Does anyone care about the text? A history of the mistreatment of the Māori text of the Treaty of Waitangi

Abstract

This article delves into the never-discussed history of nearly two centuries of mistreatment of, and general lack of interest for, the Māori text of the Treaty of Waitangi on the part of scholars and Aotearoa New Zealand’s public institutions. Scribal errors on the Treaty sheets, including the Elms sheet, seemingly unnoticed until now, are revealed. The invisibility of the Māori text of the Treaty until 1975 and the recurring inability of New Zealand’s public institutions to reproduce the text without error are examined. The inadequate presentation of the text at Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand from 1998 to 2024 is then discussed. Finally, the 1987 English translation of the text by Sir Hugh Kāwharu, the most widely used translation, is appraised, and its many flaws are revealed. To close, this article makes nine recommendations on the urgent and straightforward steps to take to put an end to some careless practices, and finally give the text the respect it unequivocally deserves as New Zealand’s founding document.