Rapua ngā tuhinga ruku tātari

The Waitangi Tribunal’s Te Mana Whatu Ahuru: Report on Te Rohe Pōtae Claims is the outcome of 277 Treaty claims submitted by Māori of the Te Rohe Pōtae inquiry district. This district extends from Whāingaroa Harbour to northern Taranaki, and inland to the Waikato River and Taumarunui.

The claims in this report have been brought to the Waitangi Tribunal on behalf of a diverse range of groups and individuals. They alleged that the Crown breached the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi through a range of actions that resulted in significant prejudice to claimants and their tūpuna. Of the claims that would eventually come to be part of the Te Rohe Pōtae District Inquiry, the first was submitted to the Tribunal in March 1987 by Margaret Makariti Poinga on behalf of herself and members of Ngāti Hikairo. The last was the claim of Angeline Greensill concerning Māui’s dolphin and their threat of extinction, submitted to the Tribunal in September 2014.

The Te Rohe Pōtae Tribunal panel comprised Judge David Ambler (presiding officer), Sir Hirini Mead, Professor Pou Temara, John Baird, and Dr Aroha Harris. After the death of Judge Ambler in 2017, Deputy Chief Judge Caren Fox was appointed to the role of presiding officer.

The Tribunal heard 23 weeks of evidence, including six Ngā Kōrero Tuku Iho hui to hear traditions and oral evidence. Hearings began in March 2010 and ended in February 2015.

Volume 3 of the report addresses the land policy and legislation that the Crown imposed after 1900 in Te Rohe Pōtae and the implications these had on Māori, who expected to continue to exercise mana whakahaere, or self-government, over their lands and communities. These expectations reflected guarantees of rangatiratanga contained in the Treaty of Waitangi, as well as the (1883–85) agreements Te Rohe Pōtae Māori made with the Crown, known as Te Ōhākī Tapu, that promised to give effect to the Treaty in the district.

Volume 3 examines how the Crown’s legislation and its actions frequently resulted in the alienation of native land in favour of European settlement. Approaches it applied through legislation included: the continued practice of Crown purchasing of shares in land; the creation of Māori land councils and later Māori land boards to act in place of owners; the compulsory vesting of lands in these boards for lease and administration; the establishment of native townships to enable surplus land to be made available for European settlement; the passing of compulsory consolidation of share interests to reform and simplify titles; the broad discretions given to the Native (later Māori) Land Court to facilitate alienations; the compulsory Europeanisation of land between 1967 and 1974 where there were limited numbers of owners; the compulsory acquisition of uneconomic share interests; and the land development schemes which operated in the district.

The Tribunal found numerous breaches related to the Crown’s twentieth-century land legislation, its application in the district, and the administrative actions of its various agencies. 

It further found that the cumulative impact of the Crown’s Treaty breaches regarding land title, tenure, transfer and development in the district resulted in a loss of tino rangatiratanga (full control and authority) over Te Rohe Pōtae lands, the breakdown in social and political relationships, land loss, and enormous social, economic and cultural prejudice, the impacts of which continue to this day.

The Tribunal made one recommendation in this volume. During Treaty settlement negotiations, the Crown should discuss with Te Rohe Pōtae Māori, or their mandated settling group(s), a possible legislative mechanism that will enable Te Rohe Pōtae iwi and hapū to administer their lands, either alongside the Māori Land Court and Te Tumu Paeroa (the Māori Trustee), or as separate entities. The choice is one that necessitates thorough consultation with Māori landowners and should not have any coercive or compulsory elements.

The release of the final volume of the Waitangi Tribunal’s Te Mana Whatu Ahuru: Report on Te Rohe Pōtae Claims, named Take a Tākiwa, completed the Tribunal’s inquiry into Treaty of Waitangi claims submitted by Māori within Te Rohe Pōtae. This district extends from Whāingaroa Harbour to northern Taranaki and inland to the Waikato River and Taumarunui.

The first of the 278 hapū, whānau, iwi, block-specific, and district-wide claims that became part of the Te Rohe Pōtae district inquiry was submitted to the Tribunal in 1987 and the last in 2014. The claims alleged that the Crown breached the principles of the Treaty through a range of actions, omissions, policy, and legislation that resulted in significant prejudice to claimants and their tūpuna. The Tribunal held 23 weeks of hearings between 2012 and 2015 to hear parties’ positions and evidence. These hearings followed six Ngā Kōrero Tuku Iho hui held in 2010 to hear traditional oral evidence.

