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Overview
This mere-pounamu was presented by the Ngāti Hao chief Eruera Maihi Patuone to Governor Hobson on the occasion of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, 6th February 1840. Captain William Hobson RN took up his appointment as first Lieutenant Governor of New Zealand in January 1840, and together with the British Resident, James Busby, immediately set to the task of drafting a treaty between the Crown and Māori. The resulting document, the Treaty of Waitangi, was signed at Waitangi on the 6th February 1840 by 40 leading tribal chiefs.
Māori responses to the Treaty on February 4th were initially negative and suspicious. However, Tāmati Wāka Nene, Patuone and Hōne Heke turned the tide of opinion during public debates following their arrival that afternoon. The signing was scheduled for the following day but was postponed due to foul weather. The formal signing reconvened on February 6th, after fervent speeches of support.
Māori were extremely suspicious of the proposed Treaty, fearing that it would result in the subjugation of the Māori people, the decline of their customs and way of life, and ultimately the alienation of Māori from their lands.
The Treaty of Waitangi is recognised as a binding contract between Māori and the British Crown, and the founding document of the modern state of New Zealand.
This extract originally appeared in Te Ata o Tū The Shadow of Tūmatauenga: The New Zealand Wars Collections of Te Papa (Te Papa Press, 2024).
Eruera Maihi Patuone (Ngāti Hao, Ngāpuhi) presented this mere pounamu to Lieutenant-Governor Captain William Hobson following the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi on 6 February 1840, a gesture infinitely more meaningful to Patuone than writing his mark on the Treaty parchment. Mere pounamu are among the most prized of all personal possessions, valued for their inherent beauty and as a potent and enduring symbol of the mana rangatira of their owners. They possessed personal names and became imbued with the mauri of their owners, becoming taonga tuku iho and acquiring mana and tapu with each successive owner. The gifting of pounamu in this manner is a significant and binding social contract between the giver and the receiver; in Patuone’s case, one he honoured for the remainder of his long life.
Michael Fitzgerald