Would you sign the Treaty?
The Treaty of Waitangi Te Tiriti o Waitangi was first signed on 6 February 1840. Copies of the document were then taken to other regions in the following months.
Many Waikato representatives signed at Waikato Heads between late March and early April 1840. The copy that these chiefs signed was an English version of the Treaty, and signatories were reliant on Anglican Church Missionary Society missionaries to explain the meaning of the document to them. Missionary Robert Maunsel explained that in signing the document, chiefs would keep their rights over their land, while the English queen would gain the power to make laws.
Imagine it is 1840 and your local missionary is encouraging you to sign a document you can’t read, that will mean the English queen will make the rules of Aotearoa New Zealand. Do you sign the Treaty?
