Tou Rangatira

Over a thousand years ago, Rangiātea was a central place in Polynesia where Pacific Nations assembled to convene meetings, exchange gifts, arrange marriages, and train High Priests and Navigators. Where the carved pou stand here at Tou Rangatira, there is a raised mound symbolising Taputapuātea, the ancient marae at Rangiātea.

The pou on Tou Rangatira face east, acknowledging the Ngāpuhi genealogical connections to Polynesia. The carved pillars or pou represent the ancestral waka that sailed Te Moana Nui a Kiwa over a thousand years ago and brought the first people to this land. The central carved figure is Rahiri, the ancestor of Ngāpuhi, the largest iwi in Aotearoa.

Here at Tou Rangatira, the Chief Te Kemara invited Ngāpuhi to debate the terms of He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni, or the Declaration of Independence of the United Tribes of New Zealand. The English draft was translated into Te Reo by the Reverend Henry Williams and Eruera Pare Hongi wrote the final copy, acting as interpreter and scribe. It was signed by 34 Rangatira on the lawn of James Busby's British Residence on October 28 1835.

​Ngāpuhi signatories saw He Whakaputanga as a way to address challenges posed by European contact, to strengthen the alliance with Great Britain, and to expand their authority more globally.

Tou Rangatira is also the site where over night of February 5th, 1840, the Reverend Henry Williams once again explained the terms of the draft Treaty to the assembled rangatira. The chiefs debated here and granted their full authorization to agree on this historic documents, signed near here by over 40 chiefs on the lawn of James Busby's British Residence at what is now known as the Waitangi Treaty Grounds 

​The stone seat on the mound at Tou Rangatira is known as the "seat of the nation". Here the chiefs would gather, each waitngi their turn to address the congress. Tou Rangatira was designated as a place for the chiefs to pass laws.

The contents of these two documents define the relationship of the Māori nation with the wider world, and positioned Waitangi Marae as its political epicentre for generations to come. Here, the original signatories and their descendants have actively advocated for the two agreements to be honoured.