103. Percy Smith & others
Deed of Conveyance in English and Maori concerning Cabbage Tree Bay, Oneroa Block, Waiheke Island
Document
48 x 68 cm
est. $8,000 - 10,000
Relative Size: Deed of Conveyance in English and Maori concerning Cabbage Tree Bay, Oneroa Block, Waiheke Island
Relative size

EARLY WAIHEKE ISLAND LAND DOCUMENT Deed of Conveyance in English and Maori concerning Cabbage Tree Bay, Oneroa Block, Waiheke Island: the full and final sale by Chiefs and People of the Tribe Ngatipare Ngtitamatera 'under the shining sun' to S Percy Smith on behalf of Queen Victoria, for 14 pounds, 2 shillings and 4 pence, October 8th, 1862. Signed by Percy Smith on behalf of the Crown and by Te Tahuru Paratene with his 'mark' on behalf of the Ngati Pare Ngati Tamatera of Hauraki. The signatures are witnessed by G.W. Williams and S.D. Taiwhanga.

The history surrounding the sale of Oneroa Block is a contentious one due to the conflicting claims over Waiheke between the Ngati Maru and Ngati Poa. By the late 1850s these had largely been resolved in favour of the Ngati Poa whose Chief Hori Pokai acting on behalf of his tribe had seized the rights to the Island from the Ngati Maru. He then distributed the land among his followers. However the successful claimants had also amassed a great deal of debt in the process making the only option often available to them the sale of land to willing government agents. Cabbage Tree Bay was one of two areas of the Oneroa Block gifted to the seller Te Tahuru Paratene in compensation for being dispossessed by the earlier sale of the Iwituaroa Block on which he resided.

S Percy Smith was heavily involved in surveying work for the Land Purchase Department. He is best known as a pioneer New Zealand ethnologist and writer on Pacific culture. It was S Percy Smith who proposed the Maori migratory 'Great Fleet' theory.

The Maori witness Hirini Rawiri Taiwhanga, known to his European contemporaries as 'Sydney' hence the initial 'S' that appears within his signature trained as a surveyor. He later became renowned as a politician and advocate for Nga Puhi and general Maori self determination. He was elected as MHR for Northern Maori in 1887 and was active in petitioning legislative reforms that contravened the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. In 1882 Taiwhanga traveled with several colleagues to London in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to petition Queen Victoria to obtain redress for these grievances.

Ref: Paul Monin - Waiheke Island, A History, Dunmore Press, 1992

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