The Treaty documents: Treaty of Waitangi Fact Sheet

The Treaty documents

In 1841 the Treaty documents were rescued from a fire in the government offices in Auckland. They were then put in an iron safe in the Colonial Secretary's office in Auckland, and then transferred to Wellington when that city became the capital of New Zealand
Facsimile copies of the Treaty were printed in 1877 and the originals were put into storage.
Early in the 20^th century, Thomas Morland Hocken, an elderly physician and historian discovered the Treaty documents buried in a heap of old papers and rubbish in a dungeon underneath the wooden Government Buildings in Wellington. They had been damaged by rats and by water. They were restored as well as possible, and then placed in metal containers and stored in the Department of Internal Affairs offices.
The Treaty was displayed in public in 1940 for the Centennial celebrations of the signing of the Treaty, and from 1949 was on display in the Alexander Turnbull Library.
In 1981 the Treaty documents were placed under the care of the National Archives.
Since 1991 the Treaty of Waitangi has been on permanent display in the constitution room of the National Archives in Wellington.