1887: Tongariro National Park

September 23, 2023

By AHNZ

Today in history, 23 September, 1887, Chief Horonuku¹  gave away 3 volcanoes to The State. Mt Tongariro, Mt Ngauruhoe, and Mt Ruapehu.

National Parks had become a new fad in the West and following USA, Australia, and Canada this 4th “National Park” allowed the Native Minister, John Ballance, to feather his accomplishments just in time for…..you guessed it…..the General Election of 1887² just 3 days after the signing! So many bribes in our election history…

The natives were reported as being scared because the volcanoes were active at the time and threatening to erupt. Bad magic. Good time to give them away. Chief Horonuku may have been especially PTSD about this sort of thing as his parents had died in a landslide and he had been given the Maori name for ‘landslide’. This strikes the modern reader as odd and even cruel. (If your parents died in a car crash then how would you like your nickname to be ‘Car Crash’?)

The Stout-Vogel Ministry did not have the consent of the tribe but accepted the chief’s gift. This was exactly the same sort of choice made 30 years earlier in Taranaki which culminated in the Taranaki War. Ballance apparently didn’t care about the future acrimony he was risking if it helped him lift his profile and be re-elected.

As for Horonuku, the old man (67) had less than a year to live³ and this Great Gift and unilateral decision would mark his name in the history books. The choice to give away all this land was made during the sessions of the Native Land Court where the ownership was being hotly contested. Horonuku promised that if ownership was decided in his favor that he would give it to the State. The State then determined that, yes, this land was his…and therefore, shortly thereafter, the State’s!

“The gift is absolutely valueless or it would not have been presented but how many thousands of pounds it has cost the country to obtain kudos for the Native Minster will probably, never be ascertained.” – Woodville Examiner, Papers Past

“Horonuku, having discussed the subject with other chiefs of his tribe, put a proposition to the government that the land be bequeathed to the nation as a national park, on condition that the government should remove from the mountains the remains of their famous predecessors, including Mananui, and erect a suitable tomb.” – New Zealand Enclopedia, David Bateman (ee6, 2005)

“The great land block of Taupō-nui-a-Tia was awarded to Ngāti Tūwharetoa in 1886 in a decision that excluded other tribes. During the land court hearings Horonuku had decided that in order to preserve the sacred nature of the mountains to the south of Lake Taupō he would offer them in partnership to the Crown…Despite opposition from other Ngāti Tūwharetoa leaders the peaks of Tongariro, Ngāuruhoe and Ruapehu were the subject of a deed of settlement with the Crown in September 1887.” – Dictionary of New Zealand Biography (1993,) Te Ara

It may be that Ballance had a nose for tourism as mountain climbing in New Zealand was starting to take off and our governments are always sniffing around for a cut of the action when it comes to tourism.

So it was that Tongariro National Park came to be. You wont read about any of this in the State history books though but can find it out for yourself in the Anarchist fashion.

—
1 AKA Tukino IV, Chief of the Ngati Tuwharetoa

2 General Election: 26 September, 1887

3 Died of natural causes? Or died from a case of angry tribe?

Image ref. Horonuku, aka Paramount Chief Te Heuheu Tukino IV , Alexander Turnbull Library; Mod by AHNZ (2023)

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