For generations, the Moriori were believed to be ‘extinct’ when the last ‘full blood’, Tommy Solomon, died in 1933. Yet his descendants and other ethnic Moriori remain actively involved in a “cultural renaissance that began as far back as the 1970’s”, said Tommy’s grandson Maui Solomon, barrister, chair of Hokotehi Moriori Trust and indigenous rights activist.

Maui states that like the Jews in World War II era Europe, the Moriori “suffered genocide, were incarcerated, forced to do manual labour, starved and abused by their captors when their homeland, Rehoku was turned into a virtual prison for them.”

In 2002, then Conservation Minister Sandra Lee announced the Crown’s purchase of a significant ecological and cultural site on the Rehoku – the 1198-hectare Taia property located on the Eastern seaboard.

The progenitors of the Moriori arrived around 1000-1400 AD in two separate migrations. Some Māori argue that they are simply another Māori Iwi. The Moriori, however insist that they are a unique cultural group within the Polynesian family of peoples. For years, they lived in isolation and lived by Nunuku’s Law – the teachings of an ancient spiritual leader who forbade any type of killing or warfare. They didn’t farm any livestock like the other Oceanian peoples and survived off marine life around their islands, seals, birds and kopi nuts or harvested meat from stranded whales.

 In 1835, members of the Māori Iwis Ngāti Tama and Ngāti Mutunga arrived on a hijacked French ship with Western weapons and proceeded to massacre the locals. Despite knowing that they were doomed, Moriori were commanded by the elders not to resist saying it would compromise their mana (a multifaceted term for power, prestige and honour), and so, they were slaughtered without putting up a fight. Out of a population of around 2000 in 1835, only around 100 Moriori were left by 1870. Many were taken elsewhere as slaves, and their sacred sites were desecrated in an effort to erase the culture.

Maui argued “We upheld our custom of peace by firstly offering hospitality to the invaders when they arrived in 1835 sick and malnourished from their voyage and then refusing to fight.”

After the Moriori filed a petition, slavery was eventually abolished in 1868. But it came too late. To add insult to injury, in 1870, a court awarded 97.3 percent of lands on the islands to Ngāti Mutunga. Maui adds “The invaders were actually rewarded by the colonial government.”

Located on the eastern peninsula, Taia has  historic Moriori carvings (dendroglyphs) on kopi trees.  The coastal sand dunes also host ancient burials and is therefore sacred to them. Maui says “we have already begun the process of restoring the damage done to the ecology of the land and it will remain as a historic reserve with managed public access.” In 2018, Ngāti Mutunga contested the claim to Taia in the High Court. This failed. Some of the carvings on the tree barks are over 300 years old.

The then New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Adern, visited the Chatham Islands in December of last year but did not visit the Moriori Marae (traditional meeting house). “I personally found that insulting. Having just signed a Deed of Settlement with the Crown in 2020 to redress historic grievances suffered by Moriori and ‘reset’ the relationship with the Crown and then being ignored by the Prime Minister was another slap in the face for the Moriori ” said Maui.

Yet today, Maui says that despite this devastation, they are more determined than ever to rebuild their lives in their old homeland and reclaim their language. One can draw parallels between Jews rebuilding their nation generations since the temple was destroyed and the recent revival of Hebrew.

 “We are not a conquered people,” Maui said.