He aha i pai ai tēnei wāhi / What makes the place He whenua tapu, he whenua tūpuna a Waitangi e whai pānga ana ki a e Ngāpuhi. Ko Ngāpuhi hoki te iwi nui rawa o Aotearoa. Koia te wāhi i tūtaki a Maikuku te mokopuna a Rāhiri ki tōna hoa rangatira a Hua, ā, ka whānau he tama hei mātāmua. Ko Te Rā tana ingoa. Ko ngā tino wāhi o konei ko Te Ana o Maikuku, ko He Tūru o Maikuku (i runga ake nei) me Ruarangi te wāhi i whānau mai a Te Rā. Ka noho tonu a Waitangi hei tino wāhi mō Ngāti Rāhiri me ōnā hapū nui tonu. Waitangi is a sacred and ancestral landscape, with particular meaning for Ngāpuhi, New Zealand’s largest iwi. It is where Maikuku, granddaughter of Ngāpuhi ancestor Rāhiri, met her husband Hua, and gave birth to their eldest son Te Rā - founder of Ngāti Rāhiri hapū. Important places within this landscape include Te Ana o Maikuku/ Maikuku’s Cave, He Tūru o Maikuku/Maikuku’s Seat (above), and Ruarangi - where Te Rā was born. Waitangi remains an important centre for Ngāti Rāhiri and other hapū. Ka tae mai a tauiwi mā me ō rātou whakaaro. Ko te whare British residency tētahi o ngā whare tino tawhito e tū tonu ana. Nā tēna ka whakatūngia tēnei whare, he tino wāhi a Waitangi, ā, he wāhi tūtakitanga i waenganui I te Māori me te Karauna o Ingarangi i ngā tau 1840. I te tau 1815 ka āwhina te rangatira o Ngāti Rāhiri a Waraki i te mihingare a William Hall ki te whakatū i tētahi pāmu tuatahi a tauiwi ki tēnei whenua. I muri mai I te reta mai i ngā rangatira o Ngāpuhi ki a King William IV, ka whakatūria he tūranga mahi. Ka whakatūria he whare mō te kaiwhakarite tuatahi nō Ingarangi. I nohoia te whare e James Busby me tōna whanau - he whare Kāwanatanga i roto i tēnei whenua taketake. Illustrating the arrival of European peoples and ideas, the British residency is one of the country’s earliest remaining buildings. It reflects Waitangi’s role as the main place of contact between Māori and the British Crown leading up to 1840. In 1815, Ngāti Rāhiri rangatira Waraki helped missionary William Hall create one of the country’s first European-style farms. Following a letter from Ngāpuhi chiefs to King William IV, a British Resident’s position was created, and a largely prefabricated house (above) was erected for the first Resident, James Busby and family - a government outpost in an almost exclusively Māori world. Ka tū ngā kaupapa mīharo o Niu Tīreni ki runga i Te Pitowhenua. I ngā tau 1830s ka whakamahi i ngā whenua pātata ki te Residency hei marae, hei paepae, HEI WHARE HUINGA mō te Māori, hei whakawhitiwhiti kōrero hoki i waenganui i te Māori me Pākehā. I te tau 1834 ka tohua e ngā rangatira o Te Tai Tokerau te kara tuatahi mō Aotearoa. I te tau whai muri mai, ka huihui mai anō ngā rangatira ki te haina i te kawenata He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tīreni. Momentous events fundamental to New Zealand’s emergence as a nation occurred within the Residency grounds. In the 1830s, land next to the Residency was used like a marae or paepae - a meeting place for discussions among Māori, and between Māori and Pākehā. Here in 1834, northern rangatira chose New Zealand’s first national flag, Te Kara (above). The following year, another gathering of rangatira signed He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tīreni/The Declaration of the Independence of New Zealand. I hainatia tuatahitia Te Tiriti o Waitangi ki mua tonu i te Residency i te 6 o Pēpuere 1840. He maha ngā rangatira Māori me Te Karauna o Ingarangi i haina. He pukapuka whakapū te Tiriti o Waitangi mō Niu Tīreni hei motu hou. Ka whakatūhia te pou haki i te tau 1933 hei whakanui i te hainatanga o Te Tiriti. E noho ana te pou hei manawa e kōtuitui ana i ngā iwi e hono ana ki Te Tiriti puta noa i a Aotearoa. The first signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi/ The Treaty of Waitangi took place in front of the Residency on 6th February 1840. Signed by a number of Māori rangatira and the British Crown, Te Tiriti/ The Treaty is a founding document for New Zealand as a modern national state. The Waitangi signing site is symbolically marked by a flagstaff, first erected in 1933. It lies at the heart of a network of other signing places linked with Te Tiriti/ The Treaty, extending across the length and breadth of New Zealand. Nā te Te Tiriti ka uru atu a Aotearoa ki roto i te Emepaia o Piritane, arā, te moutere tuatahi