What it meant at the time
It was 6 February 1840 and the location was an elevated area above the Bay of Islands known as Waitangi. The British government’s envoy, Captain William Hobson, represented the British Crown, and he had called local tribal and settler leaders together to sign a treaty.
Captain William Hobson
This was a treaty mainly about the native peoples of New Zealand, through their tribal leaders, ceding sovereignty to the British government in exchange for
~ having the ownership of their lands, dwellings and property (taonga) protected
~ becoming British citizens.
There was no English version, no statements about partnership or principles or a Tribunal. There was also no mention of Forests and Fisheries in Article Two as part of the property (taonga) of the Natives. The guarantees were extended not only to Natives but also to “all the people of New Zealand”.
Signing of the Treaty
Passing sovereignty over to the British government
So was the sovereignty of New Zealand placed in the hands of the most powerful nation on the planet? Absolutely.
There was no way the British were going to agree to joint governorship deals with what Lord Normanby called ... numerous dispersed and petty tribes who possess few political relations to each other. Normanby was Secretary for the Colonies and gave Hobson very detailed instructions on how to proceed.
British Resident, James Busby drafted the Treaty in English for Henry Williams, and his son Edward, to translate into Te Reo. The two missionaries had lived in Northland for 17 years and were experts in the Maori language. For “sovereignty”, they chose the Maori term for governor – kawanatanga – and added tanga to make the word ‘governorship’.
James Busby
Many of the tribal leaders who signed had a working knowledge of English, and from what the chiefs said at Waitangi, especially those who would not sign on 6 February 1840, they were obviously clear on what sovereignty and the treaty wording meant.
Te Tiriti
Ceding sovereignty to the British Crown was the basis of Article the First.
Guaranteeing ownership of property
This guarantee of ownership was the key point in Article the Second. It was extended to land and dwellings, and the Crown was given the “exclusive right” to purchase land that tribes wished to sell.
How about property? There has been great debate over the use of the word taonga in the Maori translation of the Treaty, as today is means “treasures”.
The critical point is not what “taonga” means today, but what it meant to the signatories in 1840.
- Property acquired by the spear. Hongi Hika’s definition of taonga
- .. nothing but timber, flax, pork and potatoes. Nga Puhi chiefs understanding of taonga
Maori become British citizens
In Article the Third, the people of New Zealand (everyone: Polynesian Natives and European settlers) gained the rights and privileges of British citizens. This was in exchange for the cession of Sovreignty (sic) by tribal leaders to the Queen.
Such rights were not given to the natives in South Africa or Australia until the second half of the 20th century, even though those peoples had lived in their “countries” for tens of thousands of years.
Freeman’s fraudulent Treaty
Te Tiriti o Waitangi is the one and only valid Treaty.
However Hobson’s Secretary, James Freeman, took it upon himself to write his own. (Hobson was sick at the time.) It was much longer than Te Tiriti and not an English translation.
His “Treaty” excluded the reference in Article 2 to “all the people of New Zealand” and added “Estates, Forests, Fisheries” to the possessions list in the same article.
Freeman sent his copy to the Governor of New South Wales who was Hobson’s superior.
But his treaty was unauthorized and inaccurate so is not valid. No Native leaders had it read to them and consequently none of them signed it. Nevertheless the Waitangi Tribunal likes using parts of “Freeman’s fraud” that favour Maori!
Kawharu makes adjustments
The most recent version of the Treaty of Waitangi is a back translation into Maori by Professor Hugh Kawharu, written in the late 1980s. He gave taonga the new meaning - “treasures”, which is not what it meant in 1840.
He also included other subtle reinterpretations of the original treaty wording. However he had vested interests, because at the time, he was on the Waitangi Tribunal and was also a claimant. This was a classic case of conflicts of interest.
The Tribunal has made a meal of the new meaning of taonga, leading to hundreds of millions of dollars of claims and payouts from the taxpayer to the part-Maori descendants of tribes up and down the country.
Waitangi Day for all New Zealanders
For all New Zealanders, regardless of their ethnicity and mixed ancestry, Te Tiriti o Watangi is the valid treaty as this is the only one that was signed in 1840.
Like the United States we are “nation of immigrants” either literally as arrivals from other parts of the world, or descended from settlers who came from the Pacific, Britain, Europe, America, Asia, Africa and South America. Regardless of when our ancestors arrived, we are all equally important as citizens of New Zealand.
All people of British or European descent and Maori, have mixed ethnic origins, more so that Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Indian and Pacific Island migrants who have arrived over the last century. When considering Who do we think we are? all our ancestors are important, regardless of what we claim is our present ethnicity, if we choose to have one.
However what we do have in common is being Kiwis or New Zealanders, and for all us Waitangi Day is ours.
Roger Childs is a writer and freelance journalist. He is a former history and geography teacher, who wrote or co-authored 10 school textbooks.
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