Auckland researcher Martin Doutré wanted to know how an English text signed at Waikato Heads mission station on April 11, 1840, came to be regarded as the official English text. After all, New Zealand’s first governor, William Hobson, had declared that Te Tiriti, the text in Maori, was the official treaty. So Doutre obtained under the Official Information Act high-resolution photos of the backs of the originals of the two texts signed on that date. What he found left him gob-smacked.
“The photos show that the smaller sheet was subsequently wax glued and paste glued, as well as pinned, to the large sheet . .. rendering the two pieces of paper adjoined into one treaty document,” he said.
“At some stage these two sheets of paper were torn apart, causing duplicate damage to both sheets.”
