Auckland iwi Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki is in the process of finalising arrangements with the Crown to buy the Macleans College land from the Crown in a deal reported to be worth $97 million dollars.
This follows a vote by tribal members for a special resolution to buy the land, and work in partnership with Hāpai Commercial Property LLP. 88 percent of the 238 members who voted were for the resolution.
Ngai Tai ki Tāmaki has maintained ahi kā and customary status within Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland), Hauraki (Coromandel) and Tīkapa Moana (Hauraki Gulf).
CEO of the Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki Tribal Trust, Tama Potaka, says it is hugely significant to purchase the 13 hectare land block under Macleans College as it is in the centre of the iwi's tribal territory.
"Kei roto i tō mātou rohe, kei roto hoki i tō mātou wāhi pātata ana ki te moana. Koira tō mātou whakatauki 'Tapuwae onuku, tapuwae ariki, tapuwae otai'. Tēnei whēnua, kei waenga tonu i te manawa o Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki."
(It is within our region, it is within our district close to the sea. And this pertains to our tribal saying 'We of the sacred footprints in the earth, the footprints of the high born and footprints on our foreshores).
The opportunity to buy the land in Bucklands Beach was part of the tribe's Deed of Settlement which was finalised in 2018. The tribe will continue to lease the land to the Ministry of Education.
"Nareira, i whakaritea mai e ō mātou rangatira i te wā o te whakatau kokoraho i waenganui i Ngāi Tai me te Karauna, ka taea e mātou te hoko i tēnei whenua a te wā e tika ana - ku tae ki te wā."
(So it was our past leaders who arranged during the time of the Treaty Settlement claim between Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki and the Crown, that we would would buy back this land when the time was right - that time has now arrived).
There is no exact purchase date but Potaka expects it to happen within the next three weeks.