Maungakiekie/One Tree Hill lies in the middle of the Tamaki isthmus where a volcano erupted 67,000 years ago. At 600 feet, it is the largest intact crater in Auckland.
Māori tribes lived here in the 17th and 18th centuries and subsequently created the Waiohua confederation of tribes, which comprised a population of 5,000 people. On the hill's southern slopes the tribes terraced the land and cultivated extensive sweet potato plantations.
In 1844, the tribal chiefs sold a block of this land to Thomas Henry, a local merchant. Three years later most of this property was made into a Crown reserve, which became known as the One Tree Hill Domain. In 1853, Auckland businessmen John Logan Campbell and William Brown purchased Henry's remaining land to develop a farm named the One Tree Hill Estate, which raised cattle, sheep, and potatoes.
Sir John Logan Campbell, a physician, was one of the original Scottish settlers in 1840. In 1901, he gifted the 230-hectare area to the city and requested that a
memorial be built to the Māori people at the summit.
After many land rights battles, broken treaties, protests, rioting, and laws written to favor the English settlers, the Māori became dispossessed of their lands. However, the treaty of 1840 is the one the Māori have been using since the 1970s to claim their rights to the land.
Today, this land is a 118-acre park owned by the Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki
Makaurau Collective and
administered by the Tūpuna Maunga o Tāmaki Makaurau Authority.
The photos below show the hill today and a representation of what it looked like when the Māori tribes lived there. The tree left on the hill was cut down by the white Europeans when they arrived. In 1902, local Māori protested the act. In response, John Logan Campbell planted a stand of Monterey pines of which only one lone tree survived. That tree was felled in a chainsaw attack in 2000 by a Māori activist who wanted to raise awareness of the government's fiscal envelope policy--a target to settle all historic Treaty claims for NZ$1 billion--on the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Today, there is only a stump of the last ‘one tree’. The original tōtara tree was cut down in 1852 by a Pākehā (white) settler, either because it was significant to the Māori people or because he needed firewood – depending on which account you believe.
In 2015 new native trees were planted on the site, with a view to one day having a single pohutukawa or tōtara.Maungawhau
This area on top of this hill is known by the Māori people as Maungawhau or what the English called Mont Eden. It is a sacred place (wāhi tapu) of great cultural, historical, and spiritual significance to the present-day 13 tribes of Auckland (Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau). Since 1200 C.E., Maungawhau was one of the largest fortified settlements (pā) in the region, and for centuries it was home to thousands of people.
Maungawhau is a Māori-language name meaning 'mountain of the whau tree'. The name "Mount Eden" was chosen by Governor William Hobson, to honor George Eden, first Earl of Auckland, who was his superior naval officer. The crater is named Te Upu Kai a Mataaho ('the bowl of Mataaho'); Mataaho was a deity said to live in the crater and to be the guardian of the secrets hidden in the earth.
The
boardwalk around the rim of the crater is being built to create a safe
and durable walking surface while it protects further damage to the
underlying cultural and archaeological values of the Maunga.
Construction began in July 2022 and is scheduled to be completed in
March 2023.
The view of modern-day Auckland from Maungawhau.
Dane, a Māori "Cultural Entertainer"
It was a scorching, hot day with the brightest sun blinding our eyes. We gathered at the Michael Slaughter Memorial, which overlooks Mission Bay to meet Dane, a Māori leader and a descendant of that culture. We were in for an amazing presentation.
Dane was passionate about Māori culture as he explained it to us. First he demonstrated it with a traditional greeting: "Ki-ora, I am Dane". We each took a turn at this "Hello and Welcome" greeting.
He then called on the ancestors to be with us on these ancestral lands. He acknowledged the Creator of All Things, Mother Earth, and all the loved ones who died over the past year, especially those lost to Covid. Finally, he acknowledge all of our living loved ones: "We return to the living and feel the vibrations of this sacred place".
