Parks and reserves in Aotearoa New Zealand have been used as colonial tools, and it is time for legislation guiding their management to uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi, University of Otago – Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka researchers argue.
Dr Robin Quigg
Dr Robin Quigg, of the Department of Public Health (Ōtepoti), says Māori whānau and hapū, and their histories, values, and practices have long been marginalised and excluded from dominant narratives and systems.
"This has been done through forced acquisition of land that becomes parks and reserves, relocations, renaming of places, restricting access to traditional spaces, and causing environmental degradation to culturally significant landmarks and areas," she says.
"When it comes to parks and reserves, the Reserves Act 1977 reinforces and reminds us that colonialism is not only in the past. Many of us experience its legacy daily, in how we think about nature, and what counts as 'natural' in our towns and communities."
The Act provides legislative guidance for more than 10,000 reserves in Aotearoa. More than half of them are in control of local councils, and parks and reserves managers are required to uphold Māori values and align with the rights guaranteed under Te Tiriti.
"While parks and reserves are public land, the Act requires the land to be categorised in ways that exclude Māori values, even when the land was compulsorily acquired from Māori hapū and whānau.
"This means tino rangatiratanga and ōritetanga (equitable citizenship), both guaranteed by Te Tiriti, are not specifically noted to be upheld by the Act. As a result, Māori rights in parks and reserves management rely heavily on the attitudes and awareness of those implementing it."
In a paper published in Local Environment, she and Research Fellow Els Russell investigated how parks and reserves have historically been used as colonial tools in the formation of settler nations, disrupting Indigenous peoples' deep connections to their lands.
The research included a place-naming analysis of Dunedin City Council parks and reserves.
They found just 7 per cent of Dunedin's reserves had names that seemed to appropriately reflect Kai Tahu rūnaka histories and values, with 75 per cent being reflective of Tangata Tiriti remembering.
"Across Aotearoa New Zealand, parks and reserves demonstrate the lasting impact of land alienation, a pain still deeply felt today, with reserves demonstrating that while unoccupied, they continue to carry colonial histories in such features as their names, the activities facilitated, and types and patterns of vegetation," Dr Quigg says.
"Whose version of nature are we seeing in those straight rows of poplars by the sports ground, or in parks named after someone else's great-great-grandfather who sat on a Domain Board?" she asks.
Dr Quigg believes parks and reserves need to better represent Māori histories, values, and relationships to the land.
"Given that the legislation guiding parks and reserves management in Aotearoa fails to uphold Te Tiriti, it is incumbent upon policymakers, as public servants, to fairly acknowledge Māori whānau and hapū, whose histories, values, and practices have long been marginalised and excluded from dominant narratives and systems.
"Strong connections to land are vital to Māori well-being and worth defending."
Publication details
Robin Quigg and Els Russell
Local Environment
