A sprawling Bay of Islands farm has been leased to a Northland hapū ahead of its return as part of a future Treaty settlement.

Members of Te Whiu, a central Bay of Islands hapū with close links to Hokianga, signed the lease on-site with Government representatives on Saturday.

The agreement will see Te Whiu lease a 452-hectare Crown-owned farm at Puketotara, inland from Kerikeri, for a symbolic $1 a year for 10 years with a further 10-year right of renewal.

The farm has been “land-banked” for the past three decades and is expected to be returned to Māori ownership once Ngāpuhi reaches a Treaty settlement.

Te Whiu says the lease, which it views as a first step towards full ownership, is an example other Ngāpuhi hapū could follow.

The signing is also significant because it is a sign of movement in the Ngāpuhi settlement, which has made little visible progress since 2018.

More than 100 members of the hapū gathered on the farm to sign the lease agreement.

Te Whiu kaikorero [speaker] Duane Allen said the day had been a long time coming.

“We have generations of uri [ancestors] who have died without having the opportunity to touch the land they whakapapa to. A recent example is the late Hirini Kingi, 90 years old, who hadn’t stood on his ancestral land. This lease is an important step towards healing the trauma inflicted by colonisation.”

Allen said the hapū had fought for the return of the land for generations.

“Yes, this is a step closer. It’s also a reminder to the Government that we are coming – we’re coming for all of our land, all of our resources. We’re knocking on the door and we won’t stop.”

Te Whiu chairman Te Rau Arena said the farm was part of a wider piece of land, known as Te Mata-Puketotara, “illegally transacted” 185 years ago.

The Native Land Court had ordered its return in 1921 to the descendants of Turou (a Te Whiu ancestor), but the hapū had been forced to wait another 102 years to set foot on the land again.

The lease applied to the western part of Te Mata-Puketotara, with the eastern portion remaining the Crown-operated Pāmu Farm (formerly LandCorp).

Arena said the agreement was an example of how Crown-owned lands could be returned to hapū, with transitional leases ahead of full ownership as part of Ngāpuhi cultural redress.

The first hapū member to sign the lease was kaumatua Te Ahitopere Allen, 84.

“This is a very important day and it’s an enormous change of wind. We haven’t got the land back yet, but we have a lease. Te Whiu are the owners of the land but they’ve never been able to walk on it, so this is immense.”

Allen said he expected a follow-up agreement for the other half of the land.

In December last year, the Waitangi Tribunal released the Stage 2 report of its Northern Inquiry, called Te Paparahi o Te Raki.

Among other things, the report called for the return of all Crown-owned land in the Ngāpuhi tribal area.