Pukeroa Oruawhata Trust

maori organisation — Lake Okataina · Rotorua

About Pukeroa Oruawhata Trust

A Ngāti Whakaue owners' trust based on Amohau Street in Rotorua, which manages land and assets for the iwi and the wider community. Its work goes back to the Fenton Agreement of 1880, under which Native Owners were allotted 20 one-acre lots. The trust's stated goal is to return Ngāti Whakaue to full ownership of its land, including titles to its reserves, and to have the iwi's mana over the Rotorua township recognised. Gifted reserves came back to the trust in 1995, with the former Rotorua Railway Station and marshalling yards, and in 2005, with a lakefront site once owned by the district health board. The trust's commercial enterprises fund social benefits for its owners. Its best-known venture is Wai Ariki Hot Springs & Spa, which the trust describes as the first major purpose-built spa and bathing facility in Rotorua since the original bathhouse was built more than 120 years ago. The trust also lists Haupapa House, a former RSA building, among its projects.