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. Tauranga Moana 1886-2006: Report on the Post-Raupatu Claims was issued in September 2010.

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 coincides almost exactly with that of the ‘confiscation district’ established under the Tauranga District Lands Act 1868. It extends from Athenree to Papamoa (north to south), and from the Kaimai ranges to the coast (west to east), and includes 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.

The report found that the Crown unjustifiably attacked Tauranga Māori 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 took place over five hearings in 2006, with submissions in reply being filed in the early part of 2007, and the Tribunal issued its report in September 2010.

This second report found that, following the raupatu and its immediate aftermath, land loss continued through Crown purchasing, public works, pressure caused by actual and potential rates debt, and through the processes of urbanisation. Overall, the Crown did not provide Tauranga Māori with adequate protection and support to overcome these disadvantages (some of which, in themselves, involved Treaty breaches), and the report noted that Tauranga Moana is unique in Aotearoa/New Zealand in having suffered both raupatu and intensive urbanisation across a significant proportion of its area. Recommendations included a revision of the existing valuation legislation, better protection for heritage sites of importance to Māori, and more co-management of natural resources. The Tribunal also recommended substantial redress for post-1886 Treaty breaches, in addition to redress for the raupatu.