The Government says a Treaty of Waitangi settlement with an Auckland sub-tribe will breathe new life into their relationship.
Ngati Whatua o Kaipara and the Crown have resolved historic claims with a signing at Aotea-Shelly Beach on the shores of Kaipara Harbour.
Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples says the hapu lost virtually all their land, which had devastating consequences for their social, cultural, spiritual and physical wellbeing.
The settlement includes commercial and financial redress worth about $22 million, including the transfer of Woodhill Forest.
Cultural redress includes the return of the sub-tribe's ancestral mountain, Atuanui-Mount Auckland.