New Zealand history chronicles the numerous colonial measures of social assimilation which saw the indigenous Māori of Aotearoa yield to rapid socio-cultural deconstruction. Colonial efforts extended so far as to suppress the indigenous language and oppress the declining native population. During this era, the myths of pre-contact Māori were rejected by the early missionaries, their governing authorities and the rapidly growing colonial state, as all myths of indigenous origin were deconstructed, displaced, and disregarded. Today however, the intrinsic aspect of Māori mythology has come full circle, and formal Māori oratory provides broad facility for the expression of significant mythic deities, ancestors, events and declarations. Within the developing rubric of contemporary indigenous parity, previously censured and rejected indigenous myths have come to be wielded as ideological historical testaments validating tribal claims of autochthony. Indigenous myths have come to be exponentially used within contemporary indigenous reclamation processes, such as the NZ Waitangi Tribunal settlement claims, when establishing legal title of ownership and rightful governance over land, language and culture. This research examines the role of myths and the significant shift(s) of the acceptance of indigenous mythologies of NZ Māori by Māori, and considers how myths have remained in constant practice, how they have contributed to the indigenous identity, and how they have circuitously re-entered the New Zealand political realm.