Volume 6 differs significantly from the five earlier volumes of Te Mana Whatu Ahuru, which were progressively released in pre-publication format since 2018. While those volumes focus on the major thematic issues agreed by parties, volume 6 provides a comprehensive inventory and assessment of all the claims in the Te Rohe Pōtae inquiry. In doing so, it complements and augments the discussion of major kaupapa (thematic) issues in volumes 1 to 5. At the same time, volume 6 shines a light on every individual claim – situating each within its local context and assessing whether it is well founded.

The claims are organised into seven takiwā (sub-regions), which are mostly located around the inquiry district’s major waterways: Waipā-Pūniu, Taumarunui, Kāwhia-Aotea, Whāingaroa, Te Kūiti-Hauāuru, Waimiha-Ōngarue, and Mōkau. There are also a small number of cross-regional claims. Each takiwā is introduced with a map and a short overview of the physical and human landscape.

Every individual claim made by or on behalf of groups affiliated to that takiwā is then summarised. For each claim, the Tribunal records the findings from parts I to V that apply. Where other claim-specific matters arise, the Tribunal makes any additional findings or comment that may be appropriate. Finally, the Tribunal assesses whether the claim is well founded, based on an assessment of whether Crown legislation, policies, actions, or omissions inconsistent with the Treaty have prejudiced the claimants.

The Te Rohe Pōtae Tribunal panel comprised Deputy Chief Judge Caren Fox (presiding), Sir Hirini Mead, Professor Pou Temara, John Baird, and Dr Aroha Harris. Judge Fox was appointed to the role of presiding officer after the original presiding officer, Judge David Ambler, passed away in 2017.

The Waitangi Tribunal’s Te Mana Whatu Ahuru: Report on Te Rohe Pōtae Claims is the outcome of 277 Treaty of Waitangi claims submitted by Māori of the Te Rohe Pōtae inquiry district. This district extends from Whāingaroa Harbour to northern Taranaki, and inland to the Waikato River and Taumarunui.

The claims in the report were brought to the Waitangi Tribunal on behalf of a diverse range of groups and individuals. They alleged that the Crown breached the principles of the Treaty through a range of actions that resulted in significant prejudice to claimants and their tūpuna. Of the claims that would eventually come to be part of the Te Rohe Pōtae District Inquiry, the first was submitted to the Tribunal in March 1987 by Margaret Makariti Poinga on behalf of herself and members of Ngāti Hikairo. The last was the claim of Angeline Greensill concerning Māui’s dolphin and their threat of extinction, submitted to the Tribunal in September 2014.

The Te Rohe Pōtae Tribunal panel comprised Judge David Ambler (presiding officer), Sir Hirini Mead, Professor Pou Temara, John Baird, and Dr Aroha Harris. After the death of Judge Ambler in 2017, Deputy Chief Judge Caren Fox was appointed to the role of presiding officer.

The Tribunal heard 23 weeks of evidence, including six Ngā Kōrero Tuku Iho hui to hear traditions and oral evidence. Hearings began in March 2010 and ended in February 2015.

The Te Urewera Report addresses some 40 Treaty claims lodged between 1987 and 2003 by Māori from iwi and hapu living in the Te Urewera district. The inquiry district stretches inland from Ohope in the Bay of Plenty to just south of Lake Waikaremoana.

The Tribunal panel comprised Judge Patrick Savage (presiding), Ann Parsonson, Tuahine Northover, and Joanne Morris. The panel convened for 11 weeks between November 2003 and February 2005, with hearings held at Waimana, Waiohau, Ruatāhuna, Murupara, Te Whāiti, Waikaremoana, Rangiahua, Ruātoki, and Maungapōhatu.

The report was released in eight volumes.

Volume I begins by examining the tribal landscape of Te Urewera. It describes the hapu and iwi of the inquiry district, their origins and settlement of Te Urewera, and their development over generations leading up to substantial contact with Europeans in the 1860s. It goes on to discuss the Tuhoe ‘constitutional claim’, which concerns the Treaty implications regarding the fact that Tuhoe did not sign the Treaty of Waitangi. It then looks at the confiscation of a large tract of Maori land in the eastern Bay of Plenty and the military expeditions launched by the Crown into Te Urewera from 1869 to 1871, following the alliance of Tuhoe and Ngati Whare with the messianic leader Te Kooti. 