o Te Moana-nui-ā-Kiwa. Mai i taua wā ka kite e te tini haere ana ngā tirohanga mō te tuakiritanga o te motu. I ngā tau 1932-33, kotahi rau tau ki muri I te hanganga o te whare Residency ka hurihia te whare me Pitowhenua hei ‘tino tohu maumaharatanga’ tuatahi mō tēnei whenua ki Aotearoa. Nā Te Kāwana Tianara a Lord rāua ko Lady Bledisloe i tākoha mai i tēnei tohu maumaharatanga. Nā te whakahoutanga o te whare Residency ka tīnihia te ingoa ki The Treaty House, ā, he tino whakahirahira tēnei hei taonga tuku iho. Te Tiriti/The Treaty heralded New Zealand’s formal incorporation into the British Empire, the first island-group in the Pacific to do so. The grounds reflect shifting perspectives about national identity since that event. In 1932-33, a hundred years after the Residency was created, the house and grounds became New Zealand’s first major ‘monument of state’, donated to the nation by the Governor-General and his wife - Lord and Lady Bledisloe’s gift. Contemporary restoration of the Residence, renamed the Treaty House, was a major milestone in heritage conservation. I whakatūria te whare rūnanga e te Māori i ngā tau 1934-40 hei whakamaharatanga ki te whanaungatanga ahurei i puta ake I Te Tiriti. I hangaia kia titiro atu ki te British Residency. I whakaaro ngā minita a Tau Hēnare rāua ko Tā Āpirana Ngata kia tū pēnei ngā whare e rua nā te mea he tino tohu mō te whanaungatanga i waenga i te Māori me te Karauna. He taonga tēnei whare hei whakaora i ngā mahi toi a te Māori i ngā rautau rua mano, ā, e hono atu ana ki ngā whakairo o ētahi iwi, hapū hoki. I whakatuwheratia i te wā o te whakanuitanga o te rautau o Te Tiriti i te tau 1940. Ka haere tonu ēnei tikanga ki te marae i ēnei rā me ngā whakawhitiwhiti kōrero mō ngā kaupapa whaitake. Te whare rūnanga was created by Māori in 1934-40 as a memorial to the unique relationship established by Te Tiriti/ The Treaty. Built to face the British Residency, Ministers Tau Hēnare and Sir Āpirana Ngata conceptualised these two buildings as symbols of the partnership between Māori and the Crown. The building is a well preserved expression of the revival of Māori arts in the early 20th century, incorporating carvings linked with a number of iwi and hapū. Opened as part of the centenary celebrations of Te Tiriti/ The Treaty in 1940, today its marae continues the tradition of meeting and discussing important matters here. I te wā o te whakanuitanga o te rautau, ka huraina te Hobson Memorial hei tohu whakamaharatanga ki a Kāwana William Hobson, i haina ia mō te Karauna o Ingarangi. Ko William Page te kaihoahoa mō taua tohu whakamaharatanga. I mahi hoki rāua ko W. H. Gummer i ētahi mahi taiao i mua atu rā mō te British Residency. I tae mai te tini me te mano ki te hui whakanui i te tau 1940, ā, ka tino kite i te tū rangatiratanga o Aotearoa. Ka whai mana hei tauira e Waitangi mō tēnei whenua. Also unveiled as part of the centenary celebrations, the Hobson Memorial commemorates Governor William Hobson, who signed Te Tiriti/The Treaty on behalf of the British Crown. The monument was designed by William Page who, along with W. H. Gummer, had earlier undertaken conservation work on the British Residency. Widely attended, the 1940 commemorations were a conscious celebration of New Zealand pride, and cemented Waitangi’s role as a national symbol. He whenua ahuone a Waitangi, ā, he whānui hoki tana hiranga. I whakatōngia ngā camellia puiaki me ngā rākau titi. Ko wēnei pea e hono atu ana ki ngā mahinga putiputi o te residency, ā, koia hoki tētahi o ngā māra wāina tuatahi o tēnei motu. E kitea tonu ana ko ngā rākau o nāianei i whakatōngia hei whakamaharatanga, ko ngā rākau motuhake nō tēnei ake whenua, he tohu mō ngā tangata rangatira pērā i te kuini o Ingarangi a kuini Irihapeti i tōna taenga tuatahi mai i te tau 1953. Waitangi is a nationally significant horticultural landscape. Surviving early colonial plantings include rare camellias and an avenue of cabbage trees - the latter probably linked with the residency garden and one of the country’s earliest vineyards. Remnants of early European agriculture survive in the form of ridge-and furrow archaeological features. More recent commemorative planting included extensive native bush, and trees marking the visits of dignitaries, including the first by a ruling British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.