Hikoi marks treaty signing

In the months following the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, a copy of the document made its way around the country collecting signatures.

On June 17, 1840, it arrived in Port Underwood on board the HMS Herald, under the command of Major Thomas Bunbury.

He met with nine chiefs, including Rangitane o Wairau chief Ihaia Kaikoura, who was the only signatory from the Kurahaupo tribes, which also included Ngati Apa ki te Ra To and Ngati Kuia.

A hikoi marking the 177th anniversary of that moment was held in Marlborough at the weekend.

Historian Peter Meihana said the hikoi was about remembering Kaikoura, who he said was related to the other Kurahaupo iwi and served as their representative.

The fact Kaikoura signed the treaty showed the Kurahaupo tribes had started to regain their status in the area following the musket wars of the 1820s and 1830s, he said.

‘‘Signing the treaty in 1840 began a process, the Crown then reneged, and it was the Crown’s inaction that created the treaty breaches. The treaty breaches were then dealt with during the claims and the eventual settlement in 2014, so what we wanted to do was highlight that timeline from 1840,’’ Meihana said.

During the hikoi on Sunday iwi members travelled the boundary of a reserve that was supposed to have been set aside for Rangitane following a land deal.

Meihana said the 1856 deal with Crown land agent Donald McClean, with Kaikoura acting as one of the signatories, was never honoured - something that was addressed in the 2014 settlement.

One of the lead negotiators for the Kurahaupo iwi, Richard Bradley, attended the hikoi and spoke to iwi members about the claims and settlement process.

‘‘There was a number of children that came with us on the hikoi, and we were all of a view that it was important this knowledge be retained. The young ones are the tribal leaders of the future, the ones that will administer the settlement, so they need to understand the history.’’

The Treaty of Waitangi was first signed on February 6, 1840.