Today, many New Zealanders enjoy a public holiday, commemorating the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the Treaty of Waitangi, on February 6, 1840. The Treaty established a formal relationship between a large group of powerful chiefs, representing their respective hapū, and Governor Hobson, representing Queen Victoria, or "the Crown". Several chiefs signed the Treaty with the pattern of their own moko. Many signed with an x, alongside the record of their names. Over the following months, numerous signatures were gathered on te reo Māori copies of Te Tiriti, although iwi from some areas, such as Taranaki, were omitted.
Here in Whanganui, nine signatures were collected on May 23, 1840, witnessed by English missionary Henry Williams and Octavius Hadfield, a clerk. One of the signatories, Rere o Maki, was a woman. Of high status, she signed alongside two of her brothers, Te Anaua and Te Māwae. A further five Whanganui chiefs signed Te Tiriti on May 31 at Waikanae.
Interestingly, just after the local signing of Te Tiriti, which made all private land-deals illegal, the "purchase" of Whanganui was completed at Pākaitore by Edward Wakefield on behalf of the New Zealand Company. That was either a bizarre coincidence, or a deliberate manoeuvre. On the day that Wakefield arrived by ship in Whanganui, Henry Williams was busy collecting treaty signatures in Ōtaki. While Wakefield was awaiting the gathering of chiefs to conclude the deal, Williams was heading overland to Whanganui with the Treaty. The signing was carried out on May 23, probably at Pākaitore.
Within a few days, around 700 chiefs had assembled at Pākaitore, and the trade goods were laid out. Wakefield left Whanganui with a substantial gift in return, of 30 pigs and 10 tonnes of potatoes and a signed deed for 40,000 acres to on-sell. Thirteen unsuspecting British immigrants arrived at Pākaitore on February 27, 1841, expecting to take up the land they had bought from the New Zealand Company, but finding local Māori understandably reluctant to part with it.
Fast forward to 2022, and we can reflect back on many years of contention relating to the intent, interpretation and legal status of the Treaty and its implications. Over recent decades, Treaty of Waitangi hearings have been a forum for sharing and recording of iwi histories of land ownership, confiscation and alienation. These histories are personal, powerful, often painful and are unlikely to be shared widely. Every one of us, however, can choose to educate ourselves and find out a little more every year about the history of where we live and important events that continue to shape our community.
