It was a scorching hot day in Aotearoa. Murray the village chief was checking on the villagers and asking the Maori warriors if they could see some boats in the horizon. When suddenly. A small man in funny clothing and fair skin arrived at shore in a tiny white boat. “Men'' shouted Murray, “inspect that strange small man at once!”. As the warriors galloped along, the suspicious man quickly sailed away in the humongous ocean. “We lost him chief, “ said one of the Maori Soldiers. And then the pakeha and all the other Maori people of Aoeteroa went back to their everyday lives.
Not long after the incident the strange man returned except with an army behind him. “ My name is Senric, the leader of the British army!,” “We the warriors of British declare war!”. Said the small man. “We want this beautiful healthy land!, “. Murray was furious to see him. Murray had just found out that the British people had been selling their land in secret. The chief accepted the war and put together his finest army's. The villagers all evacuated the area and hid in a safe place while the Maori people were out fighting. Victoria, another fellow chief of the Maori was in charge of keeping the villagers safe while Viena, another fellow chief was in charge of health support. After many wars between the Maori and British the two countries came to an agreement.
The British government and Maori had come to an agreement. Though not all chiefs agreed. At the time not many ( or none at all ) Maori spoke English. And so the British got Henry Williams and his son Edward to translate the English version into Maori. Once it was translated on the 4th of February 1840 about 40 chiefs signed the treaty. And by the end of the year almost 500 chiefs signed the treaty. Senric signed the treaty on behalf of queens Victoria. Te Tiriti o Waitangi is an agreement that was signed by representatives of the British Crown and Maori chiefs ( and other types of important leaders ) The Treaty aimed to protect the rights of Maori to keep their land, forests, fisheries and treasures while handing over sovereignty to the English. But after years of living in peace together the two countries had long violence wars once more.
After all the hardships. New Zealand is now under the British empire. After countless wars New Zealand was colonized. The treaty is now held at archives New Zealand in Wellington.
The Treaty Of Waitangi Podcast
Kia ora Ruqayat
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your narrative podcast! I enjoyed listening to it, the cicada noises in the background added to the effect of it being set during a scorching hot day in Aotearoa. What would you say is the main purpose of your narrative - to entertain, or to inform?