Ngāti Hau calls on Crown to return hapū land with Towai school in Northland

Northland’s Ngāti Hau is calling on the Crown to buy back private land in Towai, Whangārei, so it can be returned to hapū.

Hapū members have occupied the abandoned Towai school property in Hikurangi since last weekend after its current owner put it up for auction in March this year.

Ngāti Hau designated representative Hūhana Lyndon said they had invited the current owner for some discussions and were committed to occupying the property until an acceptable resolution was reached.

Her message to the Government was to do the right thing for both hapū and the vendor.

She claimed the Crown had made the return of the property more difficult by selling it off to a private buyer in 2017.

“Our people also want to know whether we can trust the crown in these matters.”

Office for Māori Crown Relations-Te Arawhiti Chief Executive Lil Anderson said hapū had contacted them on March 18 inquiring how the former school property ended up out of Crown ownership, and they requested a Crown purchase.

Anderson said after careful consideration, Te Arawhiti advised the hapū that the Crown did not have scope to consider purchasing the property this financial year.

Lyndon said after the school closed in 2004, the property on Ford Rd was held under the care of the Ministry of Education. A couple of years later the land was declared as “surplus” and transferred to Housing New Zealand for public housing.

Ministry of Education head of property Sam Fowler said the former Towai school was no longer required for education purposes and hence gave up its ownership to another Crown agency.

He explained that under Section 50 of the Public Works Act a Crown-to-Crown transfer to former owners and their beneficial successors was made possible.

“Other Government agencies have the first option on surplus Crown property,” Fowler added.

Although the then Housing New Zealand had bought the 2.02ha property for $250,000 with plans to build low-cost homes on the site. Lyndon said the plan did not go ahead.

She said in 2012, Ngāti Kau along with two other local hapū had put their application to “land bank” the property, a mechanism that allows the Maori Crown Relations to hold “parcels of land” for tribes until the time for settlement.

“But they were declined because land banking the property would incur significant costs to the Crown,” Lyndon said.

Anderson said out of the three applications received, two were declined because while one was not associated with the area, the other had “no historical information” on its association with the property. Additionally, there were high costs associated with the property.

Concerning Ngāti Hau’s application, while the historical association of Ngāti Hau with the area was noted, the property was declined due to three reasons.

The first was that the financial limits for the region had been exceeded. Secondly, the property would require substantial costs to upgrade due to the poor state of the building and lastly to landbank the property would incur significant costs to the Crown, said Anderson.

Eventually, the area was put on the market and was purchased by a private buyer on a whim for $125,000 after he spotted a For Sale sign outside the school while driving home.

Ngāti Hau hapū in a statement said that they have suffered “significant losses” over the years as a direct result of unlawful actions of the Crown.

And that costs incurred from land banking would have been minuscule compared to the losses it had caused hapū, the statement read.

Lyndon said the issue of “land loss” was quite severe and that the tribes of Whangārei District could only retain a small 2 per cent of their tribal territory over the years.

“It’s like the Crown law has acknowledged and confessed to the tribes that they have left the people virtually landless. Especially for Ngāti Kau who have been left landless in their own rohe.”

She said the hapū now wants the Crown to purchase the property and return to mana whenua of Towai at no cost.

Anderson said Te Arawhiti encourage groups like Ngāti Hau to engage with us in preparation for Treaty negotiations – a process designed to provide redress for historical breaches of the Treaty.

“This process allows the Crown to engage in discussions about important sites, among other matters, with groups mandated by their people,” she said.

Avneesh Vincent is the crime and emergency services reporter at the Northern Advocate. He was previously at the Gisborne Herald as the arts and environment reporter and is passionate about covering stories that can make a difference. He joined NZME in July 2023.