Two former police houses were unexpectedly taken from a Shannon property after a miscommunication involving government departments.
NgΔti Whakatere, the local iwi, had offered to fix up the old homes as part of a land banking application in a Treaty claim.
Instead, without warning in May this year, the houses were trucked off the land.
Te Meera Hyde, who had applied on behalf of the iwi to land bank the properties, said he only learned they were being removed by chance when a visitor dropped by his house.
"I'm like, you're joking. And yeah, I just jumped in my car, come straight up here (to) have a look."
Photo: MATA
It started with 'pene raupatu'
The story dates back to 1865, when the land the houses would later be built on was lost to iwi by "pene raupatu" - confiscation by pen.
Under the Native Land Act, the whenua was carved up into small parcels held by just one or two owners, undermining Ngati Whakatere's collective rights.
Years later, the Manawatu Wellington Railway Company took over the land.
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