23 January 2015

The Waitangi Treaty lost and found.






Waitangi Treaty lost and found.

People usually know about the Waitangi treaty as being a founding document that was signed by many of New Zealand’s Maori throughout the country. There is more to the story and there were other documents that had been written before including letters to the British King at the time. There was more involved at the time with the creation of the treaty and what had occurred to it after being signed. The Treaty itself still raises many issues within New Zealand and has resulted in many settlements over land disputes along with the wording of the treaty itself as it was written in both English and Maori. The journey of the actual treaty is an interesting story to follow though there area few events that occurred during the time afterwards.

Before the Waitangi Treaty in 1840, there was another document that had been created in 1835 called the Declaration of Independence of New Zealand. This was mainly towards the Northern Tribes in the Bay of Islands area, which was drawn up by James Busby. It was after around 13 tribes had sent off a letter to King William IV in 1931 asking to be protected from other powers. There is debate over the role of the treaty being the first step towards the signing of the Waitangi Treaty in 1840. 34 tribal chiefs had signed the declaration in 1935 and by the end of 1839 there had been an additional 18 chiefs. New Zealand wasn’t devoid of Europeans as there were missionaries in the country working with the Maori and traders arriving in the Bay of Islands before the arrival of James Busby.

The English version of the treaty was put together over a few days by James Busby with notes from William Hobson. The wording of the treaty was based on instruction from Lord Normanby the Colonial secretary in London. The treaty was then translated into Maori overnight by Henry Williams the leader of the Church Missionary Society. The treaty was read out in both English and Maori to the group who were in front of Busby’s house in Waitangi, which is why it is called the Waitangi Treaty. The people had gathered on the 5th of February.  The people who were present at the time were hundreds of Maori, Officials of William Hobson along with English and French missionaries. Others who were present were residents of Waitangi who could not have a say about the treaty no could they sign it as the treaty was more of Maori concern with their relationship with the British Crown. The Maori debated the treaty as was their custom to give the positives and negatives well into the night. It was not until the next day on the 6th that the Maori present were ready to sign. 45 of the Maori signed with either signatures of the moko facial patterns. Hobson’s people and Hobson himself were summoned and was in civilian clothing, which is different to paintings and other media showing William Hobson in full military uniform. The first Maori to sign was Hone Heke Poki and to Hobson the surprise was the people who spoke against the treaty also signed it.

Copies of the treaty were made and sent to other parts of New Zealand to be signed in 1840 with the help of missionaries and traders. This occurred between February and September. In October of 1840 one copy of the treaty had been sent to the Colonial office in London. A number of women had also signed the treaty though they were of higher status in society


There has been many issues relating in New Zealand due to the treaty and many events have occurred since then. One of which was the beginnings of the Northern Wars also known as the New Zealand Wars that began in 1845 when Hone Heke cut the flag pole down at least four times in Kororareka otherwise known as Russell today.  I wont go into the complex details of the ramifications of the actual treaty as there were many that changed the country especially since I am following the path of the document.

The treaty itself was nearly destroyed by fire in government buildings in 1841 where it was rescued by the clerk at the time. In 1865 the documents were sent to Wellington when the city became the capital of New Zealand. The documents then vanished again only to be found in the basement of government building in Wellington and had been damaged where rats, water and time had been involved in 1908. An attempt to restore the documents resulted in some more damaged and they were placed into storage in a vault within the Department of Internal affairs. In 1957 the archives act was passed and the treaty became property of the National Archives as it was now considered to be an official archival subject. Some more restoration began in 1966 and around 1977.

The document has been on display on and off especially when it was put on display in 1940 for its 100th year anniversary. The treaty went under display again in 1961 within the Alexander Turnbull Library before being returned to the care of the National archives in 1978 where new facilities were being built for the safe storage of the documents to be put on display. The treaty was placed within a secure vault in the Reserve Bank of New Zealand before being placed into its new location in 1991 at the National Archives newly built Constitution room that had been officially opened  on the 9th of December. There is a display in the Te Papa museum in Wellington about the treaty and where it went to be signed. It also explains the differences between the English language and the Maori language of the two documents.

Since the creation of the treaty at Waitangi in 1840 the document itself has had a journey and so has the country of New Zealand. There has been conflicts with the people in the country especially in regards to the land that was taken from them though some of it was sold by other Maori who were enemies to the tribes in question. There were creations of movements within the country including that of the Kingi movement. In 1975 there was a tribunal established under the Waitangi Treaty Act of 1975 that was meant to look into the breaches of the Treaty.



Sources and further reading:


King, Michael The Penguin History of New Zealand, Penguin Books, Auckland, 2012.

 McLauchlan, Gordon A short history of New Zealand, David Bateman, Auckland, 2014.

Reed, A.H. The Story of Northland, A.H. & A.W. Reed, Wellington, 1975.

 National Archives Treaty

Women signatories to the treaty of Waitangi 

Drafting the Treaty 

Treaty of Waitangi 

Declaration of Independence 

Treaty Events 

Preserving the documents 

Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975 

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