Te Waimate Mission and Te Tiriti o Waitangi
He nui tonu ngā here i waenga i Te Mīhana o Waimate i Te Pēwhairangi ki Te Tiriti o Waitangi, ina hoki, koia tērā te wāhi I hainatia ai te whārangi o Waitangi i tuhia ki te reo Māori, e ētahi rangatira tokoono o Ngāpuhi, i Waimate ki raro, i te 9 me te 10 o Pēpuere 1840.
I tērā wā ko te mīhana te kāinga o te mihingare nei, o Richard Taylor, nāna I manaaki te tira āpiha, a Rūtene-Kāwana Wiremu Hōpihana, a Joseph Nias, te kāpene o HMS Herald, me te mihingare Henry Williams. I haere te tira i Waitangi nā runga i te pōwhiri o ētahi rangatira i tae ake ai ki te hui i Waitangi, kotahi rā i mua i te hainatanga tuatahi o Te Tiriti o Waitangi, i te 6 o Pēpuere. I tae ake ētahi o ngā kaihaina o Te Tiriti o taua rā ki te hui i Waimate, arā, ko Te Rēweti Atuahaere rātou ko Wiremu Hau, ko Hara mā.
He kāinga okioki a Waimate ki raro, 24 kiromita mā te ara tuawhenua i Waitangi, I te haerenga o Te Whārangi o Waitangi ki te hauāuru ki Hokianga.
I whakatūngia te Mīhana o Waimate e te Rōpū Mihingare o Rānana i te tau 1832, koia hoki te whakamutunga o ngā whare mīhana e toru i taua takiwā, i runga i te whakaae o te iwi o Ngāpuhi i tō rātou rohe, ā, hei wāhi o te kaupapa a te Rōpū kia whakatairangatia ngā tikanga mahi pāmu o Ingarangi, me te ao o Ūropi ki a ngāi Māori.
I ēnei rā kua eke te whare mīhana ki te Kāwai 1 i te rārangi, ko te whare tuarua rawa te tawhito i Aotearoa, otirā, hei tohu mō te āhua o te noho tahi o ngāi Māori me ngāi Pākehā i mua atu i te hainatanga o te Tiriti, mō ngā tau o muri mai anō hoki.
E whakaarotia ana ko ngā here I whakapakaritia i waenga i a ngāi Māori me ngā mihinare tētahi wāhi nui o tō rātou haina i te Tiriti i muri. Ko ētahi atu o ngā kaihaina i Waimate ko Reweti Irikoe, ko Ha Oara Ringa Patu (Pāora Kīngī Patu Matekoraha), ko Haupokia, ko Mohi Tahua, ko Kame Kutu, ko Rangi Tuturua.
Kia mōhio: E whakanui ana a Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga i te kaituhi o te nuinga o ēnei kōrero: New Zealand History – Ngā kōrero a ipurangi o Aotearoa.
Te Waimate Mission in the Bay of Islands has a direct connection to Te Tiriti o Waitangi, being the location where six Ngāpuhi rangatira (Māori cheifs) signed The Waitangi Sheet, written in Māori, at Waimate North on 9 and 10 February 1840.
The mission station was then home to missionary Richard Taylor who hosted the official party comprising Lieutenant-Governor William Hobson, Joseph Nias, captain of the HMS Herald, and missionary Henry Williams. The party had travelled from Waitangi at the invitation of several rangatira who had attended a meeting at Waitangi a day prior to the initial signing of the Treaty on 6 February. Treaty signatories from that day, Te Rēweti Atuahaere, Wiremu Hau, Hara and others also attended the meeting at Waimate.
Waimate North, 24km inland from Waitangi, was a stopover destination as The Waitangi Sheet travelled west to the Hokianga.
Te Waimate Mission was established in 1832, the last of three mission houses in the area and with agreement of local Ngāpuhi, by the London-based Church Missionary Society to promote European farming techniques and way of life to Māori.
Today, the Category 1 listed mission house is New Zealand’s second oldest building and is representative of early Māori-Pākehā relations prior to the signing of the Treaty and beyond.
It is believed the strong relationships formed with missionaries may have influenced rangatira in accepting and signing the Treaty. The signatories at Waimate were Reweti Irikoe, Ha Oara Ringa Patu (Pāora Kīngī Patu Matekoraha), Haupokia, Mohi Tahua, Kame Kutu and Rangi Tuturua.
Note: Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga acknowledges the author of much of this text: New Zealand History – Ngā kōrero a ipurangi o Aotearoa.