Abstract:
Raupatu (conquest of land) has been and still is a threat to the sovereignty and self-management of the Māori people. For the people of Waikato, raupatu has had such a significant impact that it has become a part of the people’s identity. The New Zealand Land Wars of the 1860s signalled the beginning of the troubles for Waikato that would plague them for generations. Many Waikato people died for the land that had once nourished them, which was ‘stolen’ by the Crown and its colonial forces under the guise of ‘confiscation’ by way of the New Zealand Settlement Act 1863. This thesis examines raupatu in relation to the Waikato people, and the effects raupatu has had on them. This thesis also illustrates the connection between the Waikato people and whenua tupu (ancestral lands) through countless generations of people who committed their lives to the struggle to have their lands returned as proclaimed in the decree ‘i haere whenua atu, me hoki whenua mai.’ This decree is examined in relationship to the Deed of Settlement 1995 whereby the Crown addressed the grievances of the Waikato people and some hope was once again instilled within the people.
