Source: Auckland Council Te Kawerau Ä Maki, in partnership with Auckland Council and a member of the original settler Bethells family, have finally acquired ancestral land at Te Henga/Bethells Beach in the WaitÄkere Ranges for the building of a new marae and âkÄinga whakahirahiraâ or settlement of significance. Te Kawerau Ä Maki have been without a formal marae and papakÄinga since the mid-20 th century when their last remaining lands at Waiti (Te Henga) were alienated. The hunt for suitable land for a Te Kawerau marae goes back to the early 1990s, and negotiations over its transfer to the iwi go back to 2007 when the former WaitÄkere City Council acquired the land for this purpose.     Â