Summer services update
Online resources
Archives New Zealand - Collections search
At Archives New Zealand you can find:
- records of Māori Land Court hearings
- plans and maps of Land Court dealings
- historic land records.
Māori Land Court minute book index
The Knowledge Basket provides a database of minute books from the Māori Land Court dating between 1865 and 1910.
The Knowledge Basket Māori Land Court Minute Book Index
The Knowledge Basket database links
The Knowledge Basket provides links to a range of databases, including one relevant to Māori land research.
The Knowledge Basket database links
Pātaka Whenua online portal
Pātaka Whenua is a Māori Land Court database you can search to find Māori land information including:
- ownership
- trustees
- memorials, documents with information affecting the land and ownership of the land
- blocks.
Waitangi Tribunal claims and reports
You can find information on Māori land in Waitangi Tribunal claims and reports:
Land Record Search
You can use our Land Record Search to find titles, survey plans and instruments (documents):
Search for place names and geographical features
You can search our databases for place names and geographic features to help you identify land.
New Zealand Gazetteer – search for place names
New Zealand Geographic Features search
Offline resources
Offline resources are documents, books or stored images of documents, such as microfiche, that aren’t available to be viewed online.
Sometimes you’ll be notified during your search whether a record is not available. You may need to order a copy or view the records in an office.
Māori Land Court records
Many records have been digitised and can be found by searching in Pātaka Whenua. However, some are to be digitised or may be too fragile to copy.
If you can’t find a record or can’t access one, contact Māori Land Court.
The Māori Land court holds:
- ownership records
- court orders made by judges or registrars
- minute books from Māori Land Court hearings
- block order files which include block ownership lists, memorial schedules, title and other orders to do with Māori freehold land titles
- Māori Trustee information, such as if a land is administered by a Māori Trustee, incorporation or a private trust, unclaimed monies and if accounts are in credit for people named in a trust.
- Māori freehold land title notices.
Pātaka Whenua – search for records online
Māori Land Court – find district offices
Māori Land Court – contact information
Archives New Zealand - paper resources
Archives New Zealand may hold offline records and reference guides for researching such as:
- University of Auckland Māori Land Court Minute Books – a guide to information sources including computer database indexes
- Reference guide No. 6 – Researching whakapapa
- Reference guide No.16 - Some strategies for searching Māori names and land blocks.
You can view records and books in reading rooms in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. You’ll need a photo ID like a passport or driver’s license.
Archives New Zealand – visit our reading rooms
Libraries
Local libraries, including those run by your iwi may have historical information and tips on how to research.