Story: Missions and missionaries

These signatures on the Treaty of Waitangi, made by chiefs drawing part of their moko, or facial tattoo, were gathered by missionary William Williams from Ngāti Porou on the East Coast. In the weeks after the first signings at Waitangi in February 1840, several copies of the treaty were carried to other parts of the country to be signed. Missionaries such as Williams played an important part in this process, because of their knowledge of Māori language and the trust they had built among their local followers.