He wakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni
28th February 1835
Beginning around the year 1807 the chiefs of Hapu throughout the regions of Te Ika a Maui – the land currently known as the north island of New Zealand – gathered to discuss how they could best maintain their Ancestral Rights over their respective territory and implement a system of law and order to manage and care for the newcomers arriving.
On 28th October He wakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni was signed by thirty-four Tino Rangatira at Waitangi, and was subsequently internationally recognised, thus enshrining the Independence, Sovereignty, Constitution, and Jurisdiction of each Hapu in International Law.
Over the next four years another eighteen Tino Rangatira from elsewhere also signed the document. The assembly of the participating Hapu is called Ko te wakaminenga o nga Hapu o Nu Tireni. (Congress of the Hapu of the New Territory)
This Covenant and Proclamation of Sovereign State was acknowledged by William IV, King of England, among other nations, making it a Taonga of great significance then and today.
It is a Proclamation announcing that the absolute responsibility of care in each territory, is held by each of the Rangatira, and set in place a new Jurisdiction upholding Hapu Customary Lore/law as the paramount authority. This is internationally acknowledged and recognised and has never been refuted.
The Proclamation also acknowledges the Right of, and enables, all Native peoples around the world, irrespective of their ethnicity, to live by their own Customs and Usages, and to manage their own affairs without interference from foreigners, whilst upholding the basic tenets of Tika, Pono, me te Aroha. (The Right way, in truth and integrity, with Love and Compassion)
