The Makea Nui Ariki title applications, 2026: the documents

The records relied on by the objectors Caroline Tupou Browne and Te Paeru Stella Browne in the High Court of the Cook Islands, applications 74/26, 145/26 and 230/26, in the order of their affidavit: A their own descent; B and C the Appellate Court and Aitutaki pages that give the Arera line and the Pa descent of Te Pa a Tuakino; D the Rarotonga Minute Books; E the two manuscripts that record the agreement of the six mata‘iapo; F the Journal of the Polynesian Society; G the custom of succession as the ariki stated it and the courts have found it. Each opens whole; the sisters and their late sister Yollande gathered them over many years. Nothing on this page is commentary.

A. The genealogy of the objectors

The objectors’ genealogy, Arera Ukarau to themselves (Schedule A to their statement, 2 October 2026)
The descent of Caroline Tupou Browne and Te Paeru Stella Browne from Rangi Makeakea through Putua Ariki and Mautaua, as filed with their notice of dispute, 2 October 2026.

B. The Native Appellate Court, 1948 and 1949

Appellate Minute Book 1, pp. 5–6, 9 September 1948 · reported with the Arepepe section 67 decision, (1948) 1 AMB 102
Appellate Minute Book 1, pages 5 and 6: Willie Parau Browne’s evidence on 9 September 1948, Arepepe section 67: the Arera genealogy from Arera Ukarau, the eight children, Teiva Toa and “Teariki Itiau, a Makea ariki”; Te Pa a Tuakino’s wives and children; the election of Pini at the Taumakeva stone and “that is where Makea Nui name came from”.

Appellate Minute Book 1, p. 240, 6 August 1949 · reported with the Arekakaia section 50A No 5 decision, (1949) 1 AMB 264
Appellate Minute Book 1, page 240: Willie Browne on 6 August 1949, Arekakaia 50A: “Te Paatuakino was not the son of Rangi Makeakea”; Minute Book 7, page 331A impossible because it makes Rangi Makeakea father of his own predecessor Rangitukiao; the Aitutaki genealogy “agrees with our own genealogies”.

Appellate Minute Book 1, pp. 5–9, Arepepe 67, 9–10 September 1948: Willie Browne, Rauru Vaike, Charlie Cowan and Ngataupoko · the report, (1948) 1 AMB 102
The whole run of the Arepepe hearing of September 1948, five pages.

AMB 1 transcriptions pp 3 6 and 240
Transcriptions of the same pages, made from the photographs, for reading beside them.

C. The Aitutaki Minute Book, 1947

Aitutaki Minute Book 12, p. 63, 19 May 1947 · the page on the Land Court page
Aitutaki Minute Book 12, page 63: Tupou Tiraa before Judge Morgan, Toenae section 63: a Pa ariki married Vaieturangi; their children Pa Te Ruaroa and Moeavaroa; Moeavaroa married Po te Anuanua called Tuakino; their children Taitua, Te Pa Tuakino and Te Tauira; Taitua’s line in Aitutaki to the witness.

D. The Rarotonga Minute Books

Rarotonga MB 12, pp. 289–290, 3 May 1939 (the pages) · as a document, with the chart · the pages on the Land Court page
Rarotonga Minute Book 12, pages 289 to 290: Willie Browne’s genealogy of 3 May 1939, from which the chart below was made.

Willie Browne genealogy 1939 MB 12 pp 289 290 chart
The 1939 genealogy drawn as a chart from the photographs of the pages (8 October 2026).

Rarotonga MB 7, pp. 325–332: the Makea genealogies given by Paaro, 25 October 1916, with pp. 329A and 331A · the pages on the Land Court page
Page 331A is the Makea Nui genealogy from Karika that Browne showed in 1949 to be impossible. Rarotonga Minute Book 7, p. 88: the Arera Ariki genealogy sworn by Pittman, 1913 · on the Land Court page · p. 331A on its own

Rarotonga MB 15 pp 117 124 January 1943 · the pages on the Land Court page
Rarotonga Minute Book 15, pages 117 to 124: Vaike Ruariki’s genealogy from Arera Ukarau through Teiva Toa and Katu, Ikurangi section 131, 12 January 1943, and the Tamaiva title, 13 January 1943.

Rarotonga Minute Book 5, pp. 101–150 (1912): Raea Rupe at 116–117, Vaikai Maoate at 121–122 · pp. 151–200: Vaikai Maoate at 162, Judge MacCormick’s decision at 167A–167C · the Avatiu pages on the Land Court page, the decision cited as (1912) 5 MB 167A · pp. 238, 243–244 and 285: Parakoti (29 April, and cross-examined by Savage, 30 April), Pa Ariki (6 May) (pp. 261–267, Stephen Savage, 2–3 May 1912, to follow)
Rarotonga Minute Book 5, the Avatiu case of 1912: Raea Rupe (pp. 116–117, “the mata‘iapo were never driven out”), Vaikai Maoate (pp. 121–122, 162, the war over Kainuku’s wife Akaiti), Parakoti (p. 238) and Pa Ariki (p. 285) on Makea Takau’s parents, and Stephen Savage (p. 267, 3 May 1912, “Vakaatini was not a son of Te Paatuakino”; the court: “very singular … immaterial”).