Volume II discusses the Crown’s military operations in the upper Wairoa and Waikaremoana region in 1865 and 1866 before detailing the events leading up to the Crown’s acquisition of over 178,000 acres of customary Māori land to the south east of Lake Waikaremoarana (the ‘four southern blocks’). The volume then examines the development of the council Te Whitu Tekau established by Tuhoe and Ngati Whate, which gave effect to their autonomy following the end of military conflict in the district in 1871, and the Urewera District Native Reserve Act 1896, from which the Crown granted Te Urewera Māori powers of self-government and collective tribal control of their lands.

Volume III reviews claims concerning the Native Land Court and the massive loss of land that took place in the blocks encircling the Urewera District Native Reserve (the ‘rim blocks’) before focusing on how Ngati Haka Patuheuheu lost ownership of their customary land at the Waiohau block through fraud. The volume then considers the claims of Te Whanau a Kai, Te Aitanga a Mahaki, Tuhoe, and Ngati Kahungunu regarding their respective blocks in the Tahora 2 lands.  

Volume IV looks at why the promise of the Urewera District Native Reserve Act 1896 – which was to provide for Tuhoe self-government through a General Committee – was not fulfilled and whether the Crown was to blame for the demise of the reserve and the loss of much of the land it was supposed to protect. It also covers the Urewera Consolidation Scheme, which was designed to consolidate into a single vast block the many interests the Crown had purchased in the Urewera reserve and separate it from the remaining Maori lands.

Volume V examines the impacts that the Crown’s failure to properly implement the Urewera District Native Reserve Act 1896 had on the mana motuhake (autonomy) and mana whenua of the people of Te Urewera. It then describes the painful history of the creation of Te Urewera National Park before discussing the circumstances leading up to the arrest of Tuhoe spiritual leader Rua Kenana Hepetipa.

Volume VI concerns two forms of Crown intervention in the economic opportunities available to the peoples of Te Urewera in the twentieth century: the channelling of State funds into Maori farming and the imposing of blanket restrictions on the logging of native timber on Maori land for the greater part of the period since the 1930s. It goes on to consider a number of grievances specific to the district before detailing the long-running dispute between the Crown and Maori regarding the ownership of Lake Waikaremoana.

Volume VII canvasses the massive environmental changes that have occurred in the district since the 1890s as well as considers a number of discrete claims in four broad categories: claims relating to public works, claims relating to rating, claims relating to cultural property, and claims relating to schools in the district.

Volume VIII concludes the report with the reality of everyday life for Maori in Te Urewera from the 1890s until the Tribunal hearings in the first decade of the twenty-first century and describes the socio-economic effects of the various Crown Treaty breaches identified in the report. The volume also includes the appendixes, glossary, and bibliography.

The Te Urewera Report addresses some 40 Treaty claims lodged between 1987 and 2003 by Māori from iwi and hapu living in the Te Urewera district. The inquiry district stretches inland from Ohope in the Bay of Plenty to just south of Lake Waikaremoana.

The Tribunal panel comprised Judge Patrick Savage (presiding), Ann Parsonson, Tuahine Northover, and Joanne Morris. The panel convened for 11 weeks between November 2003 and February 2005, with hearings held at Waimana, Waiohau, Ruatāhuna, Murupara, Te Whāiti, Waikaremoana, Rangiahua, Ruātoki, and Maungapōhatu.

The report was released in eight volumes.

Volume I begins by examining the tribal landscape of Te Urewera. It describes the hapu and iwi of the inquiry district, their origins and settlement of Te Urewera, and their development over generations leading up to substantial contact with Europeans in the 1860s. It goes on to discuss the Tuhoe ‘constitutional claim’, which concerns the Treaty implications regarding the fact that Tuhoe did not sign the Treaty of Waitangi. It then looks at the confiscation of a large tract of Maori land in the eastern Bay of Plenty and the military expeditions launched by the Crown into Te Urewera from 1869 to 1871, following the alliance of Tuhoe and Ngati Whare with the messianic leader Te Kooti. 

Volume II discusses the Crown’s military operations in the upper Wairoa and Waikaremoana region in 1865 and 1866 before detailing the events leading up to the Crown’s acquisition of over 178,000 acres of customary Māori land to the south east of Lake Waikaremoarana (the ‘four southern blocks’). The volume then examines the development of the council Te Whitu Tekau established by Tuhoe and Ngati Whate, which gave effect to their autonomy following the end of military conflict in the district in 1871, and the Urewera District Native Reserve Act 1896, from which the Crown granted Te Urewera Māori powers of self-government and collective tribal control of their lands.

