By REBECCA WALSH education reporter
Ngati Whatua will consider lodging a land claim under the Treaty of Waitangi if Queen Victoria School in Parnell is sold.
But the iwi hopes it will not have to resort to such a claim and that the site will continue to be used for Maori education.
Last month, the St Stephen's and Queen Victoria Trust Board said the Anglican Maori boys' school in Bombay and its sister school in Parnell would be closed because of financial difficulties.
A new co-educational school is planned to open in 2002.
Nin Thomas, a Queen Victoria old girl and senior law lecturer at Auckland University, said former pupils of the school were investigating the terms of the initial gifting of the land.
"If it was given in trust by Ngati Whatua, and that's what we believe is the case, then if it's sold and not used as a school it should rightfully return to Ngati Whatua."
Iwi trust board member Grant Hawke said it had not been approached by the school.
He said the board would consider a claim under the treaty if the Queen Victoria site was sold.
"If things change and it's no longer used for educational purposes then as far as we are concerned it's Crown surplus."
However, he hoped it would not reach that point.
Mr Hawke believed Ngati Whatua had enough clout to maintain the site for Maori education, and suggested one option was the development of a kura kaupapa.
"There's a network of Maori educators throughout Auckland. Let's start brainstorming some things."
The Bishop of Auckland, the Rt Rev John Paterson, said he favoured Queen Victoria remaining a single-sex school but he wanted both schools to survive "in some form or another."
"If survival means becoming co-ed on one site, so be it."
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