Tauranga Confiscation

Both of the battles at Pukehinahina (Gate Pā) on the 29th of April 1864 and Te Ranga on the 21st of July 1864 had followed on from the war in the Waikato.

The Waitangi Tribunal found that the Crown had breached the Treaty of Waitangi by deploying their troops in Tauranga and attacking Māori. Which resulted in numerous deaths and the loss of property and lands for local iwi with approximately 290,000 acres of land confiscated. Following this attack, the Crown used the resistance of these Māori as a reason to confiscate their lands, further breaching article two of the treaty to allow Māori to retain ownership and control of their land. The Crown justified the confiscation of these lands on the basis that these local Māori were apart a 'rebellion'. However, in contrast to this the Waitangi Tribunal dismissed the Crown's reasoning as it failed to take into account the state of affairs in Aotearoa during the 1860s.

Thus, Evelyn Stokes donated to the University of Waikato Library one box pertaining to thirty-three folders of copied papers relating to this event. The records cover the period from December 1864 to 1886.