On the second day of his State Visit to New Zealand, President Higgins visited the National Library of New Zealand, to view the ‘He Tohu’ exhibition.
This is an exhibition of three iconic documents that shaped New Zealand (Aotearoa in Māori):
- The 1835 ‘He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni’ (Declaration of Independence of the United Tribes of New Zealand);
- The 1840 ‘Te Tiriti o Waitangi’ (the Treaty of Waitangi); and
- The 1893 Women’s Suffrage Petition (‘Te Petihana Whakamana Poti Wahine’).
The He Tohu exhibition ("The Signs") aims to preserve New Zealand's three most iconic and important constitutional documents for the next 500 years.
The three documents are housed in atmospherically-controlled and alarmed display cases at the National Library.
