Our Story
The Story of the Nelson Tenths
In the 1840s, the New Zealand Company sought to establish a settlement in Nelson and its surrounding areas, stretching across Tasman and Golden Bay.
The customary owners agreed to the settlement of Nelson on the understanding that:
- One-tenth of the land included in the Nelson settlement would be reserved in perpetuity for the customary owners and their descendants.
- Pā, urupā, and cultivations and other occupied places would be excluded from settlement and protected.
This land was to have comprised ten percent of each of the urban (one acre), suburban (50 acre), and rural (150 acre) sections of the Nelson settlement.
This amounted to 15,100 acres, together with pā, urupā, and cultivations that were excluded from settlement.
The land became known as the Nelson Tenths Reserves.
Town of Nelson
Plan of the Town of Nelson in 1842 showing Nelson Town Sections, including the ‘Native Reserves’ in green.
Te Tauihu - Regional Map
This Te Tauihu regional map is an interpretation of Commissioner William Spain’s boundaries, in which the Nelson Tenths and Occupation Lands were included.
The red section in Mōhua includes the rural sections. The red section in Nelson/Tasman includes the suburban and town section.
Town of Nelson
Nelson Tenths allocations in green.
A broken promise
The Tenths were intended to provide an enduring endowment for the customary owners and their descendants.
The New Zealand Company promised that the customary owners would prosper as the settlement grew.
That promise was not kept.
The Crown failed to reserve the full 15,100 acres for the customary owners and failed to exclude all pā, urupā and cultivations from the land granted to the New Zealand Company.
By 1850, the Nelson Tenths Reserves had been reduced to 3,953 acres.
And over time, more Tenths land was lost.