The Trust was established to administer Māori Reserve lands, largely in urban Wellington, although it also administers a rural block in Kaitoke, Upper Hutt.
The Trust owns a total of 81 hectares of land.
The beneficial owners of the reserves are descendants of hapu of Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Tama, Taranaki, and Ngāti Ruanui tupuna who were living within the rohe in 1839. There are currently 6,850 registered beneficial owners and many other whānau through those beneficial owners.
Since gaining rights to exercise self-management, and despite the ongoing prejudicial legislation under which they have been forced to operate, the Trusts have managed their resources in a positive way, growing their value from around $100,000 in the late 1970’s, and now have total assets as at 31 March 2019 of $86.8 million. The beneficial owners of the Trust are now achieving a good economic return from their assets.
This is an enormous success story, particularly in view of the fact that, for most of their operation the Trusts were denied in legislation equality with other landowners.
