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William Hobson

After a lengthy Royal Navy career in which he saw action in the Napoleonic Wars and was twice captured by pirates in the Caribbean, William Hobson (1792-1842) became New Zealand's first Governor. Governor Bourke had already sent him to New Zealand in 1838, and his report so impressed Lord Glenelg that when he decided, in December 1838, to appoint a Consul to New Zealand, he offered the post to Hobson. Hobson, though, took two months before accepting, on 14 February 1839, as he had been hoping instead to receive further promotion as a senior naval officer.

Sent out by Lord Normanby in 1839 with detailed instructions, he travelled first to Governor Gipps in Sydney, whose lieutenant he was to be, for further instructions. Hobson arrived in the Bay of Islands on 29 January but landed on 30 January to read his proclamation of appointment and arranged for a meeting at British Resident James Busby's house on 5 February, while the Treaty was being drafted. On the following day, 6 February, as the chiefs came forward to sign he greeted each of them with the words 'He iwi tahi tatou' (We are all one people). At the end of 1840,

New Zealand ceased to be a protectorate of New South Wales and became a colony in its own right, with Hobson as Governor and Auckland as its capital city. The administration was short of cash and had frequent conflict with settlers, who were hungry for land and wanted control of the colony's government. After barely two years as Governor, he died from a stroke at the age of 49.

See also: biography of William Hobson at DNZB website

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Making the Treaty of Waitangi

Drafting the Treaty

New Zealand's founding document, the Treaty of Waitangi, was prepared over just a few days in February 1840. On the day that it was first signed, there were versions in English and Maori. Was the Treaty drafted too quickly? Did the Crown officials know what they were doing? Was the translation into Maori rushed, ambiguous or misleading? These and other questions have been debated since 1840.

Finding the English words

William Hobson

William Hobson arrived in New Zealand on 29 January 1840. As lieutenant-governor of a colony that did not yet exist and the extent of which had not been decided, his task was to take possession of it with the consent of the Maori chiefs.

Hobson had no draft treaty to guide him, but the colonial secretary, Lord Normanby, had given him instructions that James Stephen of the Colonial Office had prepared:

All dealings with the Aborigines for their Lands must be conducted on the same principles of sincerity, justice, and good faith as must govern your transactions with them for the recognition of Her Majesty's Sovereignty in the Islands. Nor is this all. They must not be permitted to enter into any Contracts in which they might be ignorant and unintentional authors of injuries to themselves. You will not, for example, purchase from them any Territory the retention of which by them would be essential, or highly conducive, to their own comfort, safety or subsistence. The acquisition of Land by the Crown for the future Settlement of British Subjects must be confined to such Districts as the Natives can alienate without distress or serious inconvenience to themselves. To secure the observance of this rule will be one of the first duties of their official protector.

Hobson had to rely on other British treaties and any advice that he could get. He consulted Governor George Gipps of New South Wales en route to New Zealand and, in New Zealand, his secretary, James Freeman; several missionaries; and James Busby who, as British Resident, had been the formal representative of the Crown until Hobson's arrival.

Hobson asked for Busby's help in preparing formal proclamations in English: that Hobson had taken over as consul and lieutenant-governor, that land claims would need to be approved by the new authorities and that no new transactions after the date of the proclamations would be recognised. Mission printer William Colenso was asked to prepare these and a printed circular letter in Maori to the high chiefs of the United Tribes announcing that a 'rangatira' from the Queen of England had arrived 'hei Kawana hoki mo tatou' (to be a Governor for us). The chiefs were invited to meet Hobson on 5 February at Busby's house at Waitangi.

Hobson and Freeman prepared notes for a treaty of cession to be signed by these chiefs. Busby did not think the notes were suitable. On 3 February he provided a draft treaty with a long and cumbersome explanation of what it meant. He covered all the points that Britain wanted: the chiefs would give up 'sovereignty', Britain would take over all land purchasing, Maori would have the protection and all rights and privileges of British subjects and would be guaranteed possession of their lands, forests, fisheries and other properties so long as they wanted them. These points were expressed in three clauses or articles. Hobson retained these but added a different explanatory preamble.

Finding the Maori words

Missionary Henry Williams and his son Edward, both of whom knew the Maori language, had the job of translating the document. It was an important task, but it had to be rushed. They received the document on the evening of 4 February, and it was needed for the meeting of the chiefs on the next day.

