Bay of Plenty treaty copy

Use the tool bar at the bottom of this interactive to zoom in and navigate. The drop down menu at the top lists the names of those who signed – selecting a name takes you to their signature on the document.

The Bay of Plenty (Fedarb) copy of the Treaty

The Bay of Plenty or Fedarb Māori-language copy of the Treaty of Waitangi was one of two made by the missionary James Stack at Tauranga; the other has been lost. There are 26 names on the copy. All were collected by the trader James Fedarb, who sailed along the coast between 22 May and 19 June 1840, getting agreement to the treaty from chiefs at Ōpōtiki, Te Kaha, Tōrere and Whakatāne.

Fedarb gave the copy to the printer William Colenso, for whom he had once worked, to pass on to Lieutenant-Governor William Hobson. No one commented on the fact that Hobson’s signature on the copy was forged by Stack when he made the copies at Tauranga; Hobson always signed as ‘W Hobson’, with no title.

The copy also has Christian crosses against some of the names. At the request of chiefs connected to the Church Missionary Society, Fedarb identified the Ōpōtiki chiefs who were Roman Catholics by placing a cross beside each name. This suggests that their consent was obtained despite resistance from the Roman Catholic Bishop Pompallier, who had had disagreements with local Protestant missionaries. This is one of two copies signed by Māori witnesses, Papahia and Wiremu Maihi, who were both possibly from the north.

Follow links in this table to find out more about those who signed and the signing occasion.