Moriori genocide

Despite the pressure of competing interests among the tribes of Wellington, at first a thriving economy was developed. This economy was largely based in trading with visiting ships. In November 1835, after discussing a possible invasion of Samoa and the Norfolk Islands, many Ngati Tama took part in the sea invasion of the closer Chatham Islands. Together with the Ngati Mutunga, they captured the mate of The Lord Rodney and threatened to kill him unless he took them to the Chatham Islands. There they massacred about 300 Moriori, raped the women, enslaved the survivors, and destroyed their economy and traditional way of living.^[4] Some returned home to Taranaki.^[5]

In 1835, 24 generations after the Moriori chief Nunuku had forbidden war, the Moriori welcomed about 900 people from two Māori tribes, the Ngāti Mutunga and the Ngāti Tama. Originally from Taranaki (on New Zealand’s Northern Island), they had voyaged from Wellington on an overcrowded European vessel, the Rodney. They arrived severely weakened, but were nursed back to health by their Moriori hosts. However, they soon revealed their hostile intentions and embarked on a reign of terror.

Stunned, the Moriori called a council of 1,000 men at Te Awapātiki to debate what to do. The younger men were keen to repel the invaders and argued that although they had not fought for many centuries, they outnumbered the newcomers two to one and were a strong people. But the elders argued that Nunuku’s Law was a sacred covenant with their gods and could not be broken. The consequences for the Moriori were devastating.

Although the total number of Moriori first slaughtered was said to be around 300, hundreds more were enslaved by the invading tribes and later died. Some were killed by their captors. Others, horrified by the desecration of their beliefs, died of despair. According to records made by elders, 1,561 Moriori died between 1835 and 1863, when they were released from slavery. Many succumbed to diseases introduced by Europeans, but large numbers also died at the hands of the Ngāti Mutunga and the Ngāti Tama. In 1862 only 101 remained. When the last known full-blooded Moriori died in 1933, many thought this marked the extinction of a race.^[6]

European colonization and displacement

In the late 1830s, the New Zealand Company brought boatloads of European colonizers who searched for a place to settle in Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington Harbor). The effects of European settlement on the Ngati Tama proved to be disastrous as the new arrivals sought Maori land.

The Port Nicholson Deed was a land sale transaction between the New Zealand Company and the chiefs in the Hutt Valley, with the Ngati Tama Chief Te Kaeaea taking part in it. The New Zealand Company thought they had purchased land from Te Kaeaea when they had only been given anchorage and port rights at Wellington Harbor.

The Crown set up a Spanish Commission to inquire into the sale of land in Wellington. Spain adopted an attitude towards the Ngati Tama's claims prejudicial for their interests because of the occupation of the land in the Hutt by the Ngati Tama. While Spain recognized the numerous faults in the land sales, the Commission's findings incorrectly assumed that Te Kaeaea's participation in the transaction of Port Nicholson was equal to the complete support for the sale of Ngati Tama land. Despite protests from the Ngati Tama, the Crown assisted the settlers and gave them indigenous land. The Crown's actions had a fatal impact in Whanganui-a-Tara, the Ngati Tama losing the land they had conquered in 1822.

In 1844 Governor Fitzroy adopted a policy of compensating the Ngati Tama. However, there was no consultation and the compensation proceeded only in a summary fashion. The Ngati Tama living in Kaiwharawhara received their share of the compensation under protest while those living in Ohariu missed any compensation whatsoever.

In 1847, McCleverty concluded a series of agreements with Ngati Tama to finally settle the reserves issue. In total, the 200 Ngati Tama received 2600 acres of reserves, of which about 13 acres per person were set aside as compensation. The ceded reserves were inadequate for their needs and unsuitable for growing crops, essential for the Ngati Tama's survival.^[7]

By 1842, the Ngati Tama people were forcibly removed from their lands by Crown-assisted settler occupation. They sought refuge by squatting on land in the Hutt Valley, where the soil was more productive than in the reserves they had been awarded. The occupation was short-lived and ended in February 1846, when Governor Grey evicted them under threat of military intervention.

The Ngati Tama's cultivated areas, their sole means of survival, were plundered. Their chief Te Kaeaea exiled in Auckland.

The remaining Ngati Tama had to seek sanctuary with other indigenous tribes and clans. They suffered from high levels of disease and mortality, having no choice but to sell reserve land out of necessity. When the Crown finished its land acquisition program, the Ngati Tama had virtually no land left. By the 1870s, they had largely moved from the harbor rim and been evicted.

The impact on the Ngati Tama was significant. They had been scattered by the invasion of the Waikato tribes during the musket wars of the 1820s. Many then left Wellington, which they had invaded and conquered, to take part in the seaborne invasion of the Chatham Islands. Some individuals survived, many in whanau groupings, living with other Maori groups. The Ngati Tama's presence in Wellington as a tribe was lost.^[8]

Given the absence of an organized entity representing the Ngati Tama in Wellington, other tribes such as the Ngāti Toa and the Te Atiawa took responsibility for looking after the Ngati Tama's interests. In particular, the Wellington Tenths Trust has directly represented the interests of its beneficiaries; namely those individuals and their descendants who were named as owners of Ngati Tama reserves in the Wellington region back in the 19th century.^[9]