On 9 and 10 February 1840, six Ngāpuhi rangatira (chiefs) signed the Waitangi sheet of the Treaty of Waitangi at Waimate North, in the Bay of Islands. Lieutenant-Governor William Hobson travelled 15 miles (24 km) inland from Waitangi with Joseph Nias, the captain of HMS Herald, and missionary Henry Williams, both of whom witnessed the signatures. Hobson later wrote to Major Thomas Bunbury that ‘all the principle chiefs present’ signed the treaty at Waimate. [1]
Hobson had been invited to visit Waimate by several rangatira who had accompanied missionary Richard Davis to Waitangi for the meeting on 5 February. Te Rēweti Atuahaere, Wiremu Hau, Hara and others who had signed the treaty on 6 February were at the meeting at Waimate, and may have encouraged others to sign.
As the official party was only passing through on their way to Hokianga, there was no opportunity for potential signatories to come from further away, and there is no record of any discussion or explanation of the treaty. Relationships with missionaries were strong in Waimate, which may have influenced the signatories’ acceptance of the treaty.
The official party stayed at the home of the missionary Richard Taylor. He and the missionary George Clarke then accompanied them to Mangungu in Hokianga.
[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. 275
