On the site where Māori were imprisoned during the raupatu, the new Cambridge Police Base is the result of an unusual agreement between police and Tainui.

This month, two years after the signing of a unique deal between police and iwi, the new Cambridge Police Base officially opened. The building was designed and built by Tainui Group Holdings (TGH), and while their decision to be involved in the construction of a police station has raised some eyebrows, it’s part of a wider plan for a series of modern, community-focused police facilities throughout Waikato, all built by TGH.

TGH is the owner of the whenua on which this station stands, as well as the land under other police stations throughout Waikato and South Auckland. Under the 2020 agreement it was given first-bid rights on any commercial property developments on this land, such as new stations or re-modelling of existing buildings.

However TGH’s involvement in the project goes back much further, to the 19th century and the raupatu, or illegal confiscation of Māori land.

Raupatu

The Kīngitanga movement was formed in Waikato in 1858 to combat the illegal confiscation of Māori land, to protect Māori families, and to defend the sovereignty of Māori while uniting the tribes.

Following the New Zealand Settlements Act 1863, under which the government gave itself permission to confiscate land belonging to any tribe that was considered to have rebelled against the Queen, Governor Grey declared the Kīngitanga rebels and began his invasion of the Waikato.

The land under the Cambridge Police Base is a small section of a total 1.2m acres in the Waikato region that were confiscated by the government in 1863. More than a century later it was returned, along with parcels including the land below all other police stations in Waikato, as part of the $170m Waikato Raupatu Claims Settlement Act 1995.

On the Cambridge site was an old red brick station where Tainui people were incarcerated during the raupatu.

Speaking on behalf of tangata whenua, tribal knowledge holder and tikanga practitioner Rahui Papa says tearing down that building was an important first step in the process of creating a new, more inclusive police facility.

“We wanted to really strip down that colonised way of thinking and bring in a new, more community and multicultural focus for the whare,” he says. “That starts with the surrounds, and it continues with a strengthened relationship between the community, particularly the hapū and iwi.”

The new build is a joint effort between NZ Police, Tainui Group Holdings and Cambridge mana whenua groups Ngāti Korokī-Kahukura and Ngāti Haua.

“By partnering with local iwi, we firstly acknowledge our role in history as NZ Police and the significance of being given the opportunity to exist in this tribal location known as Te Oko Horoi,” says Waikato West area commander, Inspector Will Loughrin.

The design

Māori designs and structures are visible throughout Waikato, particularly along the expressway between Hamilton and Auckland. They act as visual reminders to all people of the history and ongoing presence of tangata whenua here.

Pierre Tohe (Ngāti Mahuta, Ngāti Whawhakia), general manager for engagement at Tainui Group Holdings, says the design of the new station is part of a wider TGH strategy to bring Māori design into the built environment of Aotearoa.

“On all buildings that TGH is constructing, whether it’s out at Ruakura or one of our hotels, or our retail centres, we’re trying to weave some of our stories and our kōrero and have our tohu on those buildings,” says Tohe.

Earlier this year, a new extension to the Novotel Tainui Hamilton Hotel was awarded a Gold Award at the New Zealand Commercial Project Awards.

For the police station, TGH again called on master carver Renata Te Wiata and other designers and architects with whom they’d worked in the past.

This is the first time TGH has built and owned a police station, and it’s determined that the building will represent the aspiration for a new relationship between the police and the people they serve.

The project involved “listening to the police and their desire to do better,” says Tohe, “not just with Māori but with our wider community as well. It’s also a reminder for the police of our people and our culture of this rohe.”

The design of the building was about enshrining a wairua within the police station, he says, and to make sure that “not only the wairua is seen but actually the wairua is felt”.

Working with the police

Launched in 2019, Te Huringa o Te Tai is the NZ Police’s overarching Māori strategy, aimed at strengthening relationships with tangata whenua through co-designed interventions to reduce offending and victimisation, and improve outcomes for Māori.

“Our investment in Iwi Māori partnerships is one our key priorities under Te Tiriti O Waitangi and Te Huringa o te Tai,” says Waikato police’s Loughrin, who adds that the new building signifies the organisation’s intention to “contribute to building safer communities in a mana-enhancing way that contribute to better outcomes for all, in particular Māori”.

Te Pae Oranga, the iwi community panels, and Te Kooti Rangatahi, the youth court, are both partnerships between the justice system and iwi designed to prevent reoffending and support victims. Rahui Papa sees a connection between these initiatives and the design of the new station.

“Those panels are designed to mete out justice in a Māori way, without having a lot of technical Pākehā-type processes, so a lot of our marae are used for those types of things. The motifs on the police station are designed to do just that, to imbue the wairua,” he says.

The base has a room for whānau and community members where they can meet with police to work through their issues.

Reflecting the ongoing impact of historical land confiscation and effects of colonisation, police statistics show the majority who seek help at the station are Māori.

“Cambridge Police Base isn’t designed with the intention of incarceration,” says Papa. “It’s about a whare that will help people get through their kaupapa, and help bring the New Zealand Police back to a more community focus.”

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