Rangitukia Waiapu, 1 June 1840

Between 25 May and 1 June 1840 10 signatures were secured in Waiapu, where the treaty was ‘well received’. [1]  Seven signatures were collected between 25 and 31 May, and three on 1 June: David Rangikatia (Rawiri Rangikatia), Koaiuruterangi (Rauru-te-rangi) and Awarau, all of Ngāti Porou.

The signing of the East Coast sheet of the Treaty of Waitangi was witnessed by William Williams and the teenaged George Clarke Jnr, who travelled along the coast ‘to obtain the consent of the chiefs from East Cape to Ahuriri, the present-day port of Napier'. [2] From Waiapu they returned south, collecting four more signatures at Tokomaru on their way back to Tūranga (Gisborne). The total of 41 signatures was only about half the number they had hoped to obtain.

[1] Claudia Orange, The Treaty of Waitangi, Allen & Unwin, Port Nicholson Press with assistance from the Historical Publications Branch, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington, 1987, p. 72

[2] Orange, p. 71