His prayer was a gesture of the Māori values of care and respect, and hospitality, which includes the importance of being guardians of the stories and guardians of the Earth. This prayer is done with humility in sharing love and compassion for all people.
Dane regards himself as a "cultural entertainer", that is, he stands on the shoulders of his ancestors and their stories to share the lived experience of the tribe and its lands. His main objective as a "cultural entertainer" is to build relationships with others, including visitors like us who are just here for a short time. In this way, those who are gathered have the opportunity to feel in their hearts that they belong to the tribal family.
"We came from somewhere and traversed the waters to this place," said Dane referring to the Māori migration of 1320-50 from the islands of Polynesia to the land of the "Long White Cloud". They were the first inhabitants on New Zealand's two islands.
"We are connected to the land. We are communal. The land connects us as a tribe," said Dane.
The Māori liked these new lands because they saw them as a place where the rich volcanic soil provided food and the twin harbors provided fish and shellfish. They ate moa, a large, flightless bird, which eventually became extinct as a result. They also traded green stone and obsidian with nearby tribes.
The Māori learned to understand Nature in order to live with it. For example, they learned to interpret Portokey, the youngest volcano, which provided signs for living, and the red trees, which indicated the time for harvesting sea urchins.
Dane gave a short history of the Māori encounter with the white Europeans and the wars and treaties that took their lands from them. One of the important treaties was the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi where the Māori agreed to "cede sovereignty to the British crown". The treaty was intended to create a partnership between Māori and the British Crown for purposes of unity rather than conflict. However, different understandings of
the treaty, and breaches of it continued the conflict with much more pain, suffering, and death for the Māori.
They only had 48 hours to translate and understand the treaty, and it was misinterpreted. As a result, they were not only stripped of their lands but of their identity, their culture, and their well-being.
The white colonialists who followed and brought disease, alcohol, and guns with them and the Māori further lost both their resources and power because they couldn't win battles with their simple weapons.
By 1860s, what little land the Māori had sustained them in ways they were familiar. They were happy to be with their families. However, the city of Auckland began to grow and encroach upon their lands. In 1914, sewage was directed to Mission Bay, and it poisoned the water. In 1951, the Auckland leaders wanted more land to build more houses so the Māori were forcibly removed and their homes torched. The older Māori were traumatized by these actions and many of them died. Because the Māori had no written language and the elders were the guardians of their stories, that part of their heritage died with them. Many Māori men found jobs in areas away from their families and culture.
In 1969, the Auckland city fathers set aside land to build a national monument to the city's indigenous past. However, the government did not ask the Māori for their input. The Māori later used the land to build a village that helped to preserve their stories and culture, to provide a cemetery, and to use it as a place to offer hospitality to visitors. Among the visitors over the years were Barak Obama, Hillary Clinton, Jacques Cousteau, Stevie Wonder, and then-Prince Charles.
Since the 1970s, the Māori have gradually come to understand more about the Waitangi treaty, and how to use it to win back their rights. For example, the Treaty of Waitangi contains three articles which recognize Māori retaining their mana (authority) and allow the British Crown to govern its own people; protect Māori resources and culture; and require Māori to enjoy equal rights with British citizens. In 1975, the government established the Treaty of Waitangi Tribunal which provided a forum to settle historical grievances focused on the restitution of Article II rights: the taking of resources including land and the absence of protective measures regarding Māori culture, according to senior researcher in Maori Studies at Massey University.
Mulhollan goes on to say that according to the Office of Treaty Settlements, the government entity responsible for negotiating agreements with iwi (tribes), 51 claims were settled between 1990 and 2014; three others dealt specifically with resources rather than being solely iwi-based; and another 35 are at various stages. Each settlement contains financial and commercial redress, cultural redress and an apology for the offending acts.
