Treaty of Waitangi - Signing

Signing

Although Hobson had planned for the signing to occur on 7 February, on the morning of 6 February 45 chiefs were ready to sign. Hobson hastily arranged for this to occur.

Hobson headed the British signatories. Of the 40 or so Māori chiefs, Hone Heke was the first to sign the treaty. As each chief signed, Hobson said "He iwi tahi tātou", meaning (in English) "We are now one people".

Present at the signing were members of the United States Exploring Expedition. Altogether 150 northern chiefs, mainly Nga Puhi signed the Treaty that day. Forty-four chiefs from the Waikato-Tainui tribe signed the Treaty.

To enhance the authority of the treaty, eight further copies were made and sent around the country to gather additional signatures:

• the Manukau-Kawhia copy,
• the Waikato-Manukau copy,
• the Tauranga copy,
• the Bay of Plenty copy,
• the Herald-Bunbury copy,
• the Henry Williams copy,
• the East Coast copy and
• the Printed copy.

About 50 meetings were held from February to September 1840 to discuss and sign the copies, and a further 500 signatures were added to the treaty. A number of chiefs and some tribal groups refused to sign, including Pōtatau Te Wherowhero (Waikato iwi), Tuhoe, Te Arawa and Ngāti Tuwharetoa and possibly Moka 'Kainga-mataa'. Some were not given the opportunity to sign. A number of non-signatory Waikato and Central North Island chiefs would later form a kind of confederacy with an elected monarch called the Kingitanga. (The Kingitanga Movement would later form a primary anti-government force in the New Zealand Land Wars.)

Nonetheless, on 21 May 1840, Lieutenant-Governor Hobson proclaimed sovereignty over the whole country, (the North Island by Treaty and the South Island by discovery) and New Zealand was constituted as a colony separate from New South Wales on 16 November 1840.

The anniversary of the signing of the Treaty is now a New Zealand public holiday, Waitangi Day, on 6 February. The first Waitangi Day was not until 1947 (although there were some commemorations before that) and the day was not made a public holiday until 1974. The commemoration has often been the focus of protest by Māori and frequently attracts controversy. The anniversary is officially commemorated at the Treaty house at Waitangi, where the Treaty was first signed.