4858 NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE, No. 194 18 NOVEMBER 2005

The significance of these taniwhā was also recognised in the Statutory Acknowledgement in
the Ngāi Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998.¹

Likewise, the harbour is recognised by all of Ngāi Tahu as the dwelling place of the sacred
white whale, who is closely linked with the mauri of Tangaroa. The white whale is a
kaitiaki²⁰ who is a tohu²¹ for Ngāi Tahu people. If for no other reason than to ensure the
ongoing wellbeing of this kaitiaki, te tohorā tapu,²² the harbour’s ecology is of central
concern to Ngāi Tahu people.

The cultural significance of the harbour to Ngāi Tahu over time can also be linked to two
historical occurrences in the post-contact period.

First, the Treaty of Waitangi was signed at Akaroa (Ōnuku) by prominent chiefs Iwikau and
Tīkao, and by the Crown officials present.

Secondly, of the many kāika²³ and pā of Ngāi Tahu throughout Horomaka, two significant
kāika are located on the shores of the harbour itself: Ōnuku and Ōpukutahi. When the Crown
bought the land in 1856, a reserve was established at each of these places. That reserves were
established, in a time when reserves were meagre and often overlooked, indicates both the
recognition by the Crown officials of the significance of those settlements, and the
determination of tangata whenua for these areas to be excluded from the lands sold.

Because Ngāi Tahu people have lived in and around the Akaroa Harbour for many
generations, it is to be expected that a number of urupā,²⁴ pā kakari²⁵ and tūraka tipuna²⁶ exist
there. Some of the sites remain confidential to Ngāi Tahu because of their sacredness, but
others have been logged on the map provided by the applicant and now attached to this report
as Appendix B. The numbers on the map that relate to the attached schedule are numbers
1.1 -10.26. The schedule is attached as Appendix C.²⁷

We are satisfied that the whole harbour is of special significance to Ngāi Tahu, both as a
mahinga kai and as the locus of the spiritual life of local hapū. The attached map, and the
many sites marked on it, testify the very wide spread of places of particular significance. It
will be apparent from the account of evidence in the preceding paragraphs that much of the
spiritual significance is not susceptible of being allocated to specific sites only. For instance,
the tohorā tapu did not swim only in specific reaches of the harbour, and nor can his mauri be
sustained if only part of the harbour is free from pollution. Similarly, Moki and his fellow
Ngāi Tahu rangatira who conquered the Ngāti Māmoe people at the pā known as
Parakākāriki did not leave it at that. One by one, they moved throughout the peninsula they
called Horomaka, laying out their claims over the harbour and the land surrounding it until
their mana lay like a cloak over the whole area.

Certainly, there are particular harbour sites of special significance, and some of these are
shown on the map; but it was to the mana and mauri of the harbour as a single entity that the
applicant hapū primarily related. From a tikanga Māori point of view, it is simply vital to the
mana of these rūnaka that they do all they can as kaitiaki to maintain the health and spiritual

¹ Nigel Scott submission, ibid, page 14.
²⁰ "Kaitiaki" means "guardian" in this context.
²¹ A tohu is an omen or special sign.
²² "Te tohorā tapu" means "the sacred whale".
²³ "Kāika" is the rendition in Ngāi Tahu dialect of the word "kāinga", which means settlement.
²⁴ "Urupā" means "cemetery".
²⁵ "Pā kakari" are battlefields.
²⁶ "Tūraka tipuna" are ancestral areas.
²⁷ There are other numbers shown on the map (1-12) that relate to a transcript of the first hearing and these
numbers should be disregarded for the purposes of this report.