The Socio-Legal History of The Rotorua Township Agreement - Trick or Treaty?

This thesis aimed to analyse and discuss the socio-legal history of an agreement made between Ngāti Whakaue and the Crown known as the Rotorua Township Agreement, which is one of several regional agreements or treaties that the colonial (Government) and iwi Māori negotiated after the Treaty of Waitangi in the later nineteenth century. After the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, there were three iwi in Aotearoa who entered into distinct treaties with the Crown: Ngāti Whakaue of Rotorua, Tūhoe of Te Urewera and Ngāti Maniapoto of the King Country. Though the focus of this thesis is Ngāti Whakaue and the Rotorua Township Agreement (1880), it will be revealed that the Crown used these regional agreements to deceive Māori located in the Central North Island into believing they possessed sovereignty over their lands when, in hindsight, they did not. Do these regional treaties count under New Zealand or international law? This critical question was thoroughly examined in this thesis. The central focus of this thesis is the Rotorua Township Agreement. In the late 1870s, the Government wanted to create a township that would become a geothermal and cultural attraction for international tourism. In 1880, the local chiefs of Ngāti Whakaue and Te Arawa signed an agreement with Judge Francis Dart Fenton to set up the township of Rotorua. Was this agreement a trick or a treaty? The Rotorua Township Agreement will be compared to similar agreements or treaties made with Tūhoe (Urewera District Native Reserve Act 1896) and Ngāti Maniapoto (Te Ōhākī Tapu 1882-1885). The final analysis of this research compared these three agreements or treaties and the socio-legal histories of these three iwi. This comparative analysis aims to assist Ngāti Whakaue, whose Treaty claim remains unsettled, to reach a similar deal as Tūhoe and Ngāti Maniapoto, who have successfully settled their Treaty claims in recent years. With the recent change in New Zealand Government, the Treaty of Waitangi is now more under threat than ever. Therefore, all New Zealanders, Māori and non-Māori, need to unite and support iwi such as Ngāti Whakaue in their efforts to settle their claims and regain their ‘tino rangatiratanga’ promised them under Te Tiriti o Waitangi. A Māori proverb, or ‘whakataukī’ states: ‘Ahakoa ngā uaua, kia manawanui!’ – ‘Despite the hardships, be strong-hearted’.