What Happened at Waitangi?

What Happened at Waitangi?

Claudia Orange

A new BWB Text from Claudia Orange, available for free throughout February

Who said what to whom when the Treaty was negotiated – and what lay behind subsequent misunderstandings about its wording?

In this extract from her bestselling book The Treaty of Waitangi, Claudia Orange reports in detail on the dramatic events which led to the signing of the Treaty on 6 February 1840.

An air of excitement hung over the bay … From early in the morning, as groups of Māori moved off towards Waitangi, the bay came alive with canoes paddling from all quarters, each with thirty to forty rowers keeping time to the call and gesture of the kaituki (stroke), who stood to the centre of every canoe. The boats of settlers living round the shores of the bay joined the stream, together with those from vessels at anchor. Most ships were decorated with the flags of their respective nations.

This BWB Text is available for free throughout February 2014 from the BWB website. From 1 March it will be available from e-bookstores and the BWB website at the usual price of $4.99.

Author information

Claudia Orange is a distinguished New Zealand historian best known for her award-winning work The Treaty of Waitangi. First published in 1987, this book won the Goodman Fielder Wattie Book Award in 1988 and has appeared in a number of different versions including an illustrated edition. Her most recent book, The Story of a Treaty, won the Best Book in Secondary Publishing at the 2013 CLNZ Educational Publishing Awards. Dr Orange is Practice Leader Research at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

BWB Text information

Publishing 4 February 2014, RRP$4.99 (free for February 2014)

ISBN 9781927277409 (EPUB), 9781927277416 (KINDLE), 9781927277423 (PDF)

Available direct from www.bwb.co.nz