In the 1980s, the Māori conducted many marches that protested against land that was still held by the British Crown. For example, Prime Minister Robert "Piggy" Muldoon wanted to use some Māori lands to develop affluent housing projects. Dane's Uncle Joe was a flag bearer during these protests. The protesters pitched tents on the land and were able to attract much media attention."You are trespassing on our land," they said.
American country singer John Denver held a concert in support of these protests.
However, the protests continued and a military convoy and 500 police surrounded the protesters. Some Māori were jailed and there was some violence.
"But we stood up to them," said Dane, who pointed out the the protests lasted 507 days. "And the new houses were not built."
The government later struck a compromise to NOT privatize the land but rather to make it public lands for the people of Auckland.
Meanwhile, life for the Māori is still difficult. Out of 800,000 people, half are incarcerated, obese, diabetic, dead from suicide. The young are truant from school and many 8-10 year-olds engage in Ram Raids where they smash storefront windows and steal cars--and then put their acts on social media to compete for hits.
Some progress has been made over the past 40 years. The government has given the Māori $100 billion to support the people and to re-build their culture. However, Dane insists that the Māori need to fix their own problems.
"What's important is that families stay connected (even if they are in jail), that Māori models of intervention be applied to fix social-cultural problems, and that institutional racism be addressed and stamped out."
Dane's tribe of 6,000 people, for example, received $1.6 billion. These assets are regarded as communal and the tribe has set up two companies with 150 employees that provide services to the people for health care, education, and cultural identity. The tribe is also growing food, providing food programs for the needy, and reaching out to the elderly who are isolated
"The government couldn't do this," said Dane. "But my tribe is and we are being proactive."
The Labor Party does have some Māori people who have been elected to the legislature, so they at least have some representation at the national level.
"We're really in a good space and moving forward. We are leading the way in race relations, embracing our language that was lost, and reviving our culture."
Dane closed our session by acknowledging the natural elements around us and wishing us a safe journey during our travels and on our way home.
Takaparawhau is now the site of the private Ōrākei Marae, a communal or sacred place that serves religious and social purposes. Marae generally consist of an area of cleared land roughly rectangular (the marae itself), bordered with stones or wooden posts or perhaps with paepae (terraces) which were traditionally used for ceremonial purposes.
In some modern Polynesian societies, notably that of the Māori of New Zealand,
the marae is still a vital part of everyday life. In tropical
Polynesia, most marae were destroyed or abandoned with the arrival of Christianity
in the 19th century, and some have become an attraction for tourists or
archaeologists.
Addendum on Education
Mulholland reported that many government efforts at reconciliation have been
put into place with the most influential being the media, especially
since the 1990s because of the growing awareness of treaty and Māori
issues.
"Trends that were commonplace in the media 30 years ago – such as
the dearth of Māori broadcasters; poor pronunciation of Māori names and
words; and, at times, racist reporting of stories involving Māori – are
now largely absent. This transformation also includes programming that focuses on Māori; Māori language being televised by the main state broadcasting network; and the establishment of Māori Television in 2004," he said.
Mulholland said that the NZ educational
system used to be monocultural emphasizing that all was great
about the British Empire with little or no
attention to the poor treatment Māori had received. He
cited other public education initiatives where treaty educators and curricula teach about Māori and the
Waitangi Treaty. This is a voluntary program and not a compulsory part
of the national curriculum.
Resources
https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/parks-recreation/get-outdoors/aklpaths/Pages/path-detail.aspx?ItemId=399
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maungawhau_/_Mount_Eden
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maungakiekie_/_One_Tree_Hill
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/new-zealand/auckland-1341384/attractions/one-tree-hill/a/poi-sig/416312/1341384
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Waitangi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastion_Point
https://teara.govt.nz/en/te-tiriti-o-waitangi-the-treaty-of-waitangi
https://theconversation.com/new-zealands-indigenous-reconciliation-efforts-show-having-a-treaty-isnt-enough-49890
History of New Zealand -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOhCI5m2jEY
First People of New Zealand -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxeCWyC-E6M
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