Nu Tireni · Evidence Series · Part 03 · 1835
What does He Wakaputanga actually say?
This is the constitutional centre of the earlier line. The signed Māori text should be read before later labels are imposed on it.
Primary constitutional document
He Wakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni was first signed by 34 northern rangatira on 28 October 1835. A further 18 signatures were added by July 1839, taking the total to 52.
The later accessions matter. Archives New Zealand records that Te Hāpuku of Ngāti Te Whatuiāpiti in Hawke’s Bay signed in September 1838, and that Te Wherowhero of Waikato–Tainui — later Pōtatau Te Wherowhero, the first Māori King — signed through his kaituhi Kahawai. Archives describes these final two signatories as extending the reach of He Wakaputanga considerably.
Archives New Zealand publishes the signed Māori text. Article 2 begins: “Ko te Kingitanga ko te mana i te wenua…” and places that Kīngitanga and mana with the tino rangatira in their collective gathering.
Article 2 then states that they would not allow another group to frame laws, nor another Kawanatanga to be established in the lands of the Confederation, except through persons appointed under their authority to carry out laws made in their gathering.
Article 3 records an intention to meet at Waitangi to make laws. Article 4 directs that the declaration be sent to the King of England, thanks him for approving their flag, records the protection being given to Pākehā living and trading among them, and asks the King to act as protector so their rangatiratanga is not brought to an end.
For this series, the signed Māori text controls. English translations are useful, but they must not be allowed to erase the Māori constitutional terms that were actually signed.
What the evidence supports
The signed text expressly locates Kīngitanga and mana with the tino rangatira collectively and addresses who may make laws or establish Kawanatanga in the Confederation’s lands. The signatory record also shows that participation continued after 1835 and reached identifiable rangatira outside Te Tai Tokerau by 1839.
It expressly links the 1834 flag to the rangatira by referring to the King’s approval of “our flag”.
What it does not establish by itself
He Wakaputanga alone does not establish how every iwi or hapū outside its signatories understood their own political arrangements, nor does it by itself answer the present-day domestic-law status of the authority it records.
Primary and official sources
Archives New Zealand — He Wakaputanga original text and translations ↗
Archives New Zealand — who signed He Wakaputanga and the later accessions ↗