Volume III reviews claims concerning the Native Land Court and the massive loss of land that took place in the blocks encircling the Urewera District Native Reserve (the ‘rim blocks’) before focusing on how Ngati Haka Patuheuheu lost ownership of their customary land at the Waiohau block through fraud. The volume then considers the claims of Te Whanau a Kai, Te Aitanga a Mahaki, Tuhoe, and Ngati Kahungunu regarding their respective blocks in the Tahora 2 lands.  

Volume IV looks at why the promise of the Urewera District Native Reserve Act 1896 – which was to provide for Tuhoe self-government through a General Committee – was not fulfilled and whether the Crown was to blame for the demise of the reserve and the loss of much of the land it was supposed to protect. It also covers the Urewera Consolidation Scheme, which was designed to consolidate into a single vast block the many interests the Crown had purchased in the Urewera reserve and separate it from the remaining Maori lands.

Volume V examines the impacts that the Crown’s failure to properly implement the Urewera District Native Reserve Act 1896 had on the mana motuhake (autonomy) and mana whenua of the people of Te Urewera. It then describes the painful history of the creation of Te Urewera National Park before discussing the circumstances leading up to the arrest of Tuhoe spiritual leader Rua Kenana Hepetipa.

Volume VI concerns two forms of Crown intervention in the economic opportunities available to the peoples of Te Urewera in the twentieth century: the channelling of State funds into Maori farming and the imposing of blanket restrictions on the logging of native timber on Maori land for the greater part of the period since the 1930s. It goes on to consider a number of grievances specific to the district before detailing the long-running dispute between the Crown and Maori regarding the ownership of Lake Waikaremoana.

Volume VII canvasses the massive environmental changes that have occurred in the district since the 1890s as well as considers a number of discrete claims in four broad categories: claims relating to public works, claims relating to rating, claims relating to cultural property, and claims relating to schools in the district.

Volume VIII concludes the report with the reality of everyday life for Maori in Te Urewera from the 1890s until the Tribunal hearings in the first decade of the twenty-first century and describes the socio-economic effects of the various Crown Treaty breaches identified in the report. The volume also includes the appendixes, glossary, and bibliography.

The Te Urewera Report addresses some 40 Treaty claims lodged between 1987 and 2003 by Māori from iwi and hapu living in the Te Urewera district. The inquiry district stretches inland from Ohope in the Bay of Plenty to just south of Lake Waikaremoana.

The Tribunal panel comprised Judge Patrick Savage (presiding), Ann Parsonson, Tuahine Northover, and Joanne Morris. The panel convened for 11 weeks between November 2003 and February 2005, with hearings held at Waimana, Waiohau, Ruatāhuna, Murupara, Te Whāiti, Waikaremoana, Rangiahua, Ruātoki, and Maungapōhatu.

The report was released in eight volumes.

Volume I begins by examining the tribal landscape of Te Urewera. It describes the hapu and iwi of the inquiry district, their origins and settlement of Te Urewera, and their development over generations leading up to substantial contact with Europeans in the 1860s. It goes on to discuss the Tuhoe ‘constitutional claim’, which concerns the Treaty implications regarding the fact that Tuhoe did not sign the Treaty of Waitangi. It then looks at the confiscation of a large tract of Maori land in the eastern Bay of Plenty and the military expeditions launched by the Crown into Te Urewera from 1869 to 1871, following the alliance of Tuhoe and Ngati Whare with the messianic leader Te Kooti. 

Volume II discusses the Crown’s military operations in the upper Wairoa and Waikaremoana region in 1865 and 1866 before detailing the events leading up to the Crown’s acquisition of over 178,000 acres of customary Māori land to the south east of Lake Waikaremoarana (the ‘four southern blocks’). The volume then examines the development of the council Te Whitu Tekau established by Tuhoe and Ngati Whate, which gave effect to their autonomy following the end of military conflict in the district in 1871, and the Urewera District Native Reserve Act 1896, from which the Crown granted Te Urewera Māori powers of self-government and collective tribal control of their lands.

Volume III reviews claims concerning the Native Land Court and the massive loss of land that took place in the blocks encircling the Urewera District Native Reserve (the ‘rim blocks’) before focusing on how Ngati Haka Patuheuheu lost ownership of their customary land at the Waiohau block through fraud. The volume then considers the claims of Te Whanau a Kai, Te Aitanga a Mahaki, Tuhoe, and Ngati Kahungunu regarding their respective blocks in the Tahora 2 lands.  

