A History of the Māori Trust Boards
This book was commissioned by Te Puni Kokiri and Minister Naiah Mahuta in 2020. The book is currently going thrū production and will be launched sometime in 2024-2025. The Māori Trust Boards are interesting because the origin stories of most boards hark back to the troubled days of the New Zealand Wars. Most of the boards came about through various processes of redress and restitution.
The first Māori Trust Board, Te Arawa, established 1924.
The project came about following a conference of the Māori Trust Boards held in Wellington in 2019. Kaumātua from Trusts Boards in attendance suggested that such a history should be written; and that their wide-ranging, individual yet composite stories should be told. This was especially important since many of the Boards have closed – or are closing – following recent Treaty settlements, with newly configured Māori governance entities being established.
The Minister of Māori Affairs, Rt Hon Naiah Mahuta, agreed. Accordingly, Te Puni Kokiri (Ministry of Māori Development) have therefore commissioned Māori publishers Huia Publishers of Wellington to publish the book; and Huia Publishers in turn commissioned Danny Keenan to produce the manuscript.
The purpose of the Māori Trust Boards was to receive, and manage, monies granted by the Crown by way of compensation for past Crown wrong-doing. Each Trust Board was different, with different reasons and resources determining the terms under which each Board was established.
From 1922, each Board was set up under a variety of Acts. Some Acts were dedicated to a particular Trust Board’s formation.
Other legislation however was enacted from time to time to deal with general ‘Māori purposes’, like amending Māori land laws and legislating in support of trustees of land blocks situated all over New Zealand.
Included in these general Acts were specific clauses setting up the Trust Boards, or at least, starting the long process by which a Māori Trust Board might be legally established.
However, in 1955, all of the Boards that had been established to that date were consolidated into new legislation.
The 19 Trust Boards to be covered by the history are:
1. Te Arawa Māori Trust Board, Rotorua,
2 Tuwharetoa Māori Trust Board, Tūrangi/Taupo, established 1926.
3. Ngai Tahu Māori Trust Board, Christchurch, 1928, now Te Rūnanga O Ngāi Tahu.
4. Taranaki Māori Trust Board, Waitara 1930.
5. Tainui Māori Trust Board, Hamilton 1946 now Waikato Lands Acquisition Trust.
6. Wairoa – Waikaremoana Māori Trust Board, Wairoa 1949.
7. Whakatōhea Māori Trust Board, Opotiki, 1949.
8. Aorangi Māori Trust Board, Hastings, 1950.
9. Te Aupouri Māori Trust Board, Te Kao, 1953 now Te Rūnanga Nui ō Te Aupouri.
10. Taitokerau Māori Trust Board, Whangarei 1953.
11. Tuhoe – Waikaremoana Māori Trust Board, Taneatua, 1958, now Tūhoe Te Uru Taumātua.
12. Tauranga Moana Māori Trust Board, Tauranga, 1981.
13. Te Runanga O Ngāti Porou Māori Trust Board, Gisborne, 1987 now Te Runanga O Ngāti Porou .
14. Te Runanga O Ngāti Awa Māori Trust Board, Whakatane 1988.
15. Hauraki Māori Trust Board, Paeroa 1988.
16. Whanganui River Māori Trust Board, Whanganui, 1988, now Ngā Tangata Tiaki o Whanganui.
17. Te Runanga Ō Ngāti Whātua, Whangarei, 1988
18. Ngāti Maniapoto Māori Trust Board, Te Kuiti, 1988
19. Ngāti Whātua Ō Ōrākei Māori Trust Board, Auckland 1988, now Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei Trust.