The Manukau-Kāwhia Sheet is the only surviving copy with the signature of Colonial Secretary Willoughby Shortland (rather than by Hobson, who had been paralysed by a stroke on 1 March). It was also the last copy to be returned, in 1841.

It was first sent to Captain William Symonds on 13 March 1840, and he gathered signatures from chiefs around the Manukau Harbour. On 20 March Symonds and James Hamlin organised a hui at Orua Bay on the Manukau Peninsula. Although none of the Waikato chiefs would sign (including Pōtatau Te Wherowhero), three from Ngāti Whātua did so (Te Kawau, Te Tinana, Te Reweti).

On 3 April Symonds left Manukau Harbour and travelled south to Waikato Heads, where he met Robert Maunsell. After seeing what rangatira had signed the Waikato-Manukau sheet with Maunsell, Symonds sent this Manukau-Kāwhia sheet to Wesleyan missionaries James Wallis and John Whiteley (8 April). He requested them to secure the signatures of further rangatira in Kāwhia and the area southward (including those of Ngāti Maniapoto).

They gathered 10 more signatures of rangatira around Kāwhia - one on 28 April, three on 21 May, one on 25 May, three on 15 June, one on 27 August. The last signature was gathered on 3 September, which was also the final signing of the Treaty across the country.

Archives Reference: IA9/9 Sheet 2 archives.govt.nz/exhibitions/permanentexhibitions/treaty/...

You can view the names of those who signed, as well as an interactive map, at the nzhistory.net.nz ‘Making the Treaty’ page: www.nzhistory.net.nz/media/interactive/manukau-kawhia-tre... and at www.nzhistory.net.nz/politics/treaty/signatories

Caption from ‘Journey of the Treaty’ by the State Services Commission