Manukau Harbour, 26 April 1840

Nga Wahi

26 April 1840Sheet 3 — The Waikato-Manukau Sheet

Police Magistrate W.C. Symonds, formerly a British army officer, gained seven signatures on the Waikato-Manukau treaty sheet on 26 April 1840. On his second visit to Manukau Harbour he was hoping to get the signature of Te Wherowhero, a major rangatira (chief) of Waikato who later became the first Māori king. The precise location of this signing has not been recorded.

Te Wherowhero could still not be convinced to sign the treaty, though he did later form close links with early governors. Several other chiefs also refused to sign. Symonds put down his lack of success in Manukau to his inability to put on a public ceremony, a contrast with the signings in Waitangi and Hokianga that may have hurt the pride of local rangatira. The hapū (subtribe) connections of the seven signatories are unknown. Symonds wrote to Colonial Secretary Willoughby Shortland that they showed the ‘best disposition displayed towards Her Majesty’s Government’, but was concerned that they had high expectations about the immediate benefits of British government. [1]

Symonds returned the Waikato-Manukau treaty sheet and the printed treaty sheet to Lieutenant-Governor William Hobson, who signed only the Waikato sheet.



[1] Quoted in R.S. Bennett, Treaty to treaty: a history of early New Zealand from the Treaty of Tordesillas 1494 to the Treaty of Waitangi 1840, vol. 3, R.S. Bennett, Auckland, 2012, p. 283


Signatories

Signature Number Signed as Probable Namesort descending Tribe Hapū
34 Hone Kingi Hōne Kīngi Waikato Ngāti Te Ata
37 Rabata Waiti Rāpata Waiti Waikato Ngāti Te Ata
39 Rehurehu Rehurehu Waikato?
36 Tamati Tāmati Ngāpora Waikato Ngāti Mahuta, Ngāti Te Ata
38 Te Awarahi Te Kātipa Te Awarahi Waikato Ngāti Te Ata, Ngāti Pou
35 Ko te ta Wha Te Tawhā Waikato Ngāti Te Ata
33 Wiremu Ngawaro Wiremu Ngāwaro Waikato, Te Wai-o-Hua Ngāti Te Ata

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