Story: Te Rōpū Whakamana i te Tiriti o Waitangi

As minister of Māori affairs in 1975, Matiu Rata (Ngāti Kurī, Te Aupōuri, Ngāti Whātua) was the politician most responsible for the establishment in that year of the Waitangi Tribunal. In 1986 Rata  was also a principal claimant in the tribunal's landmark Muriwhenua hearings. The specially composed song 'Karanga rā' was first sung when those hearings opened at Te Hāpua. The English translation of its words is:

Karanga rā, e Rata 
Te hiku o te ika e 
Whakaripo ake nei e

Tenei a Tai 
Whakamana te Tiriti e 
Te ope nei e

Tainui e 
E tama Rawiri 
Paora e 
Whakaterehia ra

Maranga mai 
Te iwi oho ake ra 
Tauiwi tahuri mai e

Whatu ngarongaro 
Toitu te whenua e

‘The clarion voice of Rata [Matiu Rata] calls
The movement in the tail of the fish [the far North] responds.
In our midst we now have Tai [Eddie Taihakurei Durie, tribunal chair].
Now is the time to give strength to the treaty.
Here too is the group, all members of the tribunal,
Tainui [Koro Wetere, minister of Māori affairs], Rāwiri [David Lange, prime minister] and Pāora [Bishop Paul Reeves, the governor-general].
Between you, this fish can swim.
Māori people rise and be vigilant;
Tau iwi [Pākehā and others], the time is now to face each other.
People come and go,
But the land endures.’