Lake Whatumā, Waipukurau – local Māori were disenfranchised by its sale in 1893: the history

David Tipene-Leach (Ngāti Kere) speaking about the injustice of the sale of Lake Whatumā

Wise Water Use highly recommend viewing this ½ hour documentary on Lake Whatumā, from 2012. It explores the injustice of the sale of Lake Whatumā, which was part of the 1851 Waipukurau Block purchase by the Crown.

At the time, Donald McLean (Land Purchase Commissioner for the Crown) made a promise to chief Te Hapuku, “Ruhe, I have no business with your lake – your lake belongs to you again. Mine is the land”. However, in 1893 a sale notice appeared, and local Māori were denied access to the lake, a crucial source of food and nutrition. Petitions to the Crown were ignored.

This documentary includes powerful testimony from several prominent tangata whenua, notably the now departed Ahiahi Rerekohu Robinson (Ngāi Torowaho, Ngāi Tahumakakanui, Ngāti Kere) who was raised as a whāngai by her grandfather and a petitioner, Ihaia Hutana.

Towards the end of the documentary, Ihaia Hutana’s grandson and namesake laments “the deceit and treachery that was done to our ancestors”; however, shares his dream that one day the lake might be returned to Māori and jointly managed with pakeha.

That dream has at least in part come to fruition, since a 2018 Waitangi Tribunal settlement transferred part of Lake Whatumā (formerly part of the conservation estate managed by DOC) into the Whatumā Recreational Reserve, managed by 4 Trustees (2 each appointed by the Aorangi Trust Board and Heretaunga Tamatea Settlement Trust).

However, around 2/3 of the lake remains privately owned by a consortium of 11 shareholders and a number of lifestyle block-owners whose boundaries encroach into the lake (see aerial map below). Unfinished business, if this past injustice is to be put right.

Property Titles affecting Lake Whatumā