Te Tiriti o Waitangi ki Te Tauihu

The signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in the top of the South Island

The Treaty of Waitangi was signed on nine separate sheets by more than 500 Māori. Two of these sheets were brought to the South Island, however no sheets were brought to Whakatū or to the western regions of Te Tau Ihu.

The copies which were brought to Te Tau Ihu were those of Henry Williams, in May 1840, and Thomas Bunbury, in June 1840.

Henry Williams sheet - Te Tiriti ki Raukawa Moana (May 1840)

Archives New Zealand. Te Tiriti ki Raukawa Moana | Cook Strait (Henry Williams) sheet - IA9/9 Sheet 8

Henry Williams, who translated the Treaty of Waitangi into Māori, sailed from the Bay of Islands on 2 April 1840 with two Māori-language copies of the document. He left one with his brother William Williams at Tūranga (Gisborne) on 8 April. He arrived at Port Nicholson (Wellington) in mid-April, but for 10 days could not persuade chiefs to sign. A meeting was finally arranged on the schooner Ariel on 29 April, when 39 chiefs signed.¹

He then sailed into Queen Charlotte Sound, where on 4/5 May he got 27 chiefs to sign. On 11 May, at Rangitoto ki te Tonga (D’Urville Island) another 11 signed, including many of the leading people of Ngāti Koata. He faced little opposition at either of these location. Most of the signatories at Queen Charlotte Sound were Te Atiawa, and at Rangitoto were Ngāti Toa.² 

Thomas Bunbury sheet - Te Tiriti ki te Manuao Herara (June 1840)

Te Tiriti ki te Manuao Herara | Herald-Bunbury sheet - Archives Reference: IA9/9 Sheet 7

In 1840 Major Thomas Bunbury sailed on the HMS Herald around New Zealand acquiring signatures for the Treaty of Waitangi, completing negotiations in North Island areas before crossing to the South Island with a Māori-language copy of the document.  In the South Island he stopped at Akaroa, Ruapuke Island in Foveaux Strait and Otago Harbour before landing at Guards Bay in Cloudy Bay on 17 June.  

Bunbury then went to Horahorakakahu Island in Port Underwood to proclaim the Queen's sovereignty over the South Island, raising the Union Jack at Horikaka Pa with a 21 gun salute, witnessed by whaling ships in the bay at the time.³

Bunbury faced considerable opposition to signing the Treaty from the Ngāti Toa chiefs at Port Underwood, particularly from Nohorua (te Rauparaha’s oldest brother), who insisted that his signature be witnessed by his son-in-law, whaler Joseph Thoms; according to Nohorua, if his grandchildren lost their land, their father would share the blame. Fear of loss of land was the main barrier to signing. Maui Pu, who was literate, played a major part in getting other chiefs to sign. Bunbury had also refused to allow Ria Waitohi to sign as a woman at Kapiti. Rawiri Puaha – her husband – then refused to sign at Cloudy bay.⁴

Hawkins, Benjamin Waterhouse, 1807-1894. Angas, George French 1822-1886 :E Wai, his wife. Na Horua or Tom Street, (elder brother of Rauparaha). Tuarau or Kopai (his son), at Kahotea near Porirua. / George French Angas [delt]; W. Hawkins [lith]. Plate 19, 1847.. Angas, George French 1822-1886 :The New Zealanders Illustrated. London, Thomas McLean, 1847.. Ref: PUBL-0014-19. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22703490

A total of ten chiefs signed at Guards Bay, Port Underwood, mainly Ngāti Toa.⁵ 

Immediate impact

No signing actually took place in Whakatū, and neither Williams nor Bunbury visited the west of Te Tau Ihu. Chiefs of Golden Bay/Mohua and Tasman Bay/Te Tai-o-Aorere had no chance to sign, which later caused problems for Arthur Wakefield when planning the Nelson settlement. Many of the Whakatū chiefs were, however, closely related to Marlborough signatories and other signatories in the lower North Island.   

Amongst those who did sign in the three locations in Te Tau Ihu (Marlborough) were some who had been prominent leaders during the Tainui/Taranaki conquests a decade or so earlier. Several had also signed the New Zealand Company’s third deed of purchase at Te Awaiti in 1839.⁶

The signing of the Treaty had an impact on the New Zealand Company's expansion plans. They now had to prove the validity of their 1839 land purchases and could purchase no more land directly from chiefs. However the Company’s second settlement plans were able to proceed, following a grant of 500,000 acres from the Crown to the Company in 1841. The Company's second settlement, in 1841, was to become Nelson.⁶ 

April 2021

Sources used in this story

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