Abstract

• Authors: Moewaka Barnes & McCreanor (Whariki Research Group, SHORE & Whariki, Massey University)
• Focus: Colonisation in Aotearoa (New Zealand) and its impacts on Maori hauora (wellbeing) and whenua (land) within a relational, Maori-centered framework.
• Claim: Colonisation has deeply harmed Maori communities, undermining vitality, aspirations and potentials since the 1860s, at an enormous cost to the nation. The relationship between British/settler interests and Maori sovereignty has produced entrenched inequities in health and other social domains.
• Proposal: A unified, dynamic, relational Maori concept that positions whenua as the determinant of health could transform prevention, protection and promotion approaches, advancing health equity and just, sustainable futures for all New Zealanders.
• Framing: Grounded in te Tiriti o Waitangi breaches and relational sovereignty, with a focus on matauranga Maori, hauora, and planetary health.

Introduction: Colonisation, historical trauma and relational health

• Colonisation has produced profound negative consequences for Maori health, wellbeing, and existence, and is part of a broader story affecting Indigenous peoples globally.
• Historical trauma framework (Reid et al. 2014) links broad structural change to population-level shocks, multigenerational transmission, and physiological impacts.
• The paper traces changes from Cook’s Endeavour voyage (1769) to contemporary conceptions of hauora, whenua and health equity, using a historical-trauma lens.
• Cook’s 1769 landing signified imperial domination, white supremacy and racism in multiple forms, catalyzing later colonisation and exploitation.
• The first British landfall at Turanga (9 October 1769) began sustained, unequal relations between two very different peoples, shaping later outcomes.
• Early health observations by Cook framed Maori as physically robust but with potential health vulnerabilities under colonial conditions; later historians note comparable longevity but with a different burden of disease and nutrition for Maori vs settlers.

Colonising hauora: linking historical trauma to contemporary disparities

• The essay uses the historical trauma framework to weave population changes, disease burdens, land alienation, and racism into a coherent narrative of ongoing disparity.
• The authors discuss how the Endeavour’s arrival laid groundwork for imperial domination, white supremacy and extractive colonisation that degraded Maori health and vitality over generations.
• Data strands used: population change, relative life expectancy, and land alienation as indicators of cultural/economic integrity, alongside racism and privilege as ideological cores of colonisation.
• They reference the forensic demography work of Pool & Kukutai to trace Maori and Pakeha (European) population trajectories from Cook’s first visit onward.

Population history and health disparities (key data points)

• Indigenous population at first contact (Cook estimates): 100{,}000
• Pool & Kukutai revised estimates: around 90{,}000 to 95{,}000 at times, with growth to about 95{,}000 by 1810–1810s, then decline due to epidemics.
• 1810–1825: Maori population contracts, around 90{,}000; infectious diseases rise.
• 1825–1840: further decline to about 80{,}000; European population small but increasing with ship visits; new illnesses and weapons introduced.
• By 1840: Maori ~42{,}000; European settlers ~2{,}000; English life expectancy around 40 years.
• 1840s–1890s: Maori population falls to ~42{,}000; high mortality and reduced fertility due to infectious disease, land loss, and economic disruption.
• Settler population grows rapidly; Maori land holdings decline to ~60 ext{ percent} by 1890.
• 1860–1890: period of extreme trauma for Tangata Whenua due to land confiscations, war, and state consolidation (as described by Rusden, Belich, etc.).
• 1944: Maori population rises to 100{,}870; settler population at 1{,}539{,}978; land ownership falls below 10{,}\%; life expectancy disparity around 15\,\text{years}.
• 1970: settler population about 2{,}820{,}814; Maori population ~225{,}435; disparity in life expectancy shrinks to about 10\,\text{years}; urbanisation increases.
• 2013 census: Maori population ~598{,}605; total NZ population ~4{,}242{,}048; median age ~23.9 years; disparities persist.
• Since the mid-1990s, life expectancy disparities have remained around 7 years.

