He Tohu

As you enter the National Library on Molesworth Street, just across from the New Zealand Parliament, the glorious south island rimu home of three of the most important founding documents of New Zealand, He Tohu, is directly in front of you. Inspiration for the protective box came from the waka huia, the traditional Maori treasure chest.

Within are He Whakaputanga/the 1835 Declaration of Independence by the United Tribes of New Zealand, the 1840 Te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi and the 1893 Women's sufferance Petition to Parliament for women to have the right to vote.
Each is beautifully housed in its own case and much has been done to preserve the documents.

So why go to see them? For New Zealanders these documents show that, from the earliest times of European settlement, Maori saw themselves as the leaders of an independent nation and in partnership with Pakeha. Te Tiriti is signed by the crown and many rangitira. The copies of the Tiriti travelled around the country so that it could be signed by as many rangitira as possible. Not all wanted to sign and many did not. The process was democratic just as the women's suffrage petition was. Thousands of New Zealand women signed the petition. So the documents in He Tohu are not just worth seeing for themselves but also for what they have to say about the way in which New Zealand's democratic institutions were grounded in a literate, liberal and democratic spirit.

By Prof. Koenraad Kuiper