Henry Williams realised that his role was critical. Like many others, he thought that Maori would be better off under British sovereignty. He knew that the chiefs would not agree if a treaty took too much power from them. The translation was key to getting Maori agreement. This may be why the words used in the translation had certain emphases and were not a mirror of the English but a particular type of missionary Maori language that would be familiar to the chiefs.

The Maori translation was presented to some 500 Maori on 5 February. For several hours chiefs spoke for and against it. They debated the document late into the night, with Henry Williams on hand to explain and clarify points. He told Maori that they would be 'one people with the English, in the suppression of wars, and of every lawless act; under one Sovereign, and one Law, human and divine'. The newly arrived surveyor general, Felton Mathew, who only spoke English, gathered that Maori would have ‘full power over their own people – remaining perfectly independent’. These reassurances, along with tiredness and a shortage of food, probably helped convince some chiefs. By the morning of 6 February, most chiefs just wanted to sign and return home.

NZ officially becomes British colony

New Zealand officially became a separate colony of Britain, severing its link to New South Wales. The North, South and Stewart islands were to be known respectively as the provinces of ‘New Ulster’, ‘New Munster’ and ‘New Leinster’.

William Hobson had been appointed Britain’s consul to New Zealand in 1839. He was instructed to obtain sovereignty over all or part of New Zealand with the consent of a sufficient number of chiefs. New Zealand would come under the authority of George Gipps, the governor of New South Wales; Hobson would become Gipps’ lieutenant-governor.

On 21 May 1840 William Hobson proclaimed British sovereignty over all of New Zealand, the North Island on the basis of cession through the Treaty of Waitangi and the southern islands by ‘right of discovery’. Signatures to the Treaty were still being sought. Hobson may have wanted to declare the Crown’s authority over the whole country because he had learned that the New Zealand Company had plans to set up its own administration around Cook Strait.

Shortly before Hobson left Sydney in January 1840 Gipps had issued a proclamation extending the boundaries of New South Wales to include such territory in New Zealand as might be acquired in sovereignty. The Legislative Council of New South Wales passed an Act extending to New Zealand the laws of New South Wales on 16 June 1840 and established customs duties and courts of justice here.

The relationship with New South Wales was intended as a convenience to cover the period during which British sovereignty over New Zealand was being asserted. Even before Hobson’s dispatch reporting his proclamations had reached London, his political masters had decided to make New Zealand a separate colony. The ‘Charter for erecting the Colony of New Zealand’, effective from 16 November 1840, also constituted a nominated Legislative Council. The provincial divisions were at first of geographical significance only. They were not used as a basis for the government of the colony, which was centralised in Auckland.

In 1846 a further Royal Charter divided the colony into two provinces and provided each with its own political institutions in addition to those of the central government. The two provinces were called New Ulster and New Munster. New Leinster was merged with the South Island and the southern portion of the North Island as far north as the mouth of the Pātea River in a reformed New Munster.

Each province was to have a Governor and a Legislative and Executive Council, with the Governor-in-Chief and his Legislative and Executive Council providing a central authority. In 1851 the Provincial Legislative Councils were permitted to be partially elective. This system was rendered obsolete by the passage in Britain of the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852.

Image: old map of NSW and NZ (Garwood & Voigt)

Hobson proclaims sovereignty over NZ

Lieutenant-Governor William Hobson proclaimed sovereignty over all of New Zealand: over the North Island on the basis of cession through the Treaty of Waitangi and over the southern islands by right of discovery.

In May 1840 Māori agreement to the terms of the Treaty was still being sought. Hobson’s decision to declare the Crown’s authority over the whole country may have been motivated by the actions of the New Zealand Company. Hobson had learned of possible moves by the Company to set up its own administration in the Cook Strait region. Hobson’s deputy, Major Thomas Bunbury, proclaimed sovereignty over Stewart Island on 5 June by right of discovery – no Māori could be found there to sign the Treaty.

In late May, Hobson sent Colonial Secretary and Police Magistrate Willoughby Shortland to Port Nicholson (Wellington) to read the proclamation and demand allegiance to the Crown.

New Zealand was a dependency of New South Wales until November 1840, when it became a separate British colony.

Image: William Hobson

Auckland's first Anniversary Day Regatta

Auckland’s Anniversary Day commemorates Lieutenant-Governor William Hobson’s arrival in New Zealand in 1840. Today it is best known for the huge Anniversary Day Regatta on Waitematā Harbour, held every year (except one) since 1850 and often described as the largest one-day regatta in the world.