Volume IV looks at why the promise of the Urewera District Native Reserve Act 1896 – which was to provide for Tuhoe self-government through a General Committee – was not fulfilled and whether the Crown was to blame for the demise of the reserve and the loss of much of the land it was supposed to protect. It also covers the Urewera Consolidation Scheme, which was designed to consolidate into a single vast block the many interests the Crown had purchased in the Urewera reserve and separate it from the remaining Maori lands.

Volume V examines the impacts that the Crown’s failure to properly implement the Urewera District Native Reserve Act 1896 had on the mana motuhake (autonomy) and mana whenua of the people of Te Urewera. It then describes the painful history of the creation of Te Urewera National Park before discussing the circumstances leading up to the arrest of Tuhoe spiritual leader Rua Kenana Hepetipa.

Volume VI concerns two forms of Crown intervention in the economic opportunities available to the peoples of Te Urewera in the twentieth century: the channelling of State funds into Maori farming and the imposing of blanket restrictions on the logging of native timber on Maori land for the greater part of the period since the 1930s. It goes on to consider a number of grievances specific to the district before detailing the long-running dispute between the Crown and Maori regarding the ownership of Lake Waikaremoana.

Volume VII canvasses the massive environmental changes that have occurred in the district since the 1890s as well as considers a number of discrete claims in four broad categories: claims relating to public works, claims relating to rating, claims relating to cultural property, and claims relating to schools in the district.

Volume VIII concludes the report with the reality of everyday life for Maori in Te Urewera from the 1890s until the Tribunal hearings in the first decade of the twenty-first century and describes the socio-economic effects of the various Crown Treaty breaches identified in the report. The volume also includes the appendixes, glossary, and bibliography.

The Te Urewera Report addresses some 40 Treaty claims lodged between 1987 and 2003 by Māori from iwi and hapu living in the Te Urewera district. The inquiry district stretches inland from Ohope in the Bay of Plenty to just south of Lake Waikaremoana.

The Tribunal panel comprised Judge Patrick Savage (presiding), Ann Parsonson, Tuahine Northover, and Joanne Morris. The panel convened for 11 weeks between November 2003 and February 2005, with hearings held at Waimana, Waiohau, Ruatāhuna, Murupara, Te Whāiti, Waikaremoana, Rangiahua, Ruātoki, and Maungapōhatu.

The report was released in eight volumes.

Volume I begins by examining the tribal landscape of Te Urewera. It describes the hapu and iwi of the inquiry district, their origins and settlement of Te Urewera, and their development over generations leading up to substantial contact with Europeans in the 1860s. It goes on to discuss the Tuhoe ‘constitutional claim’, which concerns the Treaty implications regarding the fact that Tuhoe did not sign the Treaty of Waitangi. It then looks at the confiscation of a large tract of Maori land in the eastern Bay of Plenty and the military expeditions launched by the Crown into Te Urewera from 1869 to 1871, following the alliance of Tuhoe and Ngati Whare with the messianic leader Te Kooti. 

Volume II discusses the Crown’s military operations in the upper Wairoa and Waikaremoana region in 1865 and 1866 before detailing the events leading up to the Crown’s acquisition of over 178,000 acres of customary Māori land to the south east of Lake Waikaremoarana (the ‘four southern blocks’). The volume then examines the development of the council Te Whitu Tekau established by Tuhoe and Ngati Whate, which gave effect to their autonomy following the end of military conflict in the district in 1871, and the Urewera District Native Reserve Act 1896, from which the Crown granted Te Urewera Māori powers of self-government and collective tribal control of their lands.

Volume III reviews claims concerning the Native Land Court and the massive loss of land that took place in the blocks encircling the Urewera District Native Reserve (the ‘rim blocks’) before focusing on how Ngati Haka Patuheuheu lost ownership of their customary land at the Waiohau block through fraud. The volume then considers the claims of Te Whanau a Kai, Te Aitanga a Mahaki, Tuhoe, and Ngati Kahungunu regarding their respective blocks in the Tahora 2 lands.  

Volume IV looks at why the promise of the Urewera District Native Reserve Act 1896 – which was to provide for Tuhoe self-government through a General Committee – was not fulfilled and whether the Crown was to blame for the demise of the reserve and the loss of much of the land it was supposed to protect. It also covers the Urewera Consolidation Scheme, which was designed to consolidate into a single vast block the many interests the Crown had purchased in the Urewera reserve and separate it from the remaining Maori lands.

