Frequently asked questions

Wai 2000 is a claim to the Waitangi Tribunal, lodged on behalf of the Harihona whānau and Ngāti Tara, seeking redress for how the Crown dealt with our land, our wāhi tapu, and our people since 1840. It is heard within the wider Wai 45 Renewed Muriwhenua Land Inquiry.

Chappy Harrison lodged Wai 2000 with the Waitangi Tribunal on 28 August 2008, with the Parapara Marae Committee's support. See Claim Journey for the full story.

Harihona is our original whānau name — Harrison is the anglicised version, changed in the early 1800s. The Tribunal's official file name for Wai 2000 uses the original name, tracing back to an ancestor, Taka Keha Harihona, in the Waipapa waka line.

Eight named claimants: the original seven — Chappy Harrison, Raniera Bassett, Hone (John) Bassett, Robert Gabel, Kelvin Phillips, Mervin Priestley, Tinalee Bassett (Raiti-Yates) and Donald Raiti — plus Geneva Harrison, who has acted as proxy for her brother Chappy since May 2026 and was added as a named claimant in her own right from August 2026.

Primarily land and wāhi tapu — our sacred sites, burial grounds and taonga across our cultural landscapes, including Pararake and Hikurangi. See Resources for the research behind this.

Three major pieces: Ben Leonard's Wāhi Tapu and Portable Taonga report (2025), Bruce Stirling's Ngāti Tara Customary Interests Project (underway since November 2025), and Suzanne Woodley's Muriwhenua Post-1865 Block Narratives, Report Three (finalised June 2026). See Claim Journey and Resources for detail on each.

A 2025 historical and archaeological report by Ben Leonard, with archaeologists Justin Maxwell and Jennifer Huebert, commissioned through the Crown Forestry Rental Trust. It traces two of our cultural landscapes — Pararake and Hikurangi — and documents how promised protections for our wāhi tapu were repeatedly not delivered.

A broader history project led by historian Bruce Stirling, commissioned by the Crown Forestry Rental Trust, tracing our history and customary interests from first occupation to today across five parts. It's still underway.

An independent report commissioned separately by the Waitangi Tribunal (not the CFRT), finalised 29 June 2026. Two chapters are directly useful to us: a full Land Court title history of Parapara East and West, and a chapter on Puketū Island, one of the desecration sites named in our claim.

Public summaries of the key findings are on the Resources page. The full reports, with maps and precise site locations, are available to whānau on request — see below.

Reports that are complete and filed with the Tribunal are freely downloadable from the Resources page — the same reports the wider hapū collective already publishes at kauhanga.nz. Reports still in draft, and a small amount of other material (like meeting minutes, once they're ready to publish), aren't public yet.

Only for reports still in draft — like Bruce Stirling's Ngāti Tara Customary Lands, which is still being finalised. Complete, filed reports are freely downloadable from the Resources page, linking directly to Google Drive — no request form, no login required.

The full reports themselves, as downloadable PDFs — Leonard's and Maxwell & Huebert's Wāhi Tapu and Portable Taonga volumes, Woodley's and Bassett's Muriwhenua Post-1865 Block Narratives, and Mulder's Pre-1865 Crown Transactions and Reserves report — plus several already-published Waitangi Tribunal reports for wider context. Stirling's Ngāti Tara Customary Lands draft is still available on request while it's finalised. Summary cards drawn from this research are on the Findings page.

Wai 45 is the Renewed Muriwhenua Land Inquiry — the overall Waitangi Tribunal process covering the wider Muriwhenua district. Wai 2000 is one of several claims heard within it, specific to the Harihona whānau and Ngāti Tara.

Te Paatū ki Kauhanga Trust represents the wider hapū collective across multiple claims, the Takutai Moana application, and beneficiary matters — see kauhanga.nz. This site is specific to Wai 2000 and Ngāti Tara's own history, research and claim. The two are complementary, not overlapping.

There are three separate claims covering the Parapara/Ngāti Tara area: Wai 2000 (Chappy Harrison and others), a related claim brought by Robert Gabel, and the Wright whānau's claim, for which Leah Wright is the main claimant today. Years ago, when the Waitangi Tribunal moved to close its claim registration window, several people from the same whānau network lodged separately to make sure nobody's interests were missed. The three claims aren't competing — the same people work together across all of them.

A formal grievance against the Crown for actions, or failures to act, that breached Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Research is underway or recently completed — see Claim Journey for the up-to-date picture.

Historians investigate archival records, Crown documents, maps, land transactions and oral histories to build the evidential record. It takes years because the research, claimant evidence and legal submissions all need to be done properly.

Where claimants, witnesses, historians and legal counsel present evidence, and the Crown responds. Hearings are usually open for whānau to attend.

No date has been confirmed yet. September 2027 is tentatively pencilled in, but won't be locked in until outstanding research and evidence are filed.

A written statement prepared by a witness, setting out the evidence they intend to give at a hearing. It becomes part of the official record.

The Tribunal issues a report on whether the Crown breached Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and what it recommends by way of redress. Claimants and the Crown typically enter settlement negotiations from there.

Email geneva@tuhi.co.nz to be added to whānau communications.

Monthly online meetings are for claimants only. Everyone — members, beneficiaries and the wider public — is welcome to attend the quarterly Hui-a-Hapū, where Wai 2000 is represented alongside the other Wai 45 claims.

Geneva Harrison — geneva@tuhi.co.nz or 021 057 3419. See About Us.

That's covered by Te Paatū ki Kauhanga Trust at kauhanga.nz.