From the MTG: Te Tiriti o Waitangi 'a shelter for us all to live under'

William Colenso Journal 1834-1840, Collection of Hawke's Bay Museums Trust, Ruawharo Tā-ū-rangi, [32496]. Public Domain.

Waitangi. Wai is water. Tangi is to weep or cry.

Te Tiriti o Waitangi is the founding document of New Zealand. It is an 1840 agreement with Māori of Aotearoa and Queen Victoria of England. An agreement for Pākehā to look after their own, while in the home of Māori. An agreement from Māori to allow Pākehā to come from afar and live in Aotearoa with them, and an obligation from Māori to welcome and share their home, manaaki and tiaki manuhiri.

So what happened with Te Tiriti?

Sharing became ownership, obligation became rights, and rights became acts of law.

Imperial Acts are acts of law from the Parliaments of the United Kingdom that are part of the Law of New Zealand under the Imperial Laws Application Act.

These Imperial Laws are implemented to colonise.

"Colonisation is the violent denial of the right of Indigenous people to continue governing themselves in their own lands" as Moana Jackson would say.

Colonisation of Aotearoa is not a locked-off historical event in the past, it is continual and current. Today the maintenance of colonisation in Aotearoa is based on Imperial Laws such as the New Zealand Settlements Act and the Native Lands Act.

In Hawke's Bay, these Acts were implemented by Donald McLean, under George Grey, specifically to colonise. Nationally the implementation of these Acts resulted in 3,490,737 acres confiscated. Now, only 5.5 per cent of New Zealand remains Māori freehold land. These Acts are still maintained today, by government and local councils.

Since Hone Heke cut down the flag pole at Kororareka in 1844, to present day 2022, the argument has been Te Tiriti is a fraud. Te Tiriti o Waitangi obligation to share has been annulled, replaced by a forceful colonisation and a continued entitlement to rule.

Early foreigners to Aotearoa shores told Māori not to sign Te Tiriti. These Pākehā knew the imperial powerhouse of the United Kingdom, with its leadership direction. These early manuhiri had escaped from this Victorian kingdom by sailing for the farthest place possible in the opposite hemisphere from their home, happy to be assimilated into Aotearoa Māori.

The Colensos, Elizabeth, her husband William and their daughter Fanny, were Napier's first Pākehā family to settle here. Mr Colenso, a man of the cloth, was one of these Pākehā preaching against signing Te Tiriti. His record of the signing day of Te Tiriti o Waitangi is in the Hawke's Bay Museums Trust collection.

All past Ministers for Treaty of Waitangi negotiations have spoken about the principles of Te Tiriti, only. Not one Minister has implemented Te Tiriti since its signing. Richard Seddon, NZ Premier, said there was "only one parliament in New Zealand, and it would never give up control of the Māoris, or their lands".

Māori have shared under obligation to Te Tiriti. Māori have never wanted to rule Pākehā. Māori have never implemented acts of law to extinguish Pākehā.

Te Tiriti o Waitangi is an obligation to share, it is a shelter for us all to live under.

It is not an act of law to give rights of one over another, a shelter of fear for us all to live under.

Waitangi. Wai is water. Tangi is to weep or cry.

• Te Hira Henderson is curator Maori at MTG