Excavations concluded earlier this year, revealing more than 450 artefacts and multiple parties have since lodged ownership claims with the Ministry for Culture and Heritage.
The trustees of Hokotehi Moriori Trust and Moriori Imi Settlement Trust have jointly applied to determine ownership of the taonga, but another claimant, Catherine Sixtus, has emerged as a vocal participant.
Sixtus previously made headlines in 2022 when she unsuccessfully took legal action against then-Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, pursuing her case through the High Court, Court of Appeal, and Supreme Court.
Among her claims against Ardern was a declaration that Māori and Europeans were natural-born subjects of the Crown, alongside a series of other grievances.
More recently, Sixtus appeared before the Māori Affairs Committee, asserting that the South Island is an independent territory known as New Munster, complete with its own seal and a historical agreement with Germany.
In June, she formally joined the waka proceedings, and in September sought an injunction from the Māori Land Court to halt any further removal, cleaning, sale, alteration or conservation of material from the site or its storage facilities – pending the appointment of an independent archaeologist.
Catherine Sixtus recently appeared before the Māori Affairs Committee. Photo / YouTube
The decision didn’t provide any details about Sixtus’ interest in the waka, and when contacted by NZME, she declined to comment.
However, in her application to the court, she claimed the waka may have originated from the Hanseatic states of Germany.
“The most likely journey is that it was transported out of the port of Hamburg or one of the Hanseatic states of what is now called Germany,” Sixtus said in a memorandum to the court.
Sixtus said she believed the waka was carved by Sydney Parkinson, who sailed on Captain Cook’s first voyage on HMS Endeavor, and gave her theories on how it came to be buried.
“Preliminary analysis of reasonable probability that the vessel is made with New Zealand wood exported by High Chiefs to Germany, designed and manufactured by Native Moimoi Lutherans in Germany, ‘namely Te Nayti’, transported to the Chatham shore by Native Moimoi and received by Moriori and buried,” Sixtus told the court.
The waka was found in the Chatham Islands in 2024, but there are questions about where it originated.
Two other claimants, Jodie Boyce and Maxine Williams, also drew claims to the waka and referenced their German links.
“Ms Boyce says that her family are descendants of Charles Samuel Cave and Susannah Gage,” Judge Michael Doogan noted in the decision.
“She claims an interest in the waka, which she says may have been built by German Bell Beakers and that she is descended from Native, AB originals as defined in the Preamble to the Treaty of Waitangi and of the House Hohenzollen Protestant Line.”
But in the decision, Judge Doogan found the assertions speculative and outside the scope of the court’s jurisdiction.
“With respect, I do not consider it is plausible on the basis of information currently before the Court that this waka originates from the Hanseatic states of Germany,” Judge Doogan ruled.
“The expert evidence so far available all points towards the Polynesian origin of this taonga.
“Even if I am wrong on the question of jurisdiction, I would not exercise discretion to grant injunctive relief.”
Sixtus’ application for injunction was dismissed.
A full archaeological report is due back in February 2026, and the taonga will remain the property of the Crown pending further decisions on traditional or actual ownership from the court.
The Moriori Imi Settlement Trust was also contacted for comment.
Shannon Pitman is a Whangārei-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ngāpuhi/ Ngāti Pūkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.