Treaty of Waitangi, Article 1, Part 7, Transcript

For proofs 9 and 10, I need to give a little background. On the 15th June, 1839, Britain declared, on paper at least, that New Zealand was part of New South Wales ( called Australia today). This was done in anticipation of Maori ceding sovereignty in 1840. July 30, Hobson was chosen by the British Parliament to be the man to go to New Zealand to work with the chiefs for the cession of Sovereignty. He left England with his wife and children on the 20th of August, 1839. Enroute, he was to call in at Sydney, meeting with the governor of New South Wales (the name of Australia back then) George Gipps. Hobson arrived in Sydney 23rd December 1839. The next important date is January 14. This is when Gipps installed Hobson as the governor of New Zealand. Hobson set sail for New Zealand on January 19th, 1840, arriving in Paihia 10 days later, Wednesday the 29th of January. There are 31 days in January. The Treaty was signed at Waitangi on the 6th of February, so Hobson and his team only had nine days to write the Treaty. Not long. On the 6th of February 1840, 52 chiefs signed the Treaty at Waitangi. Between February 6th 1840 at Waitangi, and September 1840, ships were sailing around NZ gathering the signatures of the other chiefs. There were nine copies of the Treaty. 7 were made of dog skin, and two were written on paper. On the 21st May, 1840, Hobson declared that Britain had sovereignty over the North Island and on June 15, the South Island and Stewart Island. The South Island and Steward Island were claimed on the grounds of the doctrine of discovery. The doctrine of discovery? This doctrine goes right back to Captain’s Cooks proclamation at Mercury Bay on 15 November 1769, “At Mercury Bay Cook simply reported that his party had cut into a tree the ship's name and the date of its landing and displayed the English flag”. (Dr Bain Attwood. Empire And The Making Of Native Title. Cambridge University Press. 2022. page 23). 16 June 1840, the Legislative Council of New South Wales passed an Act extending the colony’s laws to New Zealand, as well as establishing courts and customs duties.