The treaty of waitangi has been responded to differently at different time by different people. On is the bastion point march that happened 1977. The other is the Northern war and Hone Heke.
The response of the Treaty of Waitangi was the Northern war. In the early 1840 the British sovereignty changed everything. The government brought new laws to table and that undermined the mana and the economic wellbeing of the Northern Maori. The Northern chiefs all agreed the the British Crown was breaking their word to the the treaty they signed, which had most of their signatures. They had different opinions as to how to handle that delima. Hone Heke and the Ruki Kawiti wanted action. With that Hone Heke wanted to get the British’s attention so he focussed on the flagstaff at Russel. The flag is a potent symbol of British sovereignty. Hone Heke attacked the flagstaff four times and the last attempt ended with the town of Koroaka ruined. This happened 10th of January 1845. For you to think that it would get better on, you are sadly mistaken. 2154 maoris died in that horrific war and only 745 British died along with them. It also didnt get any better after the war, for the Maoris at least. When the British first arrived in New Zealand the Maoris population was at a high rate of 90,000. But when the war happened the population had dropped to about 60,000. After the wars were over, the M?ori population went into a steep decline. This brought fear amongst P?keh? that the M?ori race might actually die out since 39,663 was their lowest point in 1896.
The root of this problem was the Treaty Of Waitangi. When the maori signed, they thought they would live in peace and share the land with the British. But the British used it to illegally steal land from the Maori. The maori started to get angry, and they had a right to, they kept their part of the treaty and the British didn’t. There was miss translation between the two language’s so the maori had high expectations. For example Article One in Maori said, chiefs gave the queen ‘te Kawanatanga katoa’ – the governance or government over the land. In English it translated it to, chiefs gave the queen ‘all the rights and powers of sovereignty’ over the land. Some people think that was not their intention, to mix up the translation. But i think their actions after it was signed proved otherwise.
Another response to the Treaty of Waitangi was the Bastion Point March. On January 5, 1977 Joe Hawke lead a march the was full of angry Maori fed up with their land being stolen and after the government announced a housing development on Ng?ti Wh?tua reserve land which had been gradually reduced in size by ‘compulsory acquisition’, leaving Ng?ti Wh?tua ki ?r?kei holding less than 1 ha. This march was not for and hour or a day, it was for 506 DAYS. This just shows their frustration and anger towards the British. But on May the 25 a large force of police moved in to evict them this lead to arresting 222 protestors and burning and demolishing buildings. Nearly 10 years later Waitangi Tribunal found that it was unfair that Ng?ti Wh?tua’s land was stolen so, most of Bastion Point was returned to them along with other lands.
This also links up to the Treaty Of Waitangi. The British also used the treaty as an excuse to get what they want. I think they were controlling, manipulative and were buillying the Maoris. On article two the Maori translation said that the chiefs confirmed and guaranteed the chiefs te tino rangatiratanga, chieftainship, over their lands and villages and ‘taonga katoa’ all treasured things. The English said, confirmed and guaranteed to the all the chiefs ‘exclusive and undisturbed possession of their lands and estates, forests, fisheries, and other properties’ are promised to be theirs.
In conclusion to this essay i think the treaty of waitangi has come a long way, this is why i think makes this treaty so special then the others and one of New Zealand’s most significant events. The signing of the treaty lead to so many other events that happened all throughout NZ,for better or for worse.
