Te Whanau o Rangiwhakaahu Hapu Trust and Friends of Matapouri held a simple dignified ceremony on the wahi tapu area of the beach front of Otito Scenic Reserve on Saturday 16th August 2008.

Over 100 people, including descendants of the original Maori owners and residents of Matapouri and neighbouring communities, attended the ceremony. They witnessed the placement of five pou kaitaiki, or guardian poles, around the area of the reserve (1.1h), that due to a 1999 survey error is now part of the neighbouring property and has undergone private subdivision.

The event took place after a week in which legal proceedings were issued against DoC, LINZ and the Attorney General, due to their failure to negotiate an acceptable resolution despite our repeated requests for mediation over the last ten months.

Members of the local community assisted the Hapu to erect the five pou kaitaiki, or guardian poles, around the wahitapu area, as karakia (prayers) were offered, supported by waiata from local kuia. The positions of the pou kaitiaki conform to the approximate boundary as it appears in the 1877 survey map of Otito reserve. The final pou to be erected at the Galbraith St roundabout affirms the significance of the now missing survey peg (OP S05117), dating back to the original 1877 survey. The existence of this peg was disregarded in the 1999 survey report that effected the boundary change.

In honouring the wahitapu and marking the boundary as it has always been known by the descendants of Otito, the ceremony demonstrated the united commitment of Te Whanau o Rangiwhakaahu Hapu Trust and Friends of Matapouri to returning this land to the Nation. In this action we step up our call for the Crown to honour its own laws and retrieve the land it has lost from the Otito Scenic Reserve.

Last updated: July 23, 2009 •
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