Manukau-Kawhia 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 - choosing a name takes you to their signature on the document.

Manukau-Kawhia copy of the Treaty

The Manukau-Kawhia Maori-language copy of the Teaty of Waitangi, with 13 signatures, is the only surviving copy with the signature of Colonial Secretary Willoughby Shortland. It was also the last copy to be returned, in 1841.

Shortland sent it to Captain William Symonds on 13 March 1840 to gather signatures from chiefs around and to the south of the Manukau Harbour. Symonds was working in the area on behalf of a proposed Scottish land company settlement. He and James Hamlin of the Church Missionary Society assembled several chiefs, probably at Awhitu, but failed to get their agreement. Many Waikato chiefs, including Te Wherowhero, attended a second meeting on 20 March. Three Ngati Whatua chiefs signed then (Kawau, Tinana and Reweti) but none of the Waikato chiefs. Wesleyan missionaries James Wallis and John Whiteley gathered 10 more signatures at Kawhia between April and September 1840. Each name has the prefix 'Ko', which is not part of the name and has 'his mark' following the moko or mark.