Manukau Harbour, 26 April 1840

Police Magistrate W.C. Symonds, formerly a British army officer, gained seven signatures on the Waikato-Manukau treaty sheet on 26 April 1840. On his second visit to Manukau Harbour he was hoping to get the signature of Te Wherowhero, a major rangatira (chief) of Waikato who later became the first Māori king. The precise location of this signing has not been recorded.

Te Wherowhero could still not be convinced to sign the treaty, though he did later form close links with early governors. Several other chiefs also refused to sign. Symonds put down his lack of success in Manukau to his inability to put on a public ceremony, a contrast with the signings in Waitangi and Hokianga that may have hurt the pride of local rangatira. The hapū (subtribe) connections of the seven signatories are unknown. Symonds wrote to Colonial Secretary Willoughby Shortland that they showed the ‘best disposition displayed towards Her Majesty’s Government’, but was concerned that they had high expectations about the immediate benefits of British government. [1]

Symonds returned the Waikato-Manukau treaty sheet and the printed treaty sheet to Lieutenant-Governor William Hobson, who signed only the Waikato sheet.