The first ‘regatta’ on Waitematā Harbour was held on 18 September 1840, the day Hobson’s advance party arrived to found the colony’s new capital (Hobson didn’t set up residence there until March 1841). The first event was an impromptu three-race affair, held after the official party rowed ashore from the barque Anna Watson and raised the flag in the name of Queen Victoria. The New Zealand Advertiser and Bay of Islands Gazette of 24 September reported that in the afternoon:

a regatta took place between a five-oared gig belonging to the Surveyor-General, and a six-oared gig belonging to the “Anna Watson,” both pulled in excellent style by amateurs. This was followed by a match for a purse of five pounds between two whale boats pulled by sailors – and by another between two large canoes, paddled by Natives.

In 1841 the government chose 29 January as Auckland province’s official Anniversary Day. This date marked the anniversary of Hobson’s 1840 arrival in the Bay of Islands, rather than the establishment of the city (18 September), the Governor’s arrival there to set up his capital (13 March) or – perhaps most appropriately of all, according to historian Russell Stone – the day of its first property sales (19 April 1841).

The first Anniversary Day regatta was held on 29 January 1842. Horseracing at Epsom was the favoured Anniversary Day event for the next few years, but in 1850 the regatta on Waitematā Harbour was revived. It became an annual event and since that year has only been cancelled once, during the South African War in 1900.

In the early years of the regatta a variety of craft, including ship’s gigs, dinghies, whaleboats and Māori waka (canoes), provided much interest for spectators. Some of the most exciting racing was between fishing or other working vessels such as centreboard mullet boats and scows. Powerboats took part for the first time in 1903, and in 1919 there were even races between seaplanes. In 2011 there were races for waka, tugboats, powerboats, dragon boats and radio-controlled (as well as conventional) yachts.

Image: Auckland City (Flickr)

Signing the Treaty

Gathering signatures from around the country

About 40 chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi on 6 February 1840. By the end of the year, about 500 other Maori, including 13 women, had put their names or moko to the document; all but 39 signed the Maori text. While some had clear expectations about what their agreement would bring, others chose not to sign the Treaty at all.

The first signing

Lieutenant-Governor William Hobson expected the chiefs to mull over the Maori text of the Treaty for three days. He was surprised to be called to the meeting on 6 February, so he arrived at Waitangi alone and in plain clothes except for his plumed hat. Former British Resident James Busby called up the chiefs, starting with Hone Heke. Each signing was followed by a handshake and greeting from Hobson: 'He iwi tahi tatou' (We are [now] one people). About half of the chiefs had also signed the Declaration of Independence.

Waitangi Treaty copy

Around 6 February, Henry Williams translated a copy of the Maori text back into English. This became the official text of the Treaty in English. It was presumed that the Maori text and translation back into English had the same meaning, but Williams added a note on the copy of the official text that Hobson sent to Governor Gipps, which said 'I certify that the above is as literal a translation of the Treaty of Waitangi as the idiom of the language will allow.'

Later signings

For several months in 1840 the Treaty circulated around the country for Maori to sign. Missionaries, traders or officials explained the terms of the Treaty at 50 or so signing meetings between February and September 1840, from the far north of the North Island to Ruapuke Island in Fouveaux Strait.

Communication between one area and another was difficult, so rather than risk losing the Treaty, copies were made. Some were made by hand, and 200 copies of the Maori text were printed on 17 February. Lieutenant-Governor William Hobson suffered a stroke on 1 March 1840, and Colonial Secretary Willoughby Shortland took up the task of getting agreement to the Treaty. There is no record of the number of copies he had made.

There are nine copies of the Treaty at Archives New Zealand: the Treaty signed on 6 February 1840, and eight copies. The original drafts of the English and Maori texts have been lost; the original copy of the Treaty at Archives New Zealand was made by missionary Richard Taylor because the Maori draft had marks on it, and a clean copy was wanted for the signing meeting on 6 February.

Waikato-Manukau Treaty copy (English)

All but one of these copies are in the Maori language, and all but one are written in longhand. Several people made the copies by hand. While the original Treaty and the copies differ from each other in appearance, the texts are the same in each document. Some copies have the government seal, and one was signed by Willoughby Shortland instead of William Hobson. Some signatures and moko are readable, but others are not. The names of some chiefs do not have a mark of any kind beside them, or they are mixed with the names of hapu.

In October 1840 a copy of the Treaty – the Maori text and the official English text, authenticated by a Hobson signature – was sent to the Colonial Office in London. The dispatch was simply to record that both official texts were being sent as fair copies, authenticated by the lieutenant-governor, for filing. This is the only copy of the Treaty that has the words 'Treaty of Waitangi' at its head.

