The New Zealand Defence Force handed back the site of a former air force base at Shelly Bay in Wellington to iwi on Saturday.
The 4.5 hectare area is one of a number of properties that Taranaki Whanui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika can buy back as part of an agreement reached with the Crown in August 2008 to settle Treaty of Waitangi claims.
Waatea News reports the land was taken as a base during the 1880s.
Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust chairman Professor Ngata Love says there are no immediate plans to develop Shelley Bay, but all options will be considered.
He says it's fitting the land was handed-over at the end of a week in which other iwi in the Cook Strait area signed agreements in principle worth $300 million.
Professor Love says many people travelled from Taranaki to attend the handover.
The chief of the Airforce, Air-Vice Marshal Graham Lintott, says defence personnel's links to Shelly Bay will be remembered.
He says the defence force has been the custodian of the land for 124 years, and it holds a special place in their hearts.
Graham Lintott says he's sure any development of the land will be done with the area's history in mind.
