Skip navigation

Permanent Exhibitions

The Constitution Room

The constitution room.

The Constitution Room is a permanent exhibition tracing New Zealand's journey to independent nationhood. It features some of our most significant historical documents, dating from 1835 to recent times. In the centre of the room is the Treaty of Waitangi - Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the founding document of modern New Zealand. The Treaty of Waitangi is not a single large sheet of paper but a group of nine documents: seven on paper and two on parchment. Together they represent an agreement made in 1840 between the British Crown and over five hundred Māori chiefs of New Zealand.

The oldest document on display in the Constitution Room is the Declaration of Independence of the Northern Chiefs, signed by thirty-four northern Māori chiefs on 28 October 1835. Prepared by British Resident James Busby, missionary Henry Williams and printer William Colenso, it declared the independence and sovereignty of the United Tribes and sought a formal protectorate relationship with the British monarchy. A draft copy is displayed alongside it.

Other important documents include:

  • The Letters Patent of 16 November 1840, which constituted New Zealand as a separate colony from New South Wales, Australia.

  • The Proclamation in 1853 of the Constitution Act 1852, which established representative and then responsible government.

  • The Māori Representation Act of 1867, which established four separate Māori seats, and entitled all Māori males aged 21 and over to vote.

  • The 1893 Women's Suffrage Petition which led to New Zealand becoming the world's first independent nation to grant women the right to vote.

  • The 1907 Order in Council by which New Zealand changed its status from Colony to Dominion.

  • Design for the first New Zealand Coat of Arms, which was selected from a nationwide competition in 1908 and received the Royal Warrant of Approval from King George V in 1911.

  • The 1961 Western Samoa Plebiscite Order, which led to Western Samoa's independence in 1962 from the UN Trusteeship administered by New Zealand.

Many of the items on display in the Constitution Room are fragile and sensitive to the light. To ensure their continued preservation, the humidity and temperature levels in the room are carefully controlled. Lighting levels are also kept low to minimise further fading of the hand-written texts.

Further information on the Constitution Room and the Treaty of Waitangi can be found in the exhibition brochure 'Paths To Nationhood - Ngā Ara Ki Te Whenuatanga', which is available outside the Constitution Room. Alternatively you can download a copy here:

Schools may also find the education resource useful.

The Constitution Room is open Monday to Friday 10am - 4pm. Admission is free.

Back to top