In 1989 an English-language text of the Treaty was discovered in the papers of the Littlewood family. Henry Littlewood was a solicitor who was in the Bay of Islands and Auckland in the 1830s and 1840s. Some people argue that this Littlewood treaty is a translation back into English from the Maori text and that it was prepared after the Treaty signing on 6 February 1840. Others claim it is the final English draft of the Treaty that was thought to be lost. The document is now held at Archives New Zealand in Wellington.

In either case, the version signed at Waitangi and copied to London in 1840 is the official Treaty, and, legally, there is only one Treaty. Under the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975, which sets out the Treaty in both languages, the Waitangi Tribunal has exclusive authority to determine the meaning and effect of the Treaty.

The decision to sign

Chiefs based their decision to sign or not on many things, and reasons varied from one region to another. Many who signed were fearful or uncertain of the outcome.

Many chiefs were confused about the issue of Crown pre-emption (Article 2), which the government interpreted as a strict rule that land held under customary title could be sold only to the Crown or not at all. It seems that this was discussed in detail only on one occasion. It is possible that those who explained the Treaty to Maori did not themselves fully understand the implications of this legal doctrine. Some Maori believed that they had agreed only to a right of first refusal: if the Crown was unable or unwilling to buy a particular piece of land at a price the Maori owners regarded as fair, it could be sold freely to private buyers.

Those who explained the Treaty to Maori generally stressed the advantages of bringing British residents under the control of the Crown, which some chiefs had been asking for since 1831. They played down the impact of the British acquisition of sovereignty and its likely consequences for Maori. Missionary assurances that the Treaty would be of benefit to Maori probably helped to overcome the caution of many chiefs. Some chiefs, especially of Northland iwi, saw the Treaty as a sacred bond or covenant directly between themselves and Queen Victoria. Many who signed were devout Christians who saw no difference between the Crown and the teachings of Christianity.

Maori had clear expectations of how the benefits would occur. There would be a sharing of authority, and this would enhance chiefly mana. The country would be protected from acquisition by other foreign powers. A kawana (governor) would control Europeans, especially those buying land, who were causing difficulties in some areas. The Treaty would bring settlement and more markets for Maori services that were essential to settlement, and Maori could obtain more goods and take advantage of benefits brought by Europeans. Some chiefs saw that change was inevitable. The clock could not be turned back to the period before 1840, so the Treaty was seen as a way into the future.

A separate Crown colony - taming the frontier

Protecting Māori, regulating land transactions, controlling the activities of settlers and dealing with the influx of New Zealand Company migrants underpinned British policy in 1839. Other nations watched with interest. French and American whalers used New Zealand waters and ports. The United States had appointed the English trader James Clendon as its consul to New Zealand in 1839, and a shipload of French colonists was heading for New Zealand. The manner in which Britain annexed the country would be crucial to the kind of nation New Zealand became, and especially to the relationship between its British and Māori citizens.

British policy was to foster trade, encourage Māori to ‘amalgamate’ with settler society and continue their education under the missionaries, and have them prosper alongside the settlers. Britain also needed the legal authority to deal with British subjects. Without this it had little ability to control the activities of settlers, including land transactions. The British government intended to guarantee Māori land rights and was strongly influenced by the fashionable theories of systematic colonisation.

The protection of Māori interests was seen as vital. British officials thought it pointless to isolate Māori on reserves when their culture was already damaged, it was assumed, by guns and alcohol. If the Americas and Australia are any guide, reserves would have been swept away by the settlers. New Zealand was to be colonised in a different way, with Māori rights enshrined in a treaty.

Final formalities

The first New Zealand Company settlers arrived at Petone on 22 January 1840, a week before Hobson reached the Bay of Islands. The company had signed land purchase deeds with Māori at Port Nicholson, Kapiti Island and Queen Charlotte Sound. Its aim was to purchase a huge area of the North and South Islands before formal intervention by the British Crown could prevent this.

Hobson arrived on 29 January with no time to waste. He was lieutenant-governor of a colony with uncertain boundaries that did not yet exist. Though he was under instructions to gain the consent of Māori for whatever course of action he took, he had no draft treaty to guide him. He had consulted Governor George Gipps of New South Wales en route to New Zealand and now turned to James Freeman, his secretary, as well as several missionaries and James Busby.

