The Waitangi Treaty Grounds

Monday 13th May, 2013

We checked out of our motel in Paihia and drove a little way down the road to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds. It was on this site that the Treaty of Waitangi (Tiriti o Waitangi) was signed between the Maori iwi (tribes) of the North Island and Queen Victoria’s representatives. Although the treaty is seen to be the founding document for New Zealand and 6th February 1840 to be the nation’s birthday it is not a straightforward chapter of history.

The Treaty

This was the first time we encountered some of the specifics of how New Zealand came to be part of the British Empire. Whilst I had studied some aspects of the Empire’s rise and decline what happened in these two islands on the other side of the world had never featured. It’s impossible to do justice to the complexity and the tensions without making this blog post far too long but it came out of a desire in both Britain, and New Zealand from both Maori and pakeha to establish some more formalised structure in relation to land ownership and security.

In New Zealand the gradual increase in violence and dispossession of their land had become commonplace with the arrival of the pakeha (such as those in Russell). Moreover, the ready availability of modern weapons had resulted in “the Musket Wars” , over 500 devastating battles between tribes (iwi) between 1805 and 1843.

And there had at the same time been growing concern amongst missionaries and the New Zealand Company that prompted activity in Westminster. In 1837 a House of Lords select committee to investigate the “State of the Islands of New Zealand” concluded that a treaty with the Maori was needed. Two years later the Australian territory of New South Wales was enlarged to include New Zealand with its governor also appointed as the governor of New Zealand. Then on the 14th August 1839, Captain William Hobson was called to the Colonial Office and given instructions to establish a British colony with three principles:

seek a cession of sovereignty
assume complete control over land matters
establish a form of civil government

For the British the Treaty gave the Crown sovereignty over New Zealand and made governing the country the responsibility of the monarch’s appointee but the Maori believed they had not relinquished their authority to manage their own affairs. Much of the later tension in these two contrasting positions is that the Maori and English versions of the treaty used different language and therefore had different implications. Regardless of those differences what’s true is that the Maori chiefs (rangatira) debated the Treaty for over five hours and then through the night before returning to Hobson’s house to sign the treaty the following morning.

Close up of the treaty (signed by the northern tribes)

In the months that followed over 500 tribal chiefs (including 13 women and by no means every tribe) signed the treaties as debates took place across the country with New Zealand being declared an entirely independent colony (from New South Wales) on 16th November 1840.

That there was a broad desire to do something about the fragile nature of how New Zealand operated at that time seems fairly concrete. However, the way in which that eventually played out seems, with hindsight, to have involved a degree of manipulation and to have been less than fair.

We were shown round the sites where the treaty was created by a member of the local Maori iwi. As he explained the history to us, and we drew our own conclusions about who had enjoyed the greater benefits as a result of that piece of paper, he remained magnanimous about what had happened 170 years previous:

You have to come to the Treaty with an open mind. You have to take it as a product of its era. You have to try and understand the context for both sides. What is done is done, there were misunderstandings but what is important is that we move forward together.

Pōwhiri

In recognition of the events that unfolded at Waitangi a Maori meeting house (marae) was constructed alongside William Hobson’s home and one of the things that visitors to the Treaty Grounds can do is take part in a Maori welcoming ceremony (Pōwhiri) and watch a cultural performance. This was the first opportunity to experience Maori culture and so we didn’t really know what to expect.

It was a fantastic show that began with the wero (challenge) on the threshold of the meeting house. During this part of the ceremony, three Māori warriors advanced cautiously towards us with ceremonial weapons performing threatening gestures and grimaces, calling out battle screams, and generally giving an impression of being ready to explode into violence against the visitors at any moment. At the last moment they laid out the rautapu, a symbolic offering, to the guy who’d been volunteered to be the visiting leader. Once peaceful intentions were established one of the Maori, in the role of female caller (kai karanga) began to sing a ritual song of welcome and, having taken off our shoes, we entered into the marae.

Once inside the three men and three women performed a number of traditional Maori songs and dances while explaining about their different weapons, training sticks and poi (balls on string). They finished with a haka which of course we’re familiar with from afar but being up close and personal to one was an incredible experience – such power and intensity!

To Mangonui

After leaving the treaty grounds we drove on to Mangonui. We stopped at a number of places on the way because it was another beautiful day and the Bay of Islands was in full glory with truly breathtaking scenery.

We stopped at a couple of beaches, including a deserted stretch of paradise for lunch and another for some paddling and arrived at Mill Bay Suites, our overnight accommodation in time for a walk around the town (which was dead).