The Treaty of Waitangi
Ihaia Kaikoura’s original signature on the Treaty of Waitangi.
Rangitane have resided in the northern South Island since the migration from the Wairarapa in the sixteenth century under the Chiefs Te Huataki, Te Whakamana and Tukanae. The Iwi gradually occupied a territory stretching from the Waiau-toa (Clarence) River in the south to the Wairau (Marlborough), including the Nelson Lakes, and north to Kaituna and the Marlborough Sounds and west into the Whakatu (Nelson) area. Rangitane customary rights often overlapped and intersected with other Iwi, especially in the Waiau-toa, Nelson Lakes, Marlborough Sounds and Whakatu districts. Non-exclusive and shared occupation and use rights in these areas were governed by whakapapa connections and customary protocols between the Iwi. Between 1827 and the mid-1830’s an alliance of musket-armed North Island Iwi invaded the northern South Island. Rangitane (and the other northern South Island Iwi) were defeated in a series of battles. However Rangitane continued to live on the land, and maintained ancestral connections with the whenua.
The Treaty of Waitangi
The Rangatira Ihaia Kaikoura signed the Treaty of Waitangi on Horahora-Kakahu Island (Port Underwood), on June 17, 1840. He is frequently referred to as the leader of the Wairau community and he was invariably consulted by Crown officials on land and other important matters. In 1856 the Crown Purchase agent Donald McLean concluded two deeds or sales with Rangitane, one at the Wairau Bar and the other at Havelock. Rangitane were to have received an extensive reserve on the northern side of the Wairau River, but this was never delivered.
The Rangitane Claim (WAI 44)
Rangitane filed a claim with the Waitangi Tribunal in 1987 alleging that the Crown committed a number of breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi. That claim was finally heard in 2003, and the Tribunal Report was released in 2008. The recommendations of the report can be found on the Waitangi Tribunal website www.waitangitribunal.govt.nz