The Treaty of Waitangi Companion tells the story of te Tiriti o Waitangi largely through the words of the people who were there. First published in 2010, it has been updated throughout for this second edition, now in full colour with a rich set of images. It runs from the first encounters between Māori and Europeans to today’s debates over the place of te Tiriti in New Zealand’s constitutional arrangements.
Historians Vincent O’Malley and Bruce Stirling provide brief, illuminating introductions to the historical texts that make up this book. Alongside extracts from historical sources are the words of recent commentators, reflecting on the place of te Tiriti in changing times.
The ten chapters move from the years leading up to 1840 through war and land loss, the decades after the wars, urbanisation, the Māori renaissance and the Waitangi Tribunal inquiries to te Tiriti in the twenty-first century. Along the way readers hear from Hōne Heke, William Hobson, Te Heuheu Tūkino II, Sir William Martin, Te Whiti-o-Rongomai, Sir Apirana Ngata and Dame Whina Cooper, and later from Sir Edward Taihakurei Durie, Dame Claudia Orange, Ani Mikaere, Hana-Rawhiti Maipi Clarke and many more.
In her words to open the new edition, lawyer Natalie Coates (Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Hine) suggests the meaning of te Tiriti is clearer than is often claimed. ‘At its heart, te Tiriti is not as obscure or indeterminate as it is sometimes made out to be,’ she writes. ‘Its core commitments can be understood in relatively straightforward terms.’ The harder task, in her view, has been giving them effect: ‘At its core, the task has not changed: to honour the promise that was made,’ Coates writes.
In the words of those who were there, The Treaty of Waitangi Companion shows how that promise has been upheld, neglected and renewed since 1840.