Iwi’s pop-up Queenstown reserve camp in sights of DoC
A tiny community living on a wildlife reserve, on the banks of Queenstown’s Shotover River, face eviction by landowner, Department of Conservation (DoC), having overstayed on the nohoanga site they had rights to as members of the Ngāi Tahu iwi.
The settlement of seven are all Queenstowners who say they’ve been squeezed out of the resort by the rental housing crisis.
A family of six has been living in a full-size bus, complete with kitchen, bathroom and heating, on the site for a number of months, while Jeremiah Greenbank’s a recent arrival who in the past week has built himself a nearby shack out of wooden pallets, complete with a log burner he found on the side of the road.
The camp sits on one of 72 nohoanga sites allocated by Ngāi Tahu across the South Island — it includes a portaloo and outdoor shower, in compliance with nohoanga rules for the site.
It’s also home to many wildlife species, including native birds that nest nearby from August to January.
Under the Ngāi Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998, nohoanga sites are specific areas of Crown-owned land adjacent to lake shores or riverbanks, usually one hectare in size.
Ngāi Tahu Whānui — tribal members — have temporary, but exclusive rights to camp on nohoanga sites for certain months of the year to experience the landscape as their forebears did by gathering food and other natural resources.
But the group has exceeded its entitlement to stay on this nohoanga site — which ran from September 1 to May 16.
Greenback, who identifies as Ngāi Tahu, says he contacted the iwi when he first came to the site “and they basically rung DoC on us [including the family in the bus]”.
“A DoC guy came and talked to both of us a couple of weeks ago.
‘‘He said ‘if people start complaining, you’ll just have to leave’.”
DcC acting ops manager Rebecca Teele says they’re working with local authorities to ‘‘resolve the situation’’.
“The authority to camp over the summer months [on the nohoanga site] has expired and it has now reverted to public conservation land under the Reserves Act.
“Authorisations are required to help with the management and monitoring of site usage and to prevent over-populating and degradation of a site.
‘‘There are certain legal requirements that have to be adhered to and when these are not followed DoC works with local iwi and other authorities to ensure compliance and preserve the site.”
Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu strategy and environment group head Jacqui Caine says: “It’s our duty to support these whānau and we will continue to work with them.”
Housing situation ‘bloody ridiculous’
Born in Invercargill and raised in Alexandra, Greenbank’s a qualified mechanical engineer who first came to Queenstown 25 years ago to work as a whitewater rafting guide and has since divided his time between here and Australia working a number of jobs, including as a drone operator.
He came back to Aotearoa about two months ago with his wife, after a decade in Queensland, but has found no joy finding a place to live in Queenstown.
“I joined a couple of Facebook groups to try and find a house to live but it’s bloody ridiculous.
‘‘I’m 46 – I put an ad up and they’re all in their 20s, no one was interested.”
He lived with his wife in a tent for a while until she left him to it.
For a while he paid $375 a week to live in a car outside a Queenstown backpackers with access to the hostel’s facilities such as shower and kitchen.
Since then he has been living out of a tent or his car on the DoC site.
He’s spent the past week build ing the 13 square metre pallet shack, which is a work in progress.
The father and children of the family living in the bus, also identify as Ngāi Tahu.
The mother says they’d been living in a house in the district until last year when the landlord put the price up and “we got the boot”.
Since then they have “applied for so many f…ing houses, they always say ‘four children — too many’’’.
‘‘There’s nothing available for housing.”
She believes because she and her husband both work, “we don’t fit the criteria for [housing] assistance”.
“We’ve filled out all these forms with all these different agencies … [we’re] doing too good, but not good enough.”
The father says as Māori they understand and care for the land “better than anyone”.
Greenbank’s philosophical about the prospect of being forced to leave.
“I’m just taking it 24 hours at a time pretty much.
‘‘If I had to move on I’d just jump in the car.
‘‘I wouldn’t be that bitter about it … I don’t want to be here forever.”
The family says if evicted they’ll “go park [the bus] up the side of the road — there’s nowhere else for us to go”.
