Lost in Translation 2 - Te Tiriti o Waitangi (episode two)

Remain I say, remain, a father, a governor for us.

– Hōne Heke to William Hobson on the treaty

He iwi tahi tātou.

– William Hobson to Māori, after the first day of signing at Waitangi

It doesn't sound very sophisticated does it? It sounds like a place that dealt to the very basic needs of man: man, alcohol, medicine, women ... and guns."

– Mike King reflects on colonial Russell

Taking people's land at the point of a gun or taking it with a pen, the result is the same.

– Moana Jackson, constitutional lawyer

The Treaty of Waitangi: nine sheets, 540 signatures, one founding document that continues to define our nation. Join me as I retrace the journey of these nine sheets, and reveal just what our ancestors were thinking as they took part in this explosive chapter in New Zealand history.

– Presenter Mike King, at the opening of the show

Every year thousands of New Zealanders flock to Waitangi to commemorate the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi on February the 6th 1840. Like many of the people here today, I'm descended from the rangitira who signed the treaty ... I can't help but wonder what my tupuna were thinking as they gathered here to discuss this document. What were their thoughts, their fears, their hopes, their dreams, for their children and their grandchildren?

– Presenter Mike King, at the opening of this episode

Over the next nine weeks I'll retrace the journey of the nine treaty sheets which that travelled throughout New Zealand in 1840. I'll unearth the stories of the men and women who took part in this fascinating chapter of New Zealand history, and along the way I hope to find out more about my own tupuna, and why they chose to put their names to our nation's founding document.

– Presenter Mike King introduces the series, at the opening of this episode

With 43 signatures under his belt, [William] Hobson was a very happy man. But he didn't have enough chiefly signatures for Her Majesty Queen Victoria to claim sovereignty over all of Aotearoa. Something had to be done to secure the agreement of Māori throughout the country and with the French closing in, it had to be done quickly.

– Presenter Mike King, near the end of this episode