My thesis considers the Treaty negotiations between Waikato and the Crown from the viewpoint of Waikato iwi. The research examined the pedagogy developed by Waikato over several generations to conduct the negotiations and reach a Treaty settlement between itself and the Crown. My position in the research is that of an insider; that is, I am a descendant of Waikato iwi, and I was involved as a researcher, then a legal adviser, and then a lawyer for the iwi through the negotiation and settlement process. Others have assumed that the Crown set the Treaty negotiation agenda and the rules of the engagement for reaching settlement, but that was only partly true. To gain a fuller picture, the research examined the issue of “full and final” settlement in the context of justice-based reparation instead of a rights-based approach. The research then asked how this generation might empower the next generation of Waikato people to maintain “full and final” as their bottom-line requirement of the Crown. Using a Waikatotanga and Kiingitanga methodological approach, I reviewed the literature on Treaty settlements in Aotearoa, the experience of Waikato through the negotiation and settlement process, the leadership of Sir Robert Mahuta, and the case study of the Ngaai Tahu Settlement. Next, nine Waikato descendants who were involved—directly or indirectly—in the negotiations and settlement process were interviewed, and the interviews were thematically analysed through my methodological lens. Taken together, key findings were the emergence of a Waikato iwi pedagogy of settlement founded upon tuupuna aspirations and actions, leadership by Kiingitanga monarchs, the decisive and informed leadership of Sir Robert Mahuta, and the relationship built between Waikato iwi and Ministers of the Crown that aided operationalising the iwi pedagogy. This longitudinal reflection on the Waikato Raupatu Claims Settlement records the courage and tenacity of what Waikato achieved over many generations and does not include the Crown’s experiences of that journey. Rather, the research is a testimony to the work ethic and personal sacrifice of the Principal Negotiator, Sir Robert Mahuta, as well as the iwi, hapuu and whaanau of Waikato, and the participants whose puuraakau continue their tuupuna legacy of ‘Mahia te mahi, hei paainga mo te iwi’.

Key Terms: Crown; Confiscation; Iwi; Justice; Rights; Settlement; Treaty; Tribe;
Waikato