We were nearly cleansed from this isthmus … “They say: ‘By women and land, men die,’ it is one of our sayings … Without the land we are almost lost and we were almost lost 60 or 70 years ago when we had only a quarter acre left. Outside court, Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei deputy chairperson Ngarimu Blair said Thursday’s decision was just another step in the seven-year process that has included the hapū having to go to the Supreme Court just to be able to bring its case.Īsked why it was important, Blair said land is central to Māori identity. Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei gather for the decision of Justice Matthew Palmer at the High Court in Auckland. The judge said some iwi supported Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei’s action but others said it ignored other iwi who also had interest in the area. It culminated in their homes and marae being burned down. He had heard evidence from a contingent of historians that showed that despite gifting tracts of land to the Crown for the establishment of Auckland, Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei was largely dispossessed of its remaining lands through the 19th and 20th centuries. In his decision, Justice Palmer acknowledged the issues raised at the 11-week hearing were ground-breaking. Justice Matthew Palmer began by delivering a mihi in te reo Māori, with Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei kaumātua responding with mihi, waiata and karakia. The iwi argued it had ahi kā (continuous occupation) over the rohe. Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei argued the Crown must adhere to tikanga and that gifting land in its rohe (area) to other iwi would be a breach of tikanga and their Treaty of Waitangi settlement. Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei gather outside the High Court in Auckland.