Gush presented the booklet to a packed classroom of Tangimoana locals following a karakia and tree planting at the Tawhirihoe Mount, the place where iwi signed the treaty.
She hoped mana whenua would find the booklet “identity affirming,” and present the treaty signing as more than “just about what bad things happened to [Māori]".
“I want the three signatories, Kāwana Ta Hākeke, Te Raikōkiritia Taumaru and Mohi Mahi, to be honoured," she said.
The rangatira signed it because of the trusting relationship they had with Reverend Henry Williams, a missionary who had made an effort to get to know mana whenua.