Volume V examines the impacts that the Crown’s failure to properly implement the Urewera District Native Reserve Act 1896 had on the mana motuhake (autonomy) and mana whenua of the people of Te Urewera. It then describes the painful history of the creation of Te Urewera National Park before discussing the circumstances leading up to the arrest of Tuhoe spiritual leader Rua Kenana Hepetipa.

Volume VI concerns two forms of Crown intervention in the economic opportunities available to the peoples of Te Urewera in the twentieth century: the channelling of State funds into Maori farming and the imposing of blanket restrictions on the logging of native timber on Maori land for the greater part of the period since the 1930s. It goes on to consider a number of grievances specific to the district before detailing the long-running dispute between the Crown and Maori regarding the ownership of Lake Waikaremoana.

Volume VII canvasses the massive environmental changes that have occurred in the district since the 1890s as well as considers a number of discrete claims in four broad categories: claims relating to public works, claims relating to rating, claims relating to cultural property, and claims relating to schools in the district.

Volume VIII concludes the report with the reality of everyday life for Maori in Te Urewera from the 1890s until the Tribunal hearings in the first decade of the twenty-first century and describes the socio-economic effects of the various Crown Treaty breaches identified in the report. The volume also includes the appendixes, glossary, and bibliography.

The Te Urewera Report addresses some 40 Treaty claims lodged between 1987 and 2003 by Māori from iwi and hapu living in the Te Urewera district. The inquiry district stretches inland from Ohope in the Bay of Plenty to just south of Lake Waikaremoana.

The Tribunal panel comprised Judge Patrick Savage (presiding), Ann Parsonson, Tuahine Northover, and Joanne Morris. The panel convened for 11 weeks between November 2003 and February 2005, with hearings held at Waimana, Waiohau, Ruatāhuna, Murupara, Te Whāiti, Waikaremoana, Rangiahua, Ruātoki, and Maungapōhatu.

The report was released in eight volumes.

Volume I begins by examining the tribal landscape of Te Urewera. It describes the hapu and iwi of the inquiry district, their origins and settlement of Te Urewera, and their development over generations leading up to substantial contact with Europeans in the 1860s. It goes on to discuss the Tuhoe ‘constitutional claim’, which concerns the Treaty implications regarding the fact that Tuhoe did not sign the Treaty of Waitangi. It then looks at the confiscation of a large tract of Maori land in the eastern Bay of Plenty and the military expeditions launched by the Crown into Te Urewera from 1869 to 1871, following the alliance of Tuhoe and Ngati Whare with the messianic leader Te Kooti. 

Volume II discusses the Crown’s military operations in the upper Wairoa and Waikaremoana region in 1865 and 1866 before detailing the events leading up to the Crown’s acquisition of over 178,000 acres of customary Māori land to the south east of Lake Waikaremoarana (the ‘four southern blocks’). The volume then examines the development of the council Te Whitu Tekau established by Tuhoe and Ngati Whate, which gave effect to their autonomy following the end of military conflict in the district in 1871, and the Urewera District Native Reserve Act 1896, from which the Crown granted Te Urewera Māori powers of self-government and collective tribal control of their lands.

Volume III reviews claims concerning the Native Land Court and the massive loss of land that took place in the blocks encircling the Urewera District Native Reserve (the ‘rim blocks’) before focusing on how Ngati Haka Patuheuheu lost ownership of their customary land at the Waiohau block through fraud. The volume then considers the claims of Te Whanau a Kai, Te Aitanga a Mahaki, Tuhoe, and Ngati Kahungunu regarding their respective blocks in the Tahora 2 lands.  

Volume IV looks at why the promise of the Urewera District Native Reserve Act 1896 – which was to provide for Tuhoe self-government through a General Committee – was not fulfilled and whether the Crown was to blame for the demise of the reserve and the loss of much of the land it was supposed to protect. It also covers the Urewera Consolidation Scheme, which was designed to consolidate into a single vast block the many interests the Crown had purchased in the Urewera reserve and separate it from the remaining Maori lands.

Volume V examines the impacts that the Crown’s failure to properly implement the Urewera District Native Reserve Act 1896 had on the mana motuhake (autonomy) and mana whenua of the people of Te Urewera. It then describes the painful history of the creation of Te Urewera National Park before discussing the circumstances leading up to the arrest of Tuhoe spiritual leader Rua Kenana Hepetipa.

