News Archive

Expired news and views related to HistoryWorks and Treaty of Waitangi claims processes in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Go to the news page for recent articles.

Conference Call

HistoryWorks Limited is to sponsor a major conference to be held in Wellington later this year. Indigenous Knowledges: Reconciling Academic Priorities with Indigenous Realities will bring together leading Māori academics and researchers across a range of disciplines, along with indigenous and other scholars from around the world.

The conference, which aims to promote discussion and interaction between academics and indigenous communities as to research priorities from an indigenous perspective, will be held at Victoria University's Rutherford House from 22-25 June 2005.

For HistoryWorks, the decision to support the conference was an easy one. Director David Armstrong says he was impressed by the inclusive approach to community involvement the conference organisers have adopted. One group of rangatahi are travelling down from Tai Tokerau for the event, while iwi groups are also planning to attend from the Bay of Plenty and Te Tairawhiti.

'Many of the Māori attending the conference will be well known to us from various Waitangi Tribunal hearings and hui around the motu', says David, 'so it will be an excellent opportunity for HistoryWorks to contribute to this gathering. I'm also looking forward to hearing what some of the international delegates have to say'.

The Indigenous Knowledges conference is the first event that HistoryWorks has sponsored since the company was established in June 2004, but the decision is also a first for the conference organisers. Convenor Dr Joanna Kidman (Te Arawa, Te Aupouri) says HistoryWorks is the first sponsor for the conference. 'We have had awesome support from Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga (the Māori Centre of Research Excellence)', according to Dr Kidman, 'but the private sector have been a bit slow to get in behind it, so hopefully this will encourage other firms to follow the HistoryWorks' lead'. [Added 18 March 2005]

Turanga Report Launch

The Waitangi Tribunal's keenly-awaited report on the claims of the Turanganui-a-Kiwa people was released at Whakatō marae, Manutuke, in October 2004.

Attending the report's emotional launch were HistoryWorks directors Moka Apiti, Bruce Stirling and Dr Vincent O'Malley, who all presented evidence for the Turanganui-a-Kiwa claimants.

Bruce and Vincent were both key expert witnesses for the claimants during their hearings. Moka prepared maps for all of the claimant groups in the area and these also featured in the Tribunal's report.

As well as providing a sound basis for the Turanga people to negotiate their claims with the Crown, the 845-page report provides the most detailed critique yet offered by the Tribunal of the Native Land Court. The report can be accessed electronically from the Waitangi Tribunal's website (see our links page). [Added 17 March 2005]

Doctoring History

HistoryWorks Research Director Dr Vincent O'Malley became the first ever PhD graduate in New Zealand Studies when he received his degree at Victoria University's Te Herenga Waka marae in December 2004.

Vincent, who undertook his studies through the Treaty of Waitangi Research Unit (TOWRU), wrote his thesis on nineteenth-century runanga and komiti, building on his 1998 book, Agents of Autonomy (Huia Publishers).

In his thesis, Dr O'Malley argues that while Māori struggled to gain Crown recognition of their institutions of self-government, and to participate fully in colonial society through them, they were continually frustrated by the assimilationist agenda behind all Crown policy towards Māori at this time.

'Nineteenth-century runanga and komiti', Dr O'Malley argues, 'were a remarkable and sophisticated response to colonisation. They could not prevent the substantial loss of Māori lands, but they did play a critical role in the survival of Māori as a distinct people.'

TOWRU Director, Associate Professor Richard Hill, who attended the marae ceremony, describes the completion of Vincent's thesis as a significant milestone in the unit's six-year history. 'We are proud for Vincent and his achievements, but it's also a big moment for us, and hopefully the first of many completed doctoral theses through TOWRU', says Associate Professor Hill. [Added 17 March 2005]

Wairarapa ki Tararua Hearings

The Waitangi Tribunal's Wairarapa ki Tararua hearings drew to a close this month when lawyers for claimants and the Crown presented their closing submissions. The ninth and final hearing from 7-11 March came a year after the Tribunal commenced its inquiry in Masterton in March 2004.

HistoryWorks Directors Moka Apiti, Bruce Stirling and David Armstrong were involved in the hearings in various ways. Moka produced most of the maps used by claimants during the hearings, David assisted some claimant counsel, and Bruce prepared a comprehensive four-volume overview report that examined the changing nature of the relationship between Wairarapa Māori and the Crown. He also completed a report on the lands and people of Ngati Hinewaka Me Ōna Kārangaranga, a cluster of hapu in south-eastern Wairarapa.

Wairarapa ki Tararua is the second district in which the Waitangi Tribunal has adopted its 'new approach' to hearing claims in order to speed up and rationalise the process of inquiring into and reporting on claims. The approach was first applied in the Turanga (Gisborne) inquiry.

In Wairarapa ki Tararua the 'new approach' succeeded in clarifying the issues being inquired into at the outset and in reducing hearing time. On the other hand, because early hearings were dominated by expert witnesses and overview evidence, tangata whenua involvement was very limited. Later hearings, held on marae throughout the Wairarapa ki Tararua district, brought the people back. [Added 15 March 2005]

Hawaii Five-0

HistoryWorks Mapping Director Moka Apiti travelled to the University of Hawai'i at Manoa in November 2004 at the invitation of Professor Brian Murton (Nga Puhi) of the Geography Department. Moka gave a guest lecture to post-graduate students at the university on the uses of GIS for indigenous peoples, drawing on his experience in providing mapping for Māori communities within the Treaty claims process.

Following the lecture, Moka travelled around Hawai'i, meeting with and presenting seminars to indigenous Hawaiian groups and visiting some of their sites of significance. Moka also visited the East-West Center in Honolulu and compared processes and protocols for indigenous mapping with academic staff there.

Moka says it was great to be able to see first-hand Hawaiian efforts to map sites of significance and land alienation, and to exchange notes with indigenous mappers there in the company of Professor Murton and Dr Robert Wiri, both originally from Aotearoa.

'It was an invaluable trip for me, building on the indigenous mapping networks I have built up since attending the International Forum on Indigenous Mapping in Vancouver in March 2004', says Moka. 'It reinforced for me once again that many of the issues confronting mappers working within Māori communities are common to other indigenous mapping efforts - and respecting the intellectual property of the tangata whenua is always the key to success.' [Added 15 March 2005]