December 2017

Inside Waitangi Treaty Grounds, New Zealand

CyArk

Discover how CyArk documented the historic meeting place of the Māori chiefs and the British Crown

Waitangi Meeting House, CyArk, From the collection of: CyArk

Introducing the Waitangi Treaty Grounds

On February 5th, 1840, over three hundred different Māori and European representatives met on the lawn of James Busby's home to discuss the treaty of Waitangi and the sovereignty of the nation of New Zealand. Signed the next day by those in attendance, the treaty is considered the founding document of New Zealand. In fact, February 6th is celebrated as a national holiday in New Zealand. Waitangi National Trust, which manages the site, preserves James Busby's residence, renamed as the 'Treaty House', along with a Māori meeting house that was built alongside it to celebrate the conception of independence.

Cultural performer inside the meeting house at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, CyArk, From the collection of: CyArