Danny’s PhD was completed in the Department of History, Massey University, Palmerston North in 1994. The thesis examined the activities of the Native Land Court in Taranaki from 1865 to about the 1880s.
The PhD was entitled Haere Whakamua Hoki Whakamuri. Going Forward Thinking Back. Tribal and Hapū Perspective of the Past in 19th Century Taranaki.
The particular focus of the research was the Compensation Court, which, as an off-shoot of the Native Land Court, offered Māori an avenue of redress if they considered the land confiscations had unfairly and unlawfully affected them and their pā / papa kāinga. This thesis argues that, though afflicted by hurt, dispossession and loss during the 19th century, Taranaki Māori actions and responses were always founded upon customary theologies of legitimation and liberation.