Tauranga District Inquiry

• Stage one of the Tauranga Moana inquiry was completed in 2001. A report on the Tauranga confiscation claims, Te Raupatu o Tauranga Moana, was issued in August 2004. 
• Stage two of the Tauranga Moana inquiry was completed in five hearings in 2006. The Tribunal is now writing the report on the matters raised.

The Tauranga Moana inquiry (Wai 215)

The Waitangi Tribunal conducted a two-stage inquiry into over 60 claims concerning the military operations in Tauranga, the associated land confiscations (raupatu) and their aftermath. Many claims also concerned the twentieth century fate of the people and lands remaining after war and confiscation.

The boundary of the inquiry is that established in the Tauranga District Lands Act 1868, which defined the Tauranga lands eligible for confiscation. This inquiry district  extends from Athenree to Papamoa (north to south), and from the Kaimai ranges to the coast (west to east), including the offshore islands Motiti and Tuhua (Mayor island). 

Stage one of the inquiry

Stage one of the inquiry was completed in 15 hearings between 1998-2001. A report on the Tauranga confiscation claims, Te Raupatu o Tauranga Moana, was published in August 2004.

This report found that the Crown unjustifiably attacked Tauranga Maori at Pukehinahina (Gate Pa) and Te Ranga, and confiscated their land. Further Crown actions in the Tauranga 'bush campaign' of 1867, the compulsory Te Puna-Katikati purchase, the acquisition of the Te Papa block, and the return and subsequent alienation of much of the district before 1886, were also unjustifiable and compounded the original prejudice suffered from war and confiscation. The Crown subsequently failed to adequately redress legitimate raupatu grievances during the twentieth century.

Stage two of the inquiry

Stage two of the inquiry was conducted over five hearings in 2006. This stage focussed on twentieth-century events concerning the people and lands remaining following war and confiscation.

First Hearing — Monday 29 May - Friday 2 June 2006, at Maungatapu marae
Second Hearing — Monday 3 July - Friday 7 July 2006, at Whareroa marae
Third Hearing — Monday 9 October - Friday 13 October 2006, at the Hotel Armitage
Fourth Hearing — Monday 30 October - Friday 9 November 2006, at the Hotel Armitage
Closing submissions — Monday 11 December - Friday 15 December 2006, at Hangarau marae

Issues for inquiry

The (post-1886) issues covered in stage two of the Tauranga Moana inquiry were:

• Nineteenth Century land alienation
• Twentieth Century land alienation, development and administration
• Rating and urbanisation
• Public works acquisitions
• Environment and local government legislation
• Socio-economic status
• Landbanking policy