History
HISTORY OF NGATI TAMA IN WELLINGTON
- Tama Ariki of Tokomaru waka
- Ngati Tama are those who whakapapa back to Tama Ariki, the chief navigator on the Tokomaru waka, are Ngati Tama. Read more >>
- Migration South
- Ngati Tama people migrated south in the 1820s in search of better opportunities (eg, trade), to ensure their safety (eg, there was the ongoing threat from musket-carrying Tainui war parties), and close whakapapa and historic ties with Ngati Toa (the main migrant group heading south to Te Whanganui-a-Tara - now Wellington). Read more >>
- A Distinct Iwi and Rohe
- While Ngati Toa, and the Taranaki iwi, hapu, whanau had shared and intersecting rights throughout the environs of Wellington, Ngati Tama maintained a separate and distinct identity in various places in Wellington. Read more >>
- European Impact
- In the late 1830s, the New Zealand Company brought into Te Whanganui-a-Tara boatloads of European colonisers in search of a place to settle. Read more >>
- Dispossessed Ngati Tama seek sanctuary
- By 1842, the Ngati Tama people were forcibly removed from their lands by Crown-assisted settler occupation and had to seek refuge in the Hutt Valley where there was more land and the land was of better quality and more productive than the reserve land that they had been awarded. Read more >>
- Others represent Ngati Tama interests
- In the absence of an organised entity representing Ngati Tama in Wellington, other Iwi such as Ngati Toa and Te Atiawa took responsibility for looking after Ngati Tama interests. Read more >>
- Waitangi Tribunal hearing into Wellington lands
- In 1998, it became apparent that the Waitangi Tribunal was enquiring into claims affecting Wellington in the Wai 145 (Wellington Tenths Inquiry). Read more >>