Note: Although Māori Land Online is updated regularly, the Māori Land Court and the Ministry of Justice cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information on this site. confiscated in the New Zealand wars of the 1860s. We presented rough examples of tools and features of a possible online hub and noted participants’ reactions, questions and feedback. The new government recognised customary title and held concerns about the legitimacy of earlier sales. Western ideals have been implemented within New Zealand e.g. The Matuaokore Ahu Whenua Trust is working to gain access to some of the few remaining blocks of Māori freehold land in the Gisborne area. this ruling, but it influenced attitudes. It’s for them, so it needs to work for them. Māori Land Court (MLC) is the judicial forum that makes decisions about ownership of Māori land according to the Act. 2.1 Māori Land tends to have characteristics not associated with other forms of privately owned land, and is subject to a range of unique restrictions and protections. Overview; The successors: People entitled to ownership when an owner dies; Applying to the court for a succession order ; Alienation: Selling, gifting and other land transactions. use of the lands. renegotiated. late 1839 it had purchased about 20 million acres (8 million Māori land is not just land that happens to be owned by Māori people. increased because settlers and investors feared that such investigated these purchases. had been genuinely sold, and about half of this was granted Māori Land Court. Also, anyone who wants to succeed to interests in Māori Land must apply to the Court. recognised as owners and given certificates, bringing Māori Whānau (extended families) and hapū (sub-tribes) could have different rights to the same piece of land. Learn More. Land (whenua) is considered taonga tuku iho (cultural property, heritage) and of special importance to Māori. Small traditions like that is what keeps the Māori culture alive. purchase of Māori land, and Māori were advised to gain Crown Be part of our community of global changemakers, Ministry for Primary Industries, New Zealand, Principles and frameworks to design the online hub in a way that will authentically represent the needs of Māori landowners, Information architecture based on a structure that makes sense to users and meet their expectations, Key features that will enable Māori landowners to confidently move towards their whenua aspirations, Digital and human services integration recommendations so that gaps in the Māori landowner whenua development experience are avoided. Treaty of Waitangi, Europeans claimed to own more than 66 Building quick prototypes for critical parts of the digital hub was key to this fast-paced approach. In 2011 a Māori Land Visualisation Tool to assist Māori land owners with basic land resource information was launched. It is ‘imbued with cultural and spiritual values over and above its value as an economic resource’ and is integral to the expression of mana (authority over a region). During this period the number of ‘sales’ rapidly Exclusive boundaries were rare, and rights were constantly being renegotiated. Ownership of the land was confirmed by the Māori Land Court and title was granted by the Crown. Before 1840 and Te Tiriti o Waitangi all Māori land ownership was based on customary title and all land was purchased directly from Māori. User reference group attendees represented a wide spectrum of experience and engagement land ownership – from kaumatua and kuia (elders), to rangatahi (young people), to professionals and those with emerging experience of managing their whenua. All text licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 New Zealand Licence unless otherwise stated. Not only did ThinkPlace give the Whenua Development programme confidence that an online digital hub would be valuable to Māori landowners, it gave Māori landowners confidence that this was an authentic and worthwhile process that had their whenua and whānau at its heart. That is, it’s not as straight forward as putting things online. were guaranteed ‘the full, exclusive and undisturbed How Māori land ownership works today. Often a Māori chief would allow land in New Zealand. Without limiting any rights of the High Court to make determinations, the Māori Land Court may declare the particular status of any land. Their It’s an opportunity to change lives of whānau – connect them to their land, restore whakapapa (lineage through to the land) and build futures that have economic sustainability, whānau and mana woven in”. The Act recognises Māori land as taonga tuku iho, a treasure to be handed down. © Crown Copyright. The land retains the status of Māori land. Since 1840 Māori land ownership in New Zealand has dropped to 5.5 per cent - about 1.5 million hectares, divided into 27,000 land blocks. million acres (27 million hectares) – more than the total