Heritage et AL

Whiria te kaha tuatinitini Whiria te kaha tuamanomano Friday this week is the 6th of February, Waitangi Day, which, this year, marks the 175th anniversary of the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi / the Treaty of Waitangi. Ref: Ron Clark, Flagstaff, Waitangi, 1960s, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, 1207-1373. Ref: F. Douglas Mill, Treaty House at Waitangi from the air, February 1934, West Auckland Research Centre, Auckland Libraries, FDM-0337-G.

On 6 February 1840 the Treaty of Waitangi was signed in the Bay of Islands. Lieutenant-Governor William Hobson afterwards circulated copies of the treaty for signature by other chiefs throughout New Zealand. Over the next few months five or six treaty meetings were held in the Waitemata and Manukau areas. Image: Captain William Hobson, circa 1835. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 5-0205. The first of these was held during Hobson’s first visit to the Waitemata, on 4 March 1840. The exact location is uncertain, but was probably Karaka Bay, and if not Karaka Bay then certainly somewhere along the shoreline between the Tamaki River and Maraetai. Sixteen Ng āti Paoa, Ng āti Maru and Ng āti Tamater ā – and perhaps also Ngai Tai – chiefs signed a copy on this occasion, with Captain Joseph Nias and the missionaries Henry Williams and William Fairburn acting as witnesses.