E. The two manuscripts of the plot

Gudgeon, The London Mission: its policy and peculiarities · on the Manuscripts page
Walter Gudgeon, The London Mission: its policy and peculiarities, Hocken MS-662/F, pages 8 to 10: the six mata‘iapo expelled from Ngāti Tangi‘ia, Pini “without state or following”, and Te Kaa a nga Ariki ma nga Mata‘iapo.

Walter Gudgeon, memorandum on the claim of Makea to the Avatiu lands, 16 July 1908 (as printed in the first edition, p. 78, from the Harvey report, pp. 58–61) · the Harvey report, 1945, the parts held
Walter Gudgeon’s memorandum of 16 July 1908 on Makea’s claim to the Avatiu lands, as printed in Judge Harvey’s report of 1945: Makea’s power after 1823 “due to the invitation to return by Pa and Kainuku who gave them jurisdiction over the land”.

Stephen Savage, The Makea Story, c. 1908, pp. 19–21: the pages themselves with a transcription made from them, the crossings-out shown · the manuscript whole, thirty pages, from the microfilm · on the Manuscripts page
A Tupapa mata‘iapo’s account written down by Stephen Savage about 1908: the six mata‘iapo of Tupapa, Pini struck out and Tinirau written above it three times, the knot that could be untied, “Makea Nui” a name coined at the ceremony, and “the real Karikas live up there” at Takuvaine. The manuscript is in the Cook Islands National Archives and on LDS film 1084926, item 13; the copy came from the folder kept by Yolande and Stella Browne.

F. The Journal of the Polynesian Society

Te Ariki-tara-are, History and Traditions of Rarotonga, Parts IV, VI, VII, X, XI and XIX, Māori and English
Te Ariki-tara-are, History and Traditions of Rarotonga, dictated 1897, translated by S. Percy Smith and S. Savage, Journal of the Polynesian Society vols 28–30 (1919–1921), the parts the objectors rely on, Māori and English: Part IV (Te Tumu and Papa; Ka‘ukura an ariki son), Part VI (the line to Tangi‘ia), Part VII (Karika at Maketu; “ta taua tamaiti, a Puta-i-te-tai”), Part X (the war with Tūtapu; Tangi‘ia: the chieftainship promised to Karika at Maketu “but the deed was not accomplished”; Smith: “Makea-Karika, as he is now called”), Part XI (Karika leaves for Iva and does not return; the chiefs at Avarua), Part XIX (Tangi‘ia’s house at Avarua; Mōtoro made ariki at Avarua; the ariki Tu-tarangi at Avarua).

The Pa Ariki: the holders of the title as written down in 1857 (Nicholas, 1892)
Henry Nicholas, Genealogy of the Pa family (the Pa genealogy of 1857), (1892) 1 JPS 20–29 and 65–75: the Pa line as the clock; Mata, number forty, the Pa ariki who married Vaieturangi.

G. The custom of succession

Archives 01 AJHR 1896 A 3 p27 Report on the Succession of Arikis 5 November 1895
Report on the Succession of Arikis: the Mode of Election and of Installation, adopted by the Ariki Council of Rarotonga on 5 November 1895 and agreed by the elected House on 15 November 1895; AJHR 1896 A-3, Enclosure No. 1, page 27.

In re Pa Ariki [2004] CKHC 3, Greig CJ, 2 July 2004: the report · on the Ariki Title Reports page
In re Pa Ariki [2004] CKHC 3, Chief Justice Greig, 2 July 2004: the kōpū ariki is the family of all the descendants of the common ancestor, represented in appointment and removal by the Ui Rangatira (paras 22–23, 27–28); the court ascertains and does not appoint (paras 1–2).

Judge H. J. Morgan, Taputapuatea sections, 24 April 1953, Rarotonga Minute Book 22, pp. 78–89: the decision whole, eight pages · the decision on the Land Court page, cited as (1953) 22 MB 78 · the passages as printed in the first edition
Judge H. J. Morgan, Native Land Court, Rarotonga, 24 April 1953, Taputapuatea sections 72, 39, 40 and 72A: nothing connects the Makea with Taputapuatea in ancient history; no defined tribal districts until Pa fixed the boundaries just before the Gospel.

Native Appellate Court, Tuareanui section 40, the hearing of 18–19 August 1950 and the decision of 19 August (Judges Morgan, Beechey and Dykes), Appellate Minute Book 2, pp. 44–49 and 58–59 · the report, (1950) 2 AMB 58 · the Taputapuatea decision, (1950) 2 AMB 75
Native Appellate Court, Tuareanui section 40, 19 August 1950, Appellate Minute Book 2, pp. 58–59: the district statement, and the succession by later ariki left “still to be settled”. Makea Nui Teremoana’s admission under cross-examination at p. 46: “This is Arera land. Vaitoti of Ngati Arera took Makea Takau as his adopted child.” The Taputapuatea decision of 25 August 1950 (pp. 75–77) is the Court’s own book.

The objectors’ submissions cite these documents by the references above. The minute books are the Court’s own records; the manuscripts are held by the Hocken Library and the Cook Islands National Archives; the Journal by the Polynesian Society. Page last changed 28 October 2026.