Volume VI concerns two forms of Crown intervention in the economic opportunities available to the peoples of Te Urewera in the twentieth century: the channelling of State funds into Maori farming and the imposing of blanket restrictions on the logging of native timber on Maori land for the greater part of the period since the 1930s. It goes on to consider a number of grievances specific to the district before detailing the long-running dispute between the Crown and Maori regarding the ownership of Lake Waikaremoana.

Volume VII canvasses the massive environmental changes that have occurred in the district since the 1890s as well as considers a number of discrete claims in four broad categories: claims relating to public works, claims relating to rating, claims relating to cultural property, and claims relating to schools in the district.

Volume VIII concludes the report with the reality of everyday life for Maori in Te Urewera from the 1890s until the Tribunal hearings in the first decade of the twenty-first century and describes the socio-economic effects of the various Crown Treaty breaches identified in the report. The volume also includes the appendixes, glossary, and bibliography.

The Te Urewera Report addresses some 40 Treaty claims lodged between 1987 and 2003 by Māori from iwi and hapu living in the Te Urewera district. The inquiry district stretches inland from Ohope in the Bay of Plenty to just south of Lake Waikaremoana.

The Tribunal panel comprised Judge Patrick Savage (presiding), Ann Parsonson, Tuahine Northover, and Joanne Morris. The panel convened for 11 weeks between November 2003 and February 2005, with hearings held at Waimana, Waiohau, Ruatāhuna, Murupara, Te Whāiti, Waikaremoana, Rangiahua, Ruātoki, and Maungapōhatu.

The report was released in eight volumes.

Volume I begins by examining the tribal landscape of Te Urewera. It describes the hapu and iwi of the inquiry district, their origins and settlement of Te Urewera, and their development over generations leading up to substantial contact with Europeans in the 1860s. It goes on to discuss the Tuhoe ‘constitutional claim’, which concerns the Treaty implications regarding the fact that Tuhoe did not sign the Treaty of Waitangi. It then looks at the confiscation of a large tract of Maori land in the eastern Bay of Plenty and the military expeditions launched by the Crown into Te Urewera from 1869 to 1871, following the alliance of Tuhoe and Ngati Whare with the messianic leader Te Kooti. 

Volume II discusses the Crown’s military operations in the upper Wairoa and Waikaremoana region in 1865 and 1866 before detailing the events leading up to the Crown’s acquisition of over 178,000 acres of customary Māori land to the south east of Lake Waikaremoarana (the ‘four southern blocks’). The volume then examines the development of the council Te Whitu Tekau established by Tuhoe and Ngati Whate, which gave effect to their autonomy following the end of military conflict in the district in 1871, and the Urewera District Native Reserve Act 1896, from which the Crown granted Te Urewera Māori powers of self-government and collective tribal control of their lands.

Volume III reviews claims concerning the Native Land Court and the massive loss of land that took place in the blocks encircling the Urewera District Native Reserve (the ‘rim blocks’) before focusing on how Ngati Haka Patuheuheu lost ownership of their customary land at the Waiohau block through fraud. The volume then considers the claims of Te Whanau a Kai, Te Aitanga a Mahaki, Tuhoe, and Ngati Kahungunu regarding their respective blocks in the Tahora 2 lands.  

Volume IV looks at why the promise of the Urewera District Native Reserve Act 1896 – which was to provide for Tuhoe self-government through a General Committee – was not fulfilled and whether the Crown was to blame for the demise of the reserve and the loss of much of the land it was supposed to protect. It also covers the Urewera Consolidation Scheme, which was designed to consolidate into a single vast block the many interests the Crown had purchased in the Urewera reserve and separate it from the remaining Maori lands.

Volume V examines the impacts that the Crown’s failure to properly implement the Urewera District Native Reserve Act 1896 had on the mana motuhake (autonomy) and mana whenua of the people of Te Urewera. It then describes the painful history of the creation of Te Urewera National Park before discussing the circumstances leading up to the arrest of Tuhoe spiritual leader Rua Kenana Hepetipa.

Volume VI concerns two forms of Crown intervention in the economic opportunities available to the peoples of Te Urewera in the twentieth century: the channelling of State funds into Maori farming and the imposing of blanket restrictions on the logging of native timber on Maori land for the greater part of the period since the 1930s. It goes on to consider a number of grievances specific to the district before detailing the long-running dispute between the Crown and Maori regarding the ownership of Lake Waikaremoana.

