In 1932 Governor-General Lord Bledisloe gifted the Treaty House and grounds at Waitangi to the nation. He hoped that the site would become a national memorial, symbolising that the Treaty of Waitangi had initiated a unique relationship between the indigenous and the colonising peoples.
'There is no part of the British Commonwealth to which separatism is more fatal or familiarity more essential than this sun-kissed Dominion of sturdy Britons and loyal natives, which finds a market for its exports almost exclusively in the Motherland'.
Lord Bledisloe, 'Empire Readjustment', in Ideals of Nationhood, 1935.
The Treaty House at Waitangi in the early 20th century. When the Bledisloes gifted it to the nation it underwent extensive renovation.
Alexander Turnbull Library,
Reference: F18070
Russell Duncan Album
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Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.
