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Waitangi Tribunal research

The Waitangi Tribunal website now provides both published reports and a broad Search Inquiry Documents system. For GIS research this is much better than relying only on Google searches for PDFs.

Tribunal reports​

Tribunal reports can be browsed by Wai number, year, inquiry type and district.

Inquiry documents​

Search Inquiry Documents supports filters including:

  • inquiry
  • district
  • Wai number
  • Record of Inquiry/document number
  • date range
  • reports, documents, evidence and directions

This can surface commissioned research, briefs of evidence, appendices and maps that never became part of a final published report.

Research reports can be geographically rich​

Useful material can include:

  • block histories
  • alienation tables
  • survey plans and map books
  • Crown purchase histories
  • public works
  • waterways and environmental change
  • tangata whenua evidence
  • local names

Keep the inquiry/document number with extracted evidence. A Tribunal document can cite an older primary source; follow that citation when the exact historical fact matters.

Local AI​

Large Tribunal PDFs are good candidates for Local AI document searching, but extracted names and quotations remain candidate findings until checked on the original page.

Last reviewed: 26 August 2026

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