Tony Watkins

On 4 March 2010 at Karaka Bay representatives of twelve iwi, and Michael Dreaver on behalf of the Crown, signed Nga Mana Whenua o Tamaki Makaurau, a framework agreement covering shared ownership of eleven of Auckland’s volcanic cones and a right of first refusal to buy any surplus Crown land.

This was where, on 4 March 1840, the Treaty of Waitangi had been signed.

In the Pacific defeated tribes traditionally identified with the great white ships of the colonialists when they arrived, in the hope of regaining their lost mana and their lost lands. Those who were secure in their position had, of course, no need to form an alliance with the newcomers.