How Ngai Tahu turned a landmark settlement into a billion dollar iwi empire

  • Pre-1840

    Ngai Tahu were controlling nearly half of all of New Zealand's land.
  • 1840

    Treaty of Waitangi has been signed.
  • 1848 - Kemp's Deed has been signed.

    Kemp's Deed was signed on this day, giving the crown 13.5 million acres of land for only £2000 pounds. (almost 500k NZD today)
  • 1849

    Ngai Tahu rangatira Matiaha Tiramorehu sent a formal complaint to Lieutenant Governor Edward Eyre asking the crown to follow what the Treaty of Waitangi said. This letter is to be considered the genesis of the Ngai Tahu identity.
  • 1857

    Matiaha Tiramorehu wrote another letter, but to the queen. He asked her to keep the sovereign of her orders to the governors. He also asked for the law to be applied equally, and that the nation should be known as one whole, rather not two people. For "white" skins and "brown" skins to be equal.
  • Late 1800s

    A Royal Commission in 1886 acknowledged the Ngai Tahu's poverty.
  • Early 1900s

    Less than 2,000 Ngai Tahu were living in their own territory/boundaries. O’Regan said that Ngai Tahu were somehow “less than Māori”, because of the cultural poverty.
  • 1928

    With the (inadequate) amount of money recieved, the Ngai Tahu Trust Board was suggested in 1928 for prepartion for any future claims against the crown. This was made in the mid-1950s, being called the Ngai Tahu Maori Trust Board. This was also a driving force in the settlement of Te Kereme and the revitalisation of Ngai Tahu.
  • 1975

    The Waitangi Tribunal was established in 1975 but it would take 10 years before it had the power to make legal decisions about historical claims.
  • 1991

    Negotiations with the Crown started in 1991. Representatives from Ngai Tahu’s negotiation teams met each month with the Crown for 3 years. They sort of made rules about what they call the "Nine Tall Trees".
  • 1997

    Not very long after Waikato Tainui became the first person to settle a Tribunal dispute, Ngai Tahu went into a settlement deed with the Crown.
  • Ngai Tahu Claim Settlement Act

    (Start of Article) The crown acknowledged the toll that a more than a century of deprivation had done on the iwi, they gave them an income £10,000 a year for 30 years. It was way less than the land that they owned, but they were in poverty and growing weak, so they took what they could get.
  • Ngai Tahu Claim Settlement Act 2

    (Near end Article) O’Regan and a group of impressive Ngai Tahu in kahu huruhuru went to parliment for the third reading and passage of Ngai Tahu Claims Settlement Act. This guaranteed Ngai Tahu compensation of $170 million.
  • After Ngai Tahu Claim Settlement Act.

    A bunch of other stuff happened and Ngai Tahu are very rich.
    I'm only writing this because I'm out of time.
  • 2018

    Ngai Tahu are now controlling a lot, and I mean A LOT of money now, almost 2 billion total dollars.