Whenua - Land

The Waitangi Treaty Grounds, overlooking the Bay of Islands, is New Zealand's pre-eminent historic site. It is a place of belonging and enjoyment that is central to the life of the nation and special to all New Zealanders... It was here on February 6th, 1840, that the Treaty of Waitangi was first signed between Maori and the British Crown.

“Maori land” is defined by Te Ture Whenua Maori Act 1993. The definition in the Act is used by the Maori Land Court whenever it is required to determine the status of Maori land. The status may be one of the following: Maori freehold land Maori customary land General land owned by Maori

The Ministry of Maori Development Act 1991 established Te Puni Kokiri, the Ministry of Maori Development in 1992. Currently, Te Puni Kokiri’s work focuses on providing high quality policy advice to Government and other agencies. Recently it has also begun providing services to assist Maori achieve their development aims.

Information on Traditional uses of New Zealand native plants. In a project initiated by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) in the late 1980s, historical records were searched for information on the economic and cultural uses of harakeke or New Zealand flax. This information was put into a database for easy access. During the 1990s, early publications and manuscripts were searched for details on the traditional uses of all New Zealand native plants, as part of research for a proposed ethnobotanical garden. Information gathered was added to the existing database on harakeke.

What type of land can we set aside as a reserve? For what purpose can a reservation (or reserve) be established? Is land that is set aside as a reserve liable for rates? How do I get a copy of the gazette notice for a Maori reserve? Who can be nominated as a trustee? How long can a trustee be a trustee of a Maori reserve? What's the difference between marae trustees and marae committees? Can trustees sell the land?

The niupepa collection consists of over 17,000 pages taken from 34 separate periodicals. It is based on "Niupepa 1842-1933", a microfiche collection produced by the Alexander Turnbull Library. 70% of the collection is written solely in Maori, 27% is bilingual and about 3% is written in English. There were three main types of niupepa published; government sponsored, Maori initiated, and religious.

Everything you need to know about Maori Land Trusts; successions, setting up a trust, how they work, purpose and intent and application forms etc.

Here are some pointers to useful resources for researching land claims in the Library and other organisations. Researching land claims can take a lot of time, particularly if you are moving between organisations, so you may need to do a bit of investigating first and find out who holds what information. You can do this by checking out websites and contacting the organisations. Useful resources in the National Library

The Maori Land Information Base (MLIB) is used to locate individual Maori land blocks on a computer-generated map. It contains Maori Land Court information about Maori freehold land, which the Maori Land Court in consultation with Maori has approved for release on the Internet. This information is overlaid on a digital cadastral database and includes: The size of each Maori land block An indication of the number of owners Topographical information such as roads and rivers, and Relevant and appropriate management information, eg, if an incorporation or trust manages the land, etc. The Maori Land Information Base was first developed in 1997 and provides a snapshot of Maori freehold land as at August 2000.

The Maori Land Court Minute Books are a valuable source of information on Maori land, whakapapa and iwi histories. The University of Waikato Library holds a collection of Maori Land Court Minute Books on microfilm and in bound volumes, from 1865-1975 (approximately). These cover all seven Maori Land Court districts - Tairawhiti, Waiariki, and Waikato-Maniapoto (bound volumes) and Aotea, Taitokerau, Takitimu, and Te Wai Pounamu (on microfilm). The minute book collection is located in the New Zealand Collection on Level 3 of the University of Waikato Library. The minute books are used as a resource for courses in geography, history, law and Maori, and are also well used by students, staff and the general public doing personal research.