Volume VII canvasses the massive environmental changes that have occurred in the district since the 1890s as well as considers a number of discrete claims in four broad categories: claims relating to public works, claims relating to rating, claims relating to cultural property, and claims relating to schools in the district.

Volume VIII concludes the report with the reality of everyday life for Maori in Te Urewera from the 1890s until the Tribunal hearings in the first decade of the twenty-first century and describes the socio-economic effects of the various Crown Treaty breaches identified in the report. The volume also includes the appendixes, glossary, and bibliography.

The Te Urewera Report addresses some 40 Treaty claims lodged between 1987 and 2003 by Māori from iwi and hapu living in the Te Urewera district. The inquiry district stretches inland from Ohope in the Bay of Plenty to just south of Lake Waikaremoana.

The Tribunal panel comprised Judge Patrick Savage (presiding), Ann Parsonson, Tuahine Northover, and Joanne Morris. The panel convened for 11 weeks between November 2003 and February 2005, with hearings held at Waimana, Waiohau, Ruatāhuna, Murupara, Te Whāiti, Waikaremoana, Rangiahua, Ruātoki, and Maungapōhatu.

The report was released in eight volumes.

Volume I begins by examining the tribal landscape of Te Urewera. It describes the hapu and iwi of the inquiry district, their origins and settlement of Te Urewera, and their development over generations leading up to substantial contact with Europeans in the 1860s. It goes on to discuss the Tuhoe ‘constitutional claim’, which concerns the Treaty implications regarding the fact that Tuhoe did not sign the Treaty of Waitangi. It then looks at the confiscation of a large tract of Maori land in the eastern Bay of Plenty and the military expeditions launched by the Crown into Te Urewera from 1869 to 1871, following the alliance of Tuhoe and Ngati Whare with the messianic leader Te Kooti. 

Volume II discusses the Crown’s military operations in the upper Wairoa and Waikaremoana region in 1865 and 1866 before detailing the events leading up to the Crown’s acquisition of over 178,000 acres of customary Māori land to the south east of Lake Waikaremoarana (the ‘four southern blocks’). The volume then examines the development of the council Te Whitu Tekau established by Tuhoe and Ngati Whate, which gave effect to their autonomy following the end of military conflict in the district in 1871, and the Urewera District Native Reserve Act 1896, from which the Crown granted Te Urewera Māori powers of self-government and collective tribal control of their lands.

Volume III reviews claims concerning the Native Land Court and the massive loss of land that took place in the blocks encircling the Urewera District Native Reserve (the ‘rim blocks’) before focusing on how Ngati Haka Patuheuheu lost ownership of their customary land at the Waiohau block through fraud. The volume then considers the claims of Te Whanau a Kai, Te Aitanga a Mahaki, Tuhoe, and Ngati Kahungunu regarding their respective blocks in the Tahora 2 lands.  

Volume IV looks at why the promise of the Urewera District Native Reserve Act 1896 – which was to provide for Tuhoe self-government through a General Committee – was not fulfilled and whether the Crown was to blame for the demise of the reserve and the loss of much of the land it was supposed to protect. It also covers the Urewera Consolidation Scheme, which was designed to consolidate into a single vast block the many interests the Crown had purchased in the Urewera reserve and separate it from the remaining Maori lands.

Volume V examines the impacts that the Crown’s failure to properly implement the Urewera District Native Reserve Act 1896 had on the mana motuhake (autonomy) and mana whenua of the people of Te Urewera. It then describes the painful history of the creation of Te Urewera National Park before discussing the circumstances leading up to the arrest of Tuhoe spiritual leader Rua Kenana Hepetipa.

Volume VI concerns two forms of Crown intervention in the economic opportunities available to the peoples of Te Urewera in the twentieth century: the channelling of State funds into Maori farming and the imposing of blanket restrictions on the logging of native timber on Maori land for the greater part of the period since the 1930s. It goes on to consider a number of grievances specific to the district before detailing the long-running dispute between the Crown and Maori regarding the ownership of Lake Waikaremoana.

Volume VII canvasses the massive environmental changes that have occurred in the district since the 1890s as well as considers a number of discrete claims in four broad categories: claims relating to public works, claims relating to rating, claims relating to cultural property, and claims relating to schools in the district.

Volume VIII concludes the report with the reality of everyday life for Maori in Te Urewera from the 1890s until the Tribunal hearings in the first decade of the twenty-first century and describes the socio-economic effects of the various Crown Treaty breaches identified in the report. The volume also includes the appendixes, glossary, and bibliography.