 When
the Governor-General, Lord Bledisloe, gifted the treaty
house and grounds at Waitangi to the nation in 1932 he hoped that
the site would become a national memorial, symbolising the notion
that the treaty had initiated a unique relationship between the indigenous
and the colonising peoples. This partnership was reflected in the
membership of a trust board set up to develop the property; it included
Kirihi Te Riri Maihi Kawiti as a representative of northern chiefs
of 1840. The partnership was also marked by a decision to build a
whare runanga to stand near the treaty house (and finished in 1940).
In both the trust board and the building project, northern chief Tau
Henare took a leading role. He was succeeded in 1940 by his son, James
Henare, who would long continue to work for recognition of the treaty.
In February 1934 Bledisloe's
gift was marked by celebrations and a pattern for subsequent events
was
established. It
involved two sites � the treaty house grounds (where the whare runanga
would be built - see map) and Te Tii marae
close by � several organising bodies (Maori, Pakeha and government)
and Bledisloe's prayer that 'the sacred
compact made in these waters may be faithfully and honourably kept
for all time to come'. A second prayer hoped that the two races
might unite as one nation through Christianity � his interpretation
of Lieutenant-Governor Hobson's words at the 1840 signing � 'He
iwi tahi tatou' ('Now we are one people').
For the 8�10,000 Maori
from throughout the country who  attended
the celebrations the event represented symbols of national identity
additional to those understood by the government and the public.
They looked back to 1834, when northern tribes had chosen a national
flag at Waitangi, and the following year, when they had issued a
declaration
of the country's independence. These events were to hold a special
significance for Maori as recognition of their independent status
pre-1840. Maori and Pakeha perceptions of past and present events,
clearly at variance in 1934, had found a stage at Waitangi on which
the interplay of relationships � past and present � would be repeated.
There would inevitably be clashes.
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