Henry Williams Treaty copy

Use the tool bar at the bottom of this interactive to zoom in and navigate. The drop down menu at the top lists the names of those who signed this copy of the Treaty - choosing a name takes you to their signature on the document.

Henry Williams copy of the Treaty

Henry Williams, the translator of the Treaty of Waitangi, left the Bay of Islands on 2 April with two Maori-language copies of the document. He left one with his brother William Williams at Turanga (Gisborne) on 8 April. He arrived at Port Nicholson (Wellington) in mid-April, but for 10 days he could not persuade chiefs to sign. A meeting was finally arranged on Williams's schooner Ariel on 29 April, and 39 chiefs signed. Another 34 signed at Queen Charlotte Sound and Rangitoto (D'Urville Island).

In May, Williams received the agreement of chiefs at Otaki, Waikanae, in the Manawatu, at Wanganui and Motu Ngarara, a small island off Kapiti Island. He had intended to take the copy to Otago, but plans were already in hand for getting the agreement of South Island chiefs.

The copy has the names of several women: Kahe Te Rau-o-te-rangi (4), Rangi Topeora (78) and Rere-o-maki (120). It is possible that other women may have signed, for example Pakewa (33) and Kehu (86), the name that the mother of Wiremu Kingi Te Rangitake was known by.

Williams returned to the Bay of Islands with 132 signatures, all prefixed by 'Te tohu o' (The sign of). This copy differs from others. It is carefully set out within a double border, and the text is in three columns with explanatory symbols and marks indicating which are the principal chiefs of different tribes. The signature of Lieutenant-Governor William Hobson is genuine but shaky, reflecting his illness at the time.