlement governance entity, formed in 2007 to receive assets from our Treaty settlement assets, and administer these for the benefit of the members of the hapū.
Our vision is to revive and foster the mana of Ngāti Kearoa Ngāti Tuara. To realise our vision the Rūnanga developed Paerangi 2050 – a strategy with five focus areas:
- Te Tohu Kaupapa: Reviving our cultural heritage
- Te Tohu Hāpori: Caring for and empowering our iwi
- Te Tohu Taiao: Restoring our natural environment
- Te Tohu Whai Rawa: Growing our asset base
- Te Tohu Tūāpapa: Developing a sustainable infrastructure
Further information about the activities of the Rūnanga is available in the Annual Reports, click here to download.
Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Kearoa Ngāti Tuara set up a Charitable Trust in 2013 to manage some external contracts with government and local council agencies. These are in the areas of education, health, te reo Māori and conservation.
OUR TRADITIONAL LAND
Paiaka Lands Trust
Te Paiaka Lands Trust is a whenua tōpū Trust set up in 2002 following the
amalgamation of the land blocks Tihiotonga A, Kaitao Rotohokahoka 2Q
and Horohoro 2A. Te Paiaka also leases other blocks of land at Tihiotonga
and at Horohoro. Te Paiaka Lands Trust is a commercial and successful
organisation.
NKNT
Reserves Trust
Ngāti Kearoa Ngāti Tuara have 18 blocks of land registered as Māori reservations. The largest block is the Horohoro Bush and Mountain Reserve which is 586ha. The reserves also include pā and urupā, marae, water reserves, a geothermal reserve and other sites. Access is a key issue as many of the reserves are land-locked. There are also a number of other sites of historic and cultural significance to Ngāti Kearoa Ngāti Tuara that are not legally registered.