Ngāti Toa established their mana whenua in the Raukawa Moana region through Take Raupatu and Ringa Kaha in the 1820s. The Wellington City area is an intrinsic and integral component of the Raukawa Moana maritime domain of Ngāti Toa and our allied iwi of Te Āti Awa, Ngāti Tama, Ngāti Mutunga and other iwi of Taranaki, Ngāti Rangatahi, Ngāti Koata, Ngāti Rārua and Ngāti Raukawa. 

Ngāti Toa mana over the Wellington area was acknowledged by the symbolic gifting of the mere pounamu (greenstone club) Tawhito Whenua to Ngāti Toa chief Te Rangihaeata by the previous inhabitants at Taputeranga in Island Bay.

Ngāti Toa, and the representative iwi authority, Te Rūnanga o Toa Rangatira, acknowledge and affirm our responsibility to uphold the mana, rangatiratanga and mauri of the whenua, wai, natural resources and people within the rohe as consistent with the kawa, tikanga and values of Ngāti Toa. The iwi exerts the intergenerational rights and responsibilities of kaitiakitanga within the rohe that are a source of spiritual, cultural, social, and physical sustenance for Ngāti Toa and the local community.