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Whakapapa search tips new

Learn which records in our collections can help you research your whānau, hapū, iwi and whakapapa.

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Tips for searching ingoa Māori

A good place to start is with a keyword search using our Collections search tool. The record titles are listed as they were written at the time, which means:

  • Māori names may be spelled incorrectly or as one word

  • spellings and phrasings may have changed over time

  • a person’s name might be entered using initials or an alias.

When you’re searching for people, places, landmarks, or events, it’s a good idea to try different variations, without macrons.

For example:

  • Wanganui/Whanganui

  • Ngai Tahu/Kai Tahu/Ngaitahu Kaitahu

  • pa/pah

  • hauhau/hauhaus /hau haus/hau hau

  • Maori/Maaori/native/natives

The asterisk symbol (*) acts like a wildcard and may bring up more relevant results. For example, Maori* will search for Maori, Maoris and Maoritanga. Search for ingoa Māori in Collections search.

Tracing your whakapapa

The information we hold about iwi, hapū, whānau, individuals and land comes from a number of government agencies and is spread across different record series. Few records contain whakapapa charts or trees, although Māori Land Court minute books may contain whakapapa, in either text or diagram form. Other departmental records also contain whakapapa for various iwi, hapū and whanau.

East Coast

You can find a series of genealogies relating to East Coast iwi, Waikato iwi, Ngāti Uenuku, Ngāti Hinga, Ngāti Hineuru, Ngāti Hauiti, Ohuake, Timahanga, Otanga and Ngāti Hine in our online collection: ACIH 16056 /18/28 - Parts 1-11.

Paper copies have been made of these records and are available at the Wellington office as reproductions, numbered 1734 to 1743.

Hawke’s Bay

The following maps/plans contain various whakapapa and are located within the Statutory Branch Registered Maps, Series 997.

  • Tarawera Block – tree of ownership, Parekaui Tekapau whakapapa, tracing, c1867 AAFV 997/84/ H25

  • Tarawera Block – tree of ownership, whakapapa, tracing, c1867 AAFV 997/84/ H26

  • Tarawera Block – tree of ownership, Tupurupuru whakapapa, tracing, c1867 AAFV 997/84/ H27

  • Tarawera Block – tree of ownership, Kurapoto whakapapa, tracing c1867 AAFV 997/84/ H28

  • Tarawera Block – investigation into title, Hineuru whakapapa, tracing c1867 AAFV 997/84/ H29

Te Wai Pounamu/South Island

South Island whakapapa records can be found in these two holdings:

  • The Schedule of Native Reserves at Te Wai Pounamu, c1868 includes several whakapapa tables towards the back of the volume AECW 18692/19/19

  • Māori Genealogies, South Island (no date) is a volume of genealogies, indexed by name ACIH 16056/17/27.

Other whakapapa records

More whakapapa records can be found in the following holdings:

Whakapapa in letters and confiscation papers

You can also find whakapapa information in correspondence, and evidence in confiscation papers formerly held by Land Information New Zealand. The following series might be helpful:

Whāngai and Māori adoptions

Māori ‘adoptions’, or whāngai, were the custom of sending children to other members of the hapū or whānau to be raised. The child was adopted informally in terms of tikanga Māori and brought up as the adopting parents' own child. Under the Native Health Act 1909 Māori could no longer use the whāngai system for adopting children. Under the provisions of the Native Land Act 1909 Part IX, all Māori adoptions had to be approved by the Māori Land Court. A tangle of restrictions surrounded Māori adoptions until 1955:

  • If both parents of the child were Māori, the adoption could be heard under the 1909 Native Land Act

  • if the adopting parents were Pākehā and the child Māori, the Infants Act applied a Māori and Pākehā could adopt a Māori child but the case would be heard in the Magistrates Court

  • Māori parents could not adopt Pākehā children.

Finding information on adoptions

Te Kooti Whenua Māori/Māori Land Court

Under the provisions of the Native Land Act 1909 Part IX, Te Kooti Whenua Māori/Māori Land Court was empowered to make adoption orders and these may be recorded in Māori Land Court minute books.

If a reference to an adoption is located in a Māori Land Court minute book, you may need to contact the relevant Māori Land Court district office where the adoption record is held. From 1963, all Māori adoptions hearings moved from the Māori Land Court to the Magistrates Courts.

Learn more about the Māori Land Court in our research guide.

Māori Affairs Department

Māori Affairs Department files contain some records relating to Māori adoptions. You can find adoption files in the records of the district and sub-offices of the Department of Māori Affairs. Access to these records is restricted. However, notifications of adoption were also published in the New Zealand Gazette from 1902 to 1956. Copies of the Gazette are held at the National Library.

Find the Gazette at the National Library.

Child Welfare Division

The Child Welfare Division of the Education Department also created one Māori adoption record entitled: Field Work – Other than State Wards – Maori Welfare – Adoptions 1923-1952 ACGB 8300/4/15/2

For permission to access restricted record lists or files please contact Oranga Tamariki Ministry for Children:

Manager, Privacy Official Information Services Privacy Official Information Team Oranga Tamariki, Ministry for Children PO Box 546 Wellington 6011 Central email: myrequest@ot.govt.nz Central telephone: +64 4 918-9230

Accessing adoption records

Access to adoption records is restricted and we only hold a small proportion of all adoption records. Most are held by the Department of Internal Affairs – Births, Deaths and Marriages. For access to adoption records we recommend contacting Oranga Tamariki Ministry for Children:

Manager, Privacy Official Information Services Privacy Official Information Team Oranga Tamariki, Ministry for Children PO Box 546 Wellington 6011 Central email: myrequest@ot.govt.nz Central telephone: +64 4 918-9230