Motu Kōkako

24/06/2026

Kaua e wareware, Island Getaway is the only approved cruise operating under the korowai of the Māori owners of Motu Kōkako 🤗 When you go out with Island Getaway, you have the blessing of the owners as you pass through the kōhao under the island and your fare contributes to the education of our young people. When you go out with Fullers / Explore NZ, you become part of an extractive relationship 😢

16/06/2026

Scholarship opportunities ❤️
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1HhKkwmCVf/?mibextid=wwXIfr

We offer scholarships for Māori who demonstrate their values align with those of the 28th Māori Battalion. Applications are now open.

13/06/2026

Trustee life 🌱🏝️💚

One of the great blessings of being a trustee is spending time on Motu Kōkako. The mauri is so strong and there are always new revelations.

This time we had a dual mission - upkeep on the helipad deck, and taking our carver Shane out to wānanga the pou.

Those who attended our last hui-a-tau (AGM) will remember that 2026 marks 200 years since the final battle of the raupatu at Motu Rahurahu, and the defeat and expulsion of Ngare Raumati from the Te Rāwhiti peninsula and surrounding islands.

The raupatu is the unifying event that links the shareholders of Motu Kōkako. For Patukeha hapū, it is our founding, eponymous event, when our tūpuna Te Wharerahi, Rewa and Moka took utu for the killing of their mother Te Auparo in the turnip patch at Okuratope Pā.

At our last AGM, It was decided to mark the two hundred years since the raupatu with the er****on of a pou on Motu Kōkako.

As part of our pou wānanga, we were blessed to have Te Warahi Hetaraka join us also. He regaled us with stories of scaling the island as a boy, and is a renowned carver and mentor to Shane. Both Shane and Te Warahi are uri of Motu Kōkako, through their Ngāpuhi descent; in Shane’s case, he is a direct descendant of Te Auparo, as am I.

Motu Kōkako is known as the island of Ngāpuhi, and standing there looking out, it was easy to see why. To the south, the lands of southern Ngāpuhi and Puhi’s fateful journey on Mataatua waka, to the west the heartland of Ngāpuhi.

Te Warahi reminded us of the early days of the Motu Kōkako Ahu Whenua Trust, when our parents led the protest against government actions to try to take over our motu. Rau and I are intergenerational trustees, following in the footsteps of Rau’s father Patuone Hoskins and my late mother Peti Pukepuke-Ahitapu. They were founding trustees alongside Waipu Pita, Hera Motu, Te Karaka Rewiri Ahitapu, and Te Ringa Witehira. It felt good to remember those days, and the legacy of kaitiakitanga handed down from generation to generation.

E ai ki te kī “Toitū te whenua, toitū te tangata” 🖤🤍❤️

Nā Lamorna Ahitapu-Rogers, trustee.

11/06/2026

Mahi on 👍🏼
Trustee visit to do deck repair and wānanga the pou 🖤🤍❤️
Did you know that Motu Kōkako is and always has been whenua Māori?
We converted from customary ownership to Native Land title in 1913🙂 We are the last island in the Bay of Islands that remains in Māori ownership, following ongoing breaches that saw the whenua alienated.

22/03/2026

Poipoia te kākano kia puāwai 🌱🌺🌴
Meet some of our 2026 Motu Kōkako scholars 🤗

22/03/2026

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR 2026 SCHOLARS
Motu Kōkako Ahu Whenua Trust is delighted to announce our scholarship recipients for 2026. This year we awarded all fifteen applicants financial support for their studies, to a total of $22,000. This was one of those years where the standard was so high that we increased the budget by $10,000 to be able to fund everybody.
GIving back to shareholders is a priority for the Trust, and we have witnessed the difference that support can make. We wish our scholars all the best for their studies this year.
E ai ki te whakataukī "Ko te manu e kai ana i te miro, nōna te ngahere. Ko te manu e kai ana i te mātauranga, nōnā te ao".
The bird who feasts on the miro berry, theirs is the forest. The bird who feasts on knowledge, theirs is the world.
The list of scholars is the last photo.

21/03/2026

AGM āpōpō - zoom in to hear our scholarships announcement. Another amazing group of taitamariki and pakeke coming through 🖤👩🏽‍🎓🤍👨🏽‍🎓❤️

01/03/2026

APPLICATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED

MOTU KŌKAKO 2026 TERTIARY EDUCATION GRANT

The Motu Kōkako Ahu Whenua Trust is happy to announce that applications are now open for tertiary education grants for study in 2026. The grant is for study full-time at a tertiary institution or wānanga, with the exception of postgraduate study, which can be part-time.

A total scholarship fund of $12,000 is available. The actual sum that successful applicants receive will depend in part on the number and type of applications but is expected to range between $1,000 and $2,000.

Applicants must be descendants of the ancestral owners of Rāwhiti 2C (Motu Kōkako). Priority will be given to whānau living and studying in Aotearoa. Applicants are not eligible to be awarded a grant over two (2) consecutive calendar years e.g. if you received a grant in 2025, you are not eligible in 2026 but will be eligible again in 2027.

Applications close Sunday 8 March 2026, and can be submitted online. Follow this link to submit an online application (you will need a google account): https://forms.gle/3Mv8KVy4yXzK5EnJ7
The final decisions will be published mid to late March.

Questions? Comment on this post, message us, or email us at [email protected]. Good luck whānau mā 🙏

List of ancestral owners: https://drive.google.com/file/d/18LwGPffx8tBKgGWQa0jrx60lYFpEZhlJ/view?usp=drive_link