Nga Tohu

In 1840 more than 500 chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand’s founding document. Ngā Tohu, when complete, will contain a biographical sketch of each signatory.


Signing

SignatureSheetSigned asProbable nameTribeHapūSigning Occasion
14Sheet 7 — The Herald (Bunbury) SheetMaui PuMāui PūNgāti Toa?Cloudy Bay 17 June 1840

Māui Pū signed the Herald (Bunbury) sheet of the Treaty of Waitangi on 17 June 1840 at Guard’s Cove in Cloudy Bay. He may have been from Ngāti Toa.

He had previously visited Hobart, Tasmania, on HMS Conway. Described as very intelligent and having learned enough English to converse with Europeans, Māui was very supportive of the treaty. He offered to travel with the Herald back to Cloudy Bay, where Nohorua had refused to sign the treaty on the basis that a deed always involved the loss of land. [1]


[1] T.L. Buick, The Treaty of Waitangi, S. & W. Mackay, Wellington, 1914, pp. 186-7; ‘The Coming of the Crown’, The old whaling days: a history of southern New Zealand from 1830 to 1840, Robert McNab, Whitcombe & Tombs, Wellington, 1913, p. 378

 


If you have more information about this treaty signatory please add a community contribution below or contact us at [email protected].

Community contributions

No comments have been posted about Māui Pū

What do you know?

Can you tell us more about the information on this page? Perhaps you have a related experience you would like to share?

CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

Comments will be reviewed prior to posting. Not all comments posted. Tell me more...