A 76 hectare reserve is to be established on Defence Force land along Wellington's Miramar Peninsula.
The Defence Force had been considering selling the land at Watts Peninsula, which includes the strategic coastal artillery battery of Fort Ballance.
Instead, ownership will now be transferred to the Department of Conservation under the Public Works Act.
Fort Ballance was built in 1885 following fears of an impending war with Russia and is one of the best preserved of a string of 19th century coastal defences constructed to protect New Zealand from naval attack.
However, chair of the Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust Sir Ngatata Love says the land on the peninsula is an important site for Maori as well as pakeha.
He says it was a site of Maori settlement before colonial settlement and there are suggestions that the site may have been visited by Chinese fleets.
Sir Ngatata says, with the land in government ownership, there is the potential to provide visitors with an opportunity for unique activities.
The site will be managed jointly by Wellington City Council, the government and mana whenua.
