Tōwai Primary School in Northland was closed in 2005.
Photo: Google Maps

Members of Northland hapū Ngāti Hau have occupied a long-abandoned primary school seeking a return of their whenua to them – at no cost.

The ahikāroa (occupiers) settled in to the now derelict Tōwai Primary School on Saturday.

Tōwai Primary School was closed in 2005, one of 18 in Northland at the time, by the Ministry of Education because of low enrolments and a shift of resources from empty classrooms to hire more teachers.

The school, located south of Kawakawa, was declared surplus by the ministry in 2006 and transferred to Housing New Zealand, with hopes the site could be turned into social housing.

The houses were never built and in 2010 the property was also declared surplus by Housing New Zealand.

The land is now privately-owned and up for sale.

Ahikāroa o Tōwai settled in to the now derelict Tōwai Primary School on 30 March, 2024.
Photo: Supplied / Ngāti Hau

Ahikāroa kaikorero and Green Party MP Huhana Lyndon said previous attempts by iwi, hapū and interested parties to get the whenua back in Māori hands were shut down.

“In 2012, there were three applications to retain the whenua from uri, including Allan Halliday from Akerama Marae, who asked to retain the whenua for hapū purposes. The Crown declined that tono.

“We saw it move into private hands. The owner, since then, has made no developments on the whenua so it still looks the same as when it was abandoned.

“We’re saying to the Crown now, uri of Ngāti Hau in collaboration with our whanāunga hapū, that the Crown needs to do right by our hapū in retrieving that whenua and bringing it back in hapū hands.”

Lyndon, herself a descendant of Ngāti Hau, said they had received word from the real estate agent the deadline sale date of 5 April had been paused.

Officials from Te Arawhiti, the Office for Māori Crown Relations, were in touch with ahikāroa representatives on Sunday night, she said.

“They are very aware. The minister of Te Arawhiti is aware also,” Lyndon said.

“We are hopeful that there is a way we can work together to retain the whenua in hapū hands, which has been the aspiration for a very long time.

“The haukainga made this move, there is absolute tautoko for the haukainga doing this.”

Before its closure, Tōwai Primary School had been operating for more than 100 years.

Green Party MP Huhana Lyndon, herself a descendant of Ngāti Hau, says previous attempts to get the whenua back in Māori hands were shut down.
Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf

Watching a site where generations of whānau had been educated slowly decay had been incredibly frustrating, Lyndon said.

“They all went went to school there. There’s a great attachment to that site,” she said.

“If you look back to 2004, many schools were closed and pooled together. We need to reflect back that these schools were established for a public purpose. That’s whenua Māori so when you no longer need it, it should come back.

“The ministry, the Crown, Te Arawhiti have not done that. Time and time again the land is lost and sold. In the Whangārei District, the tribes are virtually landless – we have 2 percent of our tribal estate. These parcels of land, when they become available, [they should] return the land. Do the right thing and return the whenua.”

Ahikāroa would occupy the site until a positive outcome was achieved, Lyndon said.

In a statement to RNZ, Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Paul Goldsmith said Ngāti Hau was advised in March that the Crown did not have the scope to purchase the property this financial year.

“The Crown does sometimes consider the purchase of private properties of high significance, if there is funding available. However, such decisions would be unlikely, when a private site is being illegally occupied.”