Whenua and hauora: land, environment, and health

• Māori conceptualisations of whenua: two primary perspectives
  • Whenua as determinant of wealth (land as property and resource extraction)
  • Whenua as determinant of health (whenua as living entity with rights and mana)
• Table 1 (conceptual relationships with whenua) contrasts these two views:
  • Whenua as determinant of health vs wealth attitudes are connected to Mauri, Kaitiakitanga, and Manaakitanga.
  • Key questions under health framing: How can we protect the whenua and retain its integrity? (Mauri, Kaitiakitanga, Manaakitanga themes)
  • Key questions under wealth framing: How much land/foreshore/rivers can I own and control? (Profit-focused framing)
• Consequences of land loss: separation from whenua destabilises place-based whanau, hapu, and iwi identities; disrupts knowledge-practices around land use; increases dependence on colonial economic systems; undermines social fabric.
• Lived experience of land loss includes sadness, grief, anger, identity damage, and cultural erosion; not just material harm.
• Global parallels: Indigenous peoples in Australia, Canada, US, and beyond have fought to recognise whenua values; examples include Ganges and Ecuador rivers granted rights to exist (human rights for nature).
• Te Urewera (2013) and Te Awa Tupua/Whanganui River (2017) cases: rivers granted legal personhood with rights, duties, liabilities; trend toward recognizing land as a living entity with rights; discussions on personhood as a legal tool for Maori aspirations (Exton 2017).
• 2013–2017 legal reforms signal potential decolonising reforms but remain contested within Crown policy.
• 2017 Mt Taranaki (Taranaki Maunga) case hints at potential personhood for Crown-owned land and protective litigation.
• Conceptual framework: Tangata Whenua Tangata Ora – unity of people with te tai ao (environment); whenua is the holistic base for wellbeing; public health should centralise environments and relationships with environments.
• In practice: mana whenua activities include protection, rahui (temporary restrictions), restoration, organic production, eco-forestry, sustainable harvest, mauri restoration, and broader ecological and cultural revitalisation efforts.

Maori models of health and the determinants of hauora

• Indigenous health models emphasize holistic, integrated approaches:
  • Te Whare Tapa Wha (Durie): physical, mental, social, and spiritual health as four sides of a house.
  • Te Wheke (Pere): octopus with many tentacles representing family, culture, spirituality, and holistic wellbeing.
  • Te Pae Mahutonga (Durie): four pou (posts) including environmental protection and waiora, along with whanau, culture, physical and mental health, and emotions.
• The Royal Commission on Social Policy proposed four pou; te ao turoa (the wider environment) and turangawaewae (place/roots) are pou elements; waiora is environmental protection.
• Durie’s Maori health platforms (2003a) describe hauora as constructed from land, language, whānau, marae/hapū, Rangi and Papa (sky and earth), colonisation remnant, adequate opportunity for cultural expression, and full participation in society.
• Many Maori scholars frame health as inseparable from whenua; Tangata Whenua Tangata Ora emphasises the unity of people and environment as an ecosystem with visible and invisible dimensions.
• Hauora Māori represents a dynamic, unified biopsychosocial system; central aim is to realise the potential of Tangata Whenua Tangata Ora for the collective future.
• In contemporary practice, mana whenua are actively contributing to healing and resilience, addressing trauma, rebuilding connections, and strengthening culture through diverse, restorative activities.
• Māori methodologies foreground whenua as the primacy determinant, guiding decolonising practice and holistic wellbeing beyond environmental impacts alone.

The social determinants of health and the whenua framework (Table 2)

• The authors map Maori conceptualisations to a social determinants of health framework (inspired by the WHO CSDH):
• Mauri as life force/bond that ties people to the common centre; Tangata Whenua Tangata Ora integrates kaitiakitanga and manaakitanga as guiding values for hauora carried across domains.
• The integrated approach resists partitioning health into isolated domains; instead, it merges domains across environment, culture, whanau, language, and land to promote holistic health.
• This framework uses mauri and relationality to unify health, environment, and society, enabling democratic, communitarian participation with space for diverse expertise and lay knowledge.
• Table 2 outlines Maori social determinants of health through whenua-centered domains (Maori conceptualisations linked with CSDH framework).

