Learn about He Tohu: A declaration, a treaty, a petition

Use the recently published learning activities and other quality resources to inspire and inform students' inquiry into concepts related to the 3 taonga of the He Tohu exhibition in Wellington:

• 1835 He Whakaputanga (the Declaration of Independence)

• 1840 Te Tiriti o Waitangi (the Treaty of Waitangi), and

• 1893 Women's Suffrage Petition.

RISE Street Art Festival by Jocelyn Kinghorn. Flickr. CC BY-SA 2.0.

Key concepts for learning

The 5 key concepts that underpin the He Tohu learning resources and activities are:

• the documents

• the people

• place

• living together

• our future.

The documents

Understand:

• the mana of the original documents and the journey each has been through from their creation to the place they are in now

• their fragility, and what’s involved in preserving them for future generations

• differences in wording and meaning between Māori and English texts of Te Tiriti/the Treaty, along with how and why these versions were created

• key differences between the processes involved in obtaining signatures for He Whakaputanga and Te Tiriti, compared with the Suffrage petition 50 years later

• their respective impacts on New Zealand society.

The people

Understand:

• the key signatories to each of the documents

• the main actors in the events around each document

• who signed and who didn’t sign the documents and the reasons why

• personal connections with signatories of these documents.

Place

Understand:

• local meanings and national meanings

• specific locations that were key to each of these founding documents, and some of the stories associated with them

• the challenges presented by New Zealand’s geography on achieving signatures for each of the documents

• New Zealand’s place in the world, and the impact of our small country leading the way through the principles and intentions of each document.

Living together

Understand:

• the impact of these documents on the rights and responsibilities of all New Zealand citizens

• the principle of partnership and rights afforded to Māori as tangata whenua

• the ongoing debates around rights and responsibilities

• viewpoints around the meanings of the documents and how these could affect how we live together now and in the future.

Our future

• become more aware of some of the issues New Zealand still has to address, to create a society in which Māori and Pākehā recognize each other as full Treaty partners, and where all cultures are valued for the contributions they bring

• participate in the debate about New Zealand as an increasingly multicultural society founded on a bicultural Treaty, and what this might mean for key rights and responsibilities

• gain a deeper appreciation of the need to preserve Māori language and culture, to ensure understanding and use by current and future generations.

Learning resources and activities

Use our English and te reo Māori resources and activities to help students explore these 5 key concepts:

• Learning activities — explore these newly published activities. Select activities to meet your needs to inspire and inform your students' learning.

• Social inquiry resources — help students explore contemporary issues, such as cultural interactions and gender (in)equality.

• Topic Explorer — helps you find quality, curated resources. Relevant topic sets include:

  • He Whakaputanga — in te reo Māori

  • Treaty of Waitangi

  • Women in Aotearoa

  • Women’s suffrage — also includes an exemplar designed to inspire and support approaches to teaching through inquiry.

• Many Answers entries are specifically designed to guide students to find quality information on their chosen topics including:

  • Declaration of Independence (New Zealand)

  • Treaty of Waitangi

  • Women's suffrage (New Zealand).

• Archives New Zealand has a range of information related to the documents, including:

  • Mana taonga — covers each of the He Tohu documents

  • Who were the rangatira who signed He Whakaputanga?

  • Ngā Tohu Wāhine and Te Tiriti o Waitangi — women who signed the Treaty

  • He Tohu Rangatira — Māori Women & the 1893 Suffrage Petition

  • Conservation of the He Tohu documents.

• Schools lending service — includes picture books, fiction, and non-fiction books.

• He rauemi ako mā ngā kura reo Māori — mahia mai tēnei iPukapuka me ngā akoranga iTunes U hei āwhina tā koutou whakatewhatewha i ngā take nui o Te Whakaputanga me Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

He whakapapa kōrero, he whenua kura

This is the guiding vision for He Tohu.

Learning about the documents, the people, place, living together, and our future is a great way to engage students with this vision:

Talking about our past to create a better future.