The assets will be transferred to Te Here-ā-Nuku Trust, which will manage them on behalf of the customary owners.
The deal, which did not include any privately-owned land and will not restrict public access to land being returned, was roughly half the acreage sought in the 180-year grievance.
Grievance over Nelson Tenths rumbling for almost two centuries
Māori have since the 1840s pleaded with the Crown to honour an original agreement to reserve 15,100 acres of land as the Nelson Tenths Reserves during settlement by the NZ Company.
The tenths were parcels of land which the Crown was meant to hold in trust for the land’s customary owners, but the Crown failed to keep its side of the deal, Collins acknowledged today.
Nelson-based Wakatū Incorporation has funded the legal case brought by kaumātua Rore Stafford on behalf of customary landowners.
Wakatū Inc former CEO, Kerensa Johnston, joined Wakatū in 2012 as general counsel before she was appointed its CEO in 2016 and then stepped down this year.
She told NZME earlier that for her personally, the Nelson Tenths had always been a critical piece of work that had run alongside all the other work done by Wakatū in the region.
She said that fundamentally, they had approached the legal argument as anyone might today over property protection laws.
“We said, ‘just keep applying the same law that you’d apply to any breach of trust situation where there are clear legal obligations that need to be fulfilled’.”
Legal case heats up in 2010
The grievance gained traction in 2010 when Stafford brought a private property litigation against the Crown.
In 2017, the Supreme Court ruled the Crown had a legal duty to right the wrongs.
The High Court was then tasked with determining the extent of the Crown’s breaches, any defences it had and remedies.
In October last year, it ruled that iwi from the top of the South Island were entitled to thousands of hectares of Crown land and millions of dollars in compensation
The Crown then announced last November it was appealing the decision.
Wakatu Incorporation former chief executive Kerensa Johnston said they had approached the legal argument as anyone might today over property protection laws. Photos / Kate MacPherson (Wakatu Incorporation)
But today the long-running saga of the Nelson Tenths Reserves has finally ended, after the two parties began formal, confidential discussions in August with a view to settling the litigation.
Agreement reached 2025
In November 2025, they reached a two-part settlement agreement confirming that about 3068ha be retained by the trust, with the remaining land to be returned to the Crown, and the compensation to cover the shortfall.
Collins said it settled a private claim, which was different from Treaty settlements from historical claims over breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles.
“In this case, we are simply returning land to its rightful and legal owners,” she said.
Potaka said the Department of Conservation had worked with the (land) owners to ensure ongoing public access to this special part of New Zealand.
“The Abel Tasman Great Walk, the Kaiteriteri Recreation Reserve and wider conservation areas will remain open, with all bookings and access continuing as normal,” he said.
“Visitors, tourism operators, and local communities can be assured there will be no immediate changes to access or day-to-day use.”
The agreement allowed the Crown to lease back some of the land currently being used for important public purposes.
Collins said the Government was pleased to resolve what she described as a “unique private law case”.
“I want to acknowledge Mr Stafford and his whānau, and to thank them for their patience across many years.”
Wakatū Inc said there were some outstanding matters to work through with respect to specific parcels of land and all were committed to resolving these details.
Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.