Implications for policy, decolonisation and health equity

• Te Tiriti o Waitangi has gradually gained a place in legislation and social life, though with ongoing Crown resistance and partial application.
• Health disparities for Maori persist, and current policy is often insufficient; Tribunal findings in WAI 2575 (Stage One, Hauora inquiry) critique Crown health service conduct and policy frameworks as flawed and contributing to inequities; emphasise care that respects Maori sociocultural paradigms as a care-access issue.
• Health and Disability System Review (2019) Interim Report recognises western medical dominance and acknowledges that achieving equity requires embracing Maori worldviews of health; calls for public reform and greater engagement with matauranga Maori.
• Decolonisation is presented as a central imperative for achieving health equity; without societal transformation, reforms may only superficially address sociocultural paradigms.
• Matike Mai Aotearoa (2016) envisions a constitutional order with distinct Maori and Tauiwi domains linked by shared relational space; such transformations are argued as necessary to address historical trauma and to move toward equity.
• Health providers increasingly attempt to incorporate Maori approaches to health with models like Te Whare Tapa Wha, Te Wheke, Te Pae Mahutonga, and other kaupapa. The paper argues for a more explicit, systemic decolonisation and matauranga hauora integration.
• The authors argue for a shift from land as property to land as a relational, living entity with rights (whenua as personhood) and for significant investment in decolonising concepts (Tangata Whenua Tangata Ora) to underpin policy and applied platforms.
• The broader philosophical and ethical implications include: recognizing the rights of nature and land; re-centering relational obligations; rethinking ownership models; and building new governance frameworks that align with Indigenous worldviews while sustaining all NZ citizens.

Practical pathways and examples for action

• Public health and policy should reorient toward a whenua-centric determinant of health, connecting ecological integrity with human wellbeing.
• Emphasise matauranga Maori in health planning, while fostering cross-cultural collaboration and mutual learning in a decolonising framework.
• Promote and safeguard legal personhood for natural entities (e.g., Te Awa Tupua, Te Urewera) as mechanisms to protect mauri and health of land and people.
• Support iwi/hapū/whānau-led restoration projects, sustainable land/water management, and kaitiakitanga-based governance.
• Encourage planetary health, One Health, and Ecohealth approaches but grounded in te ao Maori concepts and relational ethics.
• Invest in long-term research to develop and apply Tangata Whenua Tangata Ora as a holistic policy platform, integrating environmental health, cultural wellbeing, and social equity.
• Align health equity work with decolonisation priorities, recognizing that real change requires structural change in governance, law, and social norms.

Ethical, philosophical and real-world relevance

• The paper foregrounds ethical considerations about sovereignty, justice, and relational responsibility between people and environments.
• It raises philosophical questions about the goodness of current economic systems that treat whenua as a commodity rather than a living relation with rights and mana.
• Real-world relevance includes the growing global movement toward rights of nature, legal personhood for rivers and ecosystems, and Indigenous-led health models that blend traditional knowledge with contemporary public health practice.
• The narrative connects historical events (Cook’s voyage, land confiscations, epidemics) to present health disparities, urging society to address structural causes as a matter of justice and sustainable futures.

Key numerical references and formulas (LaTeX formatted)

• Maori population at contact (Cook): 10^{5} (approximately $100{,}000$) people.
• Estimated Maori population early 19th century: 9{,}0000 ext{ to } 9{,}5000? (approx. 90{,}000–95{,}000; used as a range in the text).
• Life expectancy at European contact: 40 years.
• Maori late 19th century life expectancy: mid-20s, i.e., approximately 25–29 years.
• Settler life expectancy: mid-50s.
• Land ownership by 1890: 60 ext{%} of land owned by Maori.
• 1944 Maori population: 100{,}870; Pakeha population: 1{,}539{,}978.
• 1970 Maori population: 225{,}435; settler population: 2{,}820{,}814.
• 2013 Maori population: 598{,}605; total NZ population: 4{,}242{,}048; median age: 23.9 years.
• Life expectancy disparity: historically around 7 years (post-1990s ongoing).
• 2013 census figures and later policy reports cited with page references to Tribunal and Health System Review.

Connections to previous and global scholarship

• Situates Maori experiences within broader Indigenous health literature (Durie 2003a, 2003b; Paradies 2016; Stephens et al. 2006; Reid et al. 2014; Reid & Robson 2007).
• Relates to global discourses on Indigenous health disparities and historical trauma in settler-colonial contexts (e.g., Australia, Canada, US).
• Bridges te Tiriti with contemporary health policy and public health practice, advocating decolonisation as a central mechanism for health equity.
• Cites institutional analyses and policy reports (WAI 2575, Health and Disability System Review 2019) to ground theoretical claims in current governance challenges and opportunities.

Summary takeaways

• Colonisation is framed as a relational, historical process that produced persistent health inequities and cultural disruption for Maori.
• A Maori-centric understanding of whenua as the determinant of health offers a transformative framework for health policy and practice, aligning ecological integrity, land rights, cultural identity, and wellbeing.
• Recognising land as a living entity with rights (land personhood) and centralising mana whenua in governance could catalyse decolonising reforms and contribute to health equity for all New Zealanders.
• Policy reform requires constitutional transformation, matauranga Maori integration, and sustained investment in healing, environmental protection, and equitable access to health services.