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Item He kākano i ruia mai i hea? : Kāwera : rekindling the home fires : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Māori Studies at Massey University, Manawatū, Aotearoa(Massey University, 2011) Nuku, Pareputiputi; Nuku, PareputiputiKāwera (Ōmāhu IB4B2) is tūrangawaewae to the Nuku whānau (family). It is a relatively small block along the winding Taihape Road, that looks no different from any of the other neighbouring farm lands apart from our whānau urupā (family cemetery) and a stone waharoa (gateway) standing, as it might appear, randomly in the middle of the front paddock. Our tīpuna (ancestors) lived and worked on this land until the 1940s. They have all long since gone now, sadly taking with them, most of our oral narratives, our waiata (songs) and our pūrākau (ancient legends) that pertain specifically to Kāwera. Therefore this journey of uncovering our history, our whakapapa (genealogy), our stories, has in the main, depended on Māori Land Court records and fragments of memories held by only a few of my elders. The significance of the block was solely based around our loved ones at rest in the urupā (cemetery) and our own experiences - camping and eeling at Kāwera over the years. However, this research has revealed that Kāwera has a rich and extensive history. This land has been fought for, both in combat and through the spoken word, and I strongly believe that we are extremely fortunate that this block is still retained by our whānau. A great deal of the data has been collected from evidence provided to the Native Land Court in the late 1880s by my tipuna (ancestor), Wiramina Ngāhuka. Wiramina was an expert witness in terms of whakapapa and land sites, and well-known for her skills as a historian, as the holder of whakapapa that spans back to pre Ngāti Kahungunu. She deserves to at least be acknowledged by her own descendants. The research also looks at Kāwera’s contemporary history, and whakapapa narratives pertaining to the hapū (sub-tribe) affliliations of Wiramina and her husband, Nuku II. The hope is that in some way, this research will sow a seed that rejuvenates a bond between us and Kāwera, and with each other.Item Nga Kooti Whenua : the dynamics of a colonial encounter : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History, Massey University, Albany(Massey University, 2003) Young, GrantThe Native Land Court was created to establish certain, stable and alienable title to Maori land but it struggled to do so and was regularly re-invented from 1862 to 1928 to deal with crises which undermined its role in meeting the demands of colonial politicians for land. Inside the courtroom, Maori asserted and argued complex claims to land, continuing a long tradition of negotiating relationships between distinct tribal and kinship groups. To deal with these claims and establish a settled title, the Court was forced to navigate a path through particular disputes to individual pieces of land rather than impose its own conceptualisation of customary rights. This thesis concludes that Maori customary rights to land cannot be generalised as a model of abstract rules. Rather they were a practical application of tribal political and civil rights negotiated in particular circumstances, both geographically and historically. Maori customary rights to land were fundamentally about relationships, how people interacted with each other over access to resources and land. This thesis also concludes that the Court demonstrates in the colonial context, power was never absolutely in the hands of imperial authorities. The process of alienating Maori from their land did not occur easily or quickly - colonisation was a haphazard process which occurred over many decades. Five discourses on Maori customary rights to land are examined. They are that of historians, the political discourse surrounding the Court from its establishment through to 1928, that of Maori claimants asserting rights to land in the Court and of judges and assessors attempting to resolve disputed claims to land, and the bureaucratic discourse which emerged after 1928. The major sources used are parliamentary debates, official and unofficial published papers, manuscript collections of particular individuals and the Court's minute books. A sampling process has been applied to the minute books to make this material manageable using specific criteria designed to ensure, among other things, geographical and chronological diversity. This thesis marks a first attempt to discuss the Court by taking a systematic approach to its minute books and one which recognises both the volume and complexity of the material available.