The Treaty of Waitangi is the founding document of the nation of New Zealand. It was signed in the Bay of Islands on 6 February 1840 by Captain William Hobson, several English residents and approximately 45 Māori chiefs. The document signed at Waitangi was then taken to a number of other Northland locations to obtain additional Maori signatures.
By Archives New Zealand from New Zealand - Reconstruction of the Signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, Marcus King, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51249748
The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa hosts a permanent exhibition on the Treaty of Waitangi: Signs of a Nation, where you can discover how the Treaty has shaped relationships between the peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand. Allow 20 minutes or more for your visit.
The Treaty of Waitangi is a registered heritage in the UNESCO Memory of the World programme (see http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/memory-of-the-world/register/full-list-of-registered-heritage/registered-heritage-page-8/the-treaty-of-waitangi/#c187850). There is also a wealth of material available both online and offline for you to learn more on this subject. However, to complete this virtual cache, you will need to visit Te Papa to complete the logging requirements. Some tasks can only be completed by visiting the location.
Required logging tasks
There are five logging tasks, as follows:
Task I. Answer the following questions from the information available at the location.
1. The Treaty of Waitangi was first written in:
A) Māori, then translated into English.
B) English, then translated into Māori.
C) Both Māori and English independently before undergoing joint revisions.
2. The Treaty was:
A) Translated in one night.
B) Translated in a matter of days.
C) Taking one month to complete the final draft in both languages.
3. The Treaty is officially documented in:
A) A single document that was signed by all signatories.
B) Nine separate documents that were signed by different people.
C) Ten or more separate documents, but some of these have since been lost.
4. The Treaty was:
A) Signed by all rangatira (Māori chiefs) and Crown representatives on 6 February 1840.
B) Signed by all signatories over 7 months from February to September 1840.
C) Signed by all signatories over one year, including some rangatira who had initially refused to sign.
5. The English and Māori versions of the Treaty:
A) Say exactly the same thing.
B) Say substantially the same thing, but with significant differences in key terms.
C) Say fundamentally different things.
6. The English version of the Treaty was not drafted by:
A) Henry Williams – Anglican missionary who came to New Zealand in 1823.
B) James Busby - the first official British Resident of New Zealand from 1833.
C) William Hobson – appointed as British Consul in 1839 and the first Lieutenant-Governor of New Zealand in 1840.
7. Of the c. 544 rangatira Treaty signatories,
A) None was female … only male rangatira signed the Treaty.
B) 2% were rangatira wāhine (female leaders).
C) 12% were female.
8. Of the c. 544 rangatira Treaty signatories,
A) 7% signed the English version; 93% signed the Māori version.
B) 93% signed the English version; 7% signed the Māori version.
C) All of them signed both the English and Māori versions.
9. By 1908 the Treaty documents in New Zealand had been water damaged and partially eaten by rats! But before that, all original versions were:
A) Stored in an Auckland house, which burned down in 1841, were rescued, and later sent to Wellington after this became the capital in 1865.
B) Sent to London in 1840, with just copies of the Treaty kept in New Zealand.
C) Kept at the various locations where they were last signed, until 1865, when they were collected and transferred to Wellington.
10. The original Treaty documents are now stored at:
A) Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.
B) British Library – part of the Magna Carta collection.
C) National Library of New Zealand.
11. In the “North to South” map, what is the year shown?
Task II. Take a photo of you (face optional) or a personal item (e.g. a trackable or a piece of paper with your username) at the exhibition location.
Task III. Use your answers from Task I above to send an email, with the following two (2) email requirements:
1. To GC9P5AC.xxxxxxxxxxyyyy@gmail.com, where xxxxxxxxxx is the string of letters for your answers to Q1 to Q10, and yyyy is the year in Q11. For example, if your answers to Q1 was A, Q2 B, Q3 C, …, Q9 C, Q10 A and Q11 2022, then the email address for your submission would be GC9P5AC.ABCABCABCA2022@gmail.com.
2. Enter the keyword “Virtual” followed by your geocaching username in the subject line. Note that if you omit to include the keyword “Virtual” in the subject, your confirmation may be significantly delayed or it might not come through at all.
Task IV. Outdoor stage: navigate to WP2 (in Waitangi Park) and take a second photo of you (face optional) or a personal item with Te Papa (and the "portal" window leading through to GZ) in the background. Note that you can perform this Task IV either before or after Tasks I to III above.
Task V. Post both photos from Tasks II and IV with your log.
If your answers to all questions are correct, you will receive an automatic reply by email saying so. You may then proceed to log your find.
If you do not hear back after sending your email or if you receive a delivery failure notification, you can assume that at least one of your answers is wrong. Please resend the email with the appropriate corrections. If you need help, please message us.
Any online find log that is not supported by the fulfilment of all tasks (including the photo requirements) is liable to be deleted. We will message you if there are issues in this regard.
We hope you enjoy your visit.
Virtual Rewards 3.0 - 2022-2023
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between 1 March 2022 and 1 March 2023. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 3.0 on the Geocaching Blog.