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Thursday, February 16, 2012

Te Tiriti O Waitangi!


Way back in the 1840’s, a treaty had to be signed because there was no peace between the Maori and Pakeha. There were alot of disagreements between the two cultures. About 40 chiefs signed the Treaty on the 6th of February, 1840, but 500 more including 13 women signed it as well.

Some people had main jobs. Henry Williams was a missionary who translated the English version of the Treaty into Maori. James Busby and William Hobbson were the people who wrote the English Treaty. At the time ,the Queen was Victoria. Last but not least, Hone Heke was the Maori Chief.

For days and days, the Treaty circulated around New Zealand for Maori’s to sign. The Treaty involved the three P’s and here they are and what they meant. Protection means to protect their land, Partnership means to bring friendship between the two cultures and last but not least Participation means to bring peace to their area.

They made copies of the Treaty because at the time, communication from one area to another was too difficult and too hard. So instead of taking the risk of losing the Treaty ,they made copies. The Treaty place is in the Bay of Islands down in the North Islands.

Wow, there are a lot of things that I still want to know about the Treaty and that I know already. Te Tiriti O Waitangi is an interesting thing to work on! Like William Hobbson said (“He iwi tahi tatou”) which meant “We are now one people.”

1 comments:

Hainite said...

Wow Huelo-ata that is one long story but very interesting. I hope I get to read some more of your writing.

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