Inā koinei te kooti i tawhito rawa i Aotearoa, he matatini te hītori o te Kooti Whenua Māori, ā, i whai pānga i ngā nekehanga maha o te ture, kaupapahere hoki.

Pou hihiri
Pou rarama
Tēnā te pou
Te pou herenga tangata
Te pou herenga whenua
Te pou ka toko
Te pou ka hiki
Te pou ka eke tū tārewa ki ngā rangi tāwhaowhao

Ūtaina atu ngā kōrero nei
Mā te pūreirei tōngakengake
ki te whakahaumanu i te pou
o taku whare kōrero

Tōtoro te pūhina o te ata hāpara
o te ata kura
o te ata tū
Ki ngā taiwhenua
ki ngā papa kāinga
ki te one e karapinepine tonu i a tātou
Kia whakataukihia
‘Whatungarongaro te tangata, toitū te whenua’

Ko te whakahu tenei a Te Kooti Whenua Māori
Ū te pou, māia te pou
Hui te mārama, hui te ora
Hui ē, Tāiki e!

He tino rerekē te āhua o te Kooti Whenua Māori ināianei mai i te wā i hāngai ai te 30 o Oketopa 1865 e te Rūnanga Whānui o te Koroni o Niu Tīreni i raro i te Native Lands Act 1865.

I whakatūria mātou hei whakawhiti i ngā whenua Māori ki raro taitara kia riro ai, i te kāwanatanga taipūwhenua i te tuatahi, ā, i ngā kaiwhakanoho whenua i muri mai. Mai i te hipatanga o Te Ture Whenua Māori 1993, ko tā mātou mahi he:

  • hāpai kia mau ngā whenua Māori i ōna rangatira, whānau, hapū hoki
  • takawaenga kia nōhia, kia whakawhanake me te whakamahi i ngā whenua Māori
  • whakarite he tōkeke, he taurite ngā whakatau mō ngā whenua Māori e whai whakaaro ai ki ngā hiahia o ngā rangatira whenua katoa me ā rātou kaipānga katoa.

I te 30 o Oketopa 2015 i eke mātou ki te 150 tau, ā, hei tohu i tēnei tohu nui i whakaputaina e mātou tētahi pukapuka e kīia ana he ko ‘He Pou Herenga Tangata, He Pou Herenga Whenua, He Pou Whare Kōrero – 150 Years of the Māori Land Court’.

Kei roto i tā mātou pukapuka ko te hītori āmiki o te ahunga mai o te Kooti Whenua Māori me te titiro ki te mahi a te Kooti i roto i ōna tau 150. Ko te mea nui, he whakaatu i ngā kōrero mō te Kooti Whenua Māori onāianei, ko wai mātou, he aha ā mātou mahi, ā, he aha ngā mea whakahihiri i a mātou kia tiketike te mahi mā ngā rangatira whenua Māori.

He Pou Herenga Tangata, He Pou Herenga Whenua, He Pou Whare Kōrero
150 Years of the Māori Land Court