4 Aug 2014

Ngaruahina plan memorial hikoi

9:50 am on 4 August 2014

Taranaki tribe Ngaruahine are planning a hikoi to remember their ancestors who died in jail after their land was taken by colonial forces.

The plan is included in the tribe's Deed of Settlement, which was signed on Friday.

The iwi will march through Te Waipounamu to the resting place of tupuna, who were sent south and held without trial because they opposed European settlement.

Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Minister Chris Finlayson has agreed to attend a ceremony of the hikoi on behalf of the Crown to deliver an apology, and senior ministers and officials could also attend.

A similar journey through Ngai Tahu territory was made in 2000, when the people of Arahura on the West Coast gave a large piece of pounamu to Ngaruahine descendants in memory of their whanau.