Now is time to change Te Papa’s Treaty of Waitangi display, the museum’s co-leaders say.
It comes after the museum left a defaced version of the Treaty of Waitangi on display over summer to enable “valuable conversations” about te Tiriti o Waitangi
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Te Papa said it would consult with te Tiriti experts, iwi and communities for the permanent exhibition
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The removed panel will be stored by the museum, and while no decision has been made about its future, Johnston said it was part of the exhibition’s history and the story of te Tiriti o Waitangi.
It is a five-minute-long video projection, which highlights the differences between te Tiriti in te reo Māori and Captain William Hobson’s 1840 English version.
Well, Te Papa could start by not perpetuating the myth of an original English treaty. There isn’t one, there are only drafted partials by Hobson and Busby.
The Treaty is only the Te Reo document written (translated from the partial drafts) overnight by Williams & son and its translation back to English.
References:
- Carpenter, Samuel. “The English Text of the Treaty of Waitangi by Ned Fletcher (Review).” New Zealand Journal of History 57, no. 1 (2023): 2. https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/426/article/895864.
- Colenso, W. The Authentic and Genuine History of the Signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand, February 5 and 6, 1840 : Being a Faithful and Circumstantial, Though Brief, Narration of Events Which Happened on That Memorable Occasion : With Copies of the Treaty in English and MāOri and of the Three Early Proclamations Respecting the Founding of the Colony / by W. Colenso. Edited by Project University of Auckland. Library. Early New Zealand Books. Online / prepared by John Laurie. ed. Auckland, N.Z.: Auckland, N.Z. : University of Auckland, 2004.
- Fletcher, Ned. The English Text of the Treaty of Waitangi. Wellington, N.Z.: Bridget Williams Books, 2022.
- Ross, R. M. “Te Tiriti O Waitangi : Texts and Translations.” In New Zealand Journal of History 1972. https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/426/article/867905.
- Ward, Alan. A Show of Justice : Racial ‘Amalgamation’ in Nineteenth Century New Zealand / Alan Ward. Canberra: Canberra : Australian National University Press, 1974.
- Wright, Matthew. Illustrated History of New Zealand / Matthew Wright. ed.: Auckland, New Zealand : David Bateman, 2013.
Thank you. The fact that this isn’t common knowledge is really an indictment on our education system.
If only we treated the treaty with similar (but tempered) venerance as the USA does it’s Constitution.
It really annoys me that these people broke into a museum, vandalised an exhibit, and got what they wanted.
Side note, they didn’t break in. They did it in public during opening hours. They were charged with wilful damage not b&e.
Which made me wonder at the time… How on earth do you get away with bringing in all your gear and abseiling inside a public building with an angle grinder???
The Hi Viz gambit, I think. Act like you belong, and nobody will question you, at least for long enough to do what you need to do.
It’s amazing how well that can work.
You’d think though in a building with as many rare/valuable artifacts as Te Papa… I mean, abseiling?? Then again I’m pretty sure one of the universities had people with clipboards load a ton of computers onto a truck and drive away, a few years ago.
In both cases, wouldn’t suprise me if there was an insider.
It’s a crapshoot sometimes, I’ve been absolutely grilled when turning up at a building, and other places nobody cares.
Heh in the context of this conversation I thought you were casually admitting to being a burglar for a second then… why do you turn up at buildings, is it a work thing?
Yes, I’m a tradie, and building occupants don’t always know we’re coming.
Makes sense. Back when I worked in a workplace we were never told about stuff like that. Security knew though.
I’m wondering what solution you’d like to see?
Looks like Paul Goldsmith told Te Papa to take it down.
The display was obviously misleading/ahistorical and it was a known problem, so paying to just put a new copy of a flawed display up again would be a problematic use of taxpayer funding.
People had been writing letters of complaint, petitions, trying to liaise with Te Papa for literally years about this problem with no action taken. There were also peaceful protests about it outside, pretty sure some of them got arrested in 2021 for gluing themselves to steps.
The whole thing could have been avoided.
Maori here.
Two schools of thought
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1, this encourages repeat behavior. Im actually with you in this one.
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2, were peaceful ways ever working?
I think they should change it, and have the person who damaged it pay for the replacement as they are so passionate about it.
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