Waitangi Treaty Grounds

On Thursday morning we returned to the Treaty Grounds with Sarah from Adventure for Good. We met with Whaea Roy and Whaea Monica who we had met during the Powhiri on Monday.

The treaty grounds were a great place for us to consolidate our knowledge about the Treaty of Waitangi. It was great to see one of the copies of the Treaty with some of the signatures on it and to discuss the main events of the time. Here are some of the facts that we found most interesting:

• There was a fear that the French would invade New Zealand. A French man named Charles Philippe Hippolyte de Thierry tried to create a French Colony in 1837 which he planned to lead, but he was unsuccessful. In fact, there were a few attempts by the French to colonize New Zealand, but the Treaty of New Zealand was signed swiftly after these attempts were made, stopping the French plan from being carried out. We had talked a little about this in class but we did not know that the French were this active in attempting to colonize New Zealand.

• In 1835 Māori rangatira or chiefs signed He Whakaputanga - Declaration of Independence to stop people from other countries from making laws in New Zealand. This was the first time that different iwi had stood as one people and it established  Te Whakaminenga, the Confederation of United Tribes. The British supported this document and King William IV was dubbed the protector of this. James Busby facillitated the creation of this document and he believed that it would stop other countries from making formal deals with Māori.

We also discussed the differences between the two versions of the Treaty and the way that the Treaty was signed (including the fact that it did not make it around all of New Zealand/ every rangatira).

We then travelled to the Wharenui on the Marae where we looked at the different carvings and patterns. The students got to draw their own Tukutuku panels which was a lot of fun! After creating our artworks we stopped to have a quick game with Ti Rakau and some kai before travelling down to the water to see a waka.

Whaea Roy told us about the waka and how it sails every year for Waitangi day. She also told us the story of when her dad got to row in the waka in the 1970s as part of a display for Queen Elizabeth II.

Sitting on the stump of one of the Kauri trees that was used to build the waka

We then hopped back in the bus and travelled up the road to Paihia Town where we looked around the pier, shops and brought some kai for our lunch.

Finally we enjoyed a picnic at the Waitangi Reserve alongside Michael and Sarah from Adventure for Good and all of our Glenbrae School Whanau.