Formal proclamations in English were prepared announcing that Hobson had succeeded Busby as consul – and lieutenant-governor. Existing land claims would need the approval of the new authorities and no further transactions would be recognised. Mission printer William Colenso was asked to prepare these proclamations and a circular letter in Māori to the chiefs of the United Tribes announcing that a ‘rangatira’ from the Queen of England had arrived ‘hei Kawana hoki mo tatou’ (to be a Governor for us). The chiefs were invited to meet Hobson on 5 February at Busby’s house at Waitangi.

Hobson and Freeman prepared notes for a treaty of cession to be signed by these chiefs. Busby thought these unsuitable and on 3 February he provided a draft treaty, together with a long and cumbersome explanation covering its main points. The chiefs would give up ‘sovereignty’; Britain would take over the purchasing of land; Māori would have the protection and all rights and privileges of British subjects, and would be guaranteed possession of their lands, forests, fisheries and other properties for as long as they wanted to keep them. These provisions were expressed in three clauses or articles, which Hobson retained while replacing the explanatory preamble.

Missionary Henry Williams and his son Edward translated the English draft into Māori overnight on 4 February. The following day about 500 Māori gathered at Waitangi to debate the merits of the document. On the 6th more than 40 chiefs, led by Ngāpuhi’s Hōne Heke Pokai, signed the Treaty of Waitangi, as it has become known.

Hobson decided to proclaim British sovereignty over the whole country as soon as possible. This would leave the New Zealand Company settlers in no doubt that they were bound by British government policy and were not entitled to regard themselves as forming an independent colony. Hobson took this step while copies of the Treaty were being taken around the country for signing.

By September 1840, another 500 Māori had signed copies of the treaty. On 21 May 1840 Hobson proclaimed British sovereignty over the North Island by right of cession and over the South Island by right of discovery. In June 1840 Thomas Bunbury, unaware of Hobson’s actions, also proclaimed British sovereignty over the South Island by right of cession. In 1841 New Zealand was established as a Crown colony in its own right, reporting to London rather than Sydney. The Chatham Islands were inadvertently left outside the official boundaries of New Zealand until 1842.

William Hobson

William Hobson was lieutenant-governor from 1840 to 1841 and governor from 1841 to 1842. One of his first tasks on arriving in New Zealand on 29 January 1840 was signing the Treaty of Waitangi on 6 February that year.

Alexander Turnbull Library,
Reference: G-826-1
Further information and copies of this image may be obtained from the Library through its 'Timeframes' website, http://timeframes.natlib.govt.nz
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any reuse of this image.

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Crown colony era - the Governor-General

Crown colony era

New Zealand became a British colony in 1840, legitimised by the Treaty of Waitangi and Lieutenant-Governor William Hobson's declaration of 21 May declaring sovereignty over the islands.

Hobson (who served from 1840 until his death in 1842) and Robert FitzRoy (who served between 1843 and 1845) were naval officers. Their administrations were grossly under-resourced. They were challenged in providing even the most basic infrastructure while preserving harmony between the British settlers and the numerically and militarily dominant Maori.

Both fell out with settlers; Hobson angered the New Zealand Company's Wellington colonists, and FitzRoy was accused of favouring Maori and missionaries. Nelson settlers burned FitzRoy in effigy when news of his recall (sacking) by London reached New Zealand in 1845.

The Australian connection

New Zealand began as a dependency of New South Wales. Late in 1839 letters patent altered the commission of the governor of New South Wales, Sir George Gipps, by reappointing him captain-general and governor-in-chief in and over the territory of New South Wales, the new boundaries of which included any land that might be acquired here. For the next 18 months his legislative council promulgated all New Zealand law, and the New South Wales land regulations were also extended to New Zealand. This arrangement ended in May 1841, when New Zealand became a separate Crown colony.

In Crown colonies (i.e., colonies that are not self-governing), governors ruled personally. Hobson had two bodies to assist him. The Executive Council comprised the colonial secretary, attorney-general and colonial treasurer. Hobson convened and chaired it.

The Legislative Council, made up of Hobson, the Executive Council and three senior justices of the peace, gave a veneer of independence, but it could meet only at the request of the governor, who set the agenda and who alone introduced law. As a result, many settlers treated it with contempt. Charles Clifford, appointed a counsellor in 1844, resigned after 10 months 'because he objected to FitzRoy's use of the official majority and because he considered the meetings an idle and useless formality'.

War broke out in 1844 between some northern tribes and the British and their Maori allies. Dashing, young Governor George Grey (1845–53 and 1861–8) arrived with more realistic numbers of troops and the money to pay them. By the end of 1845 an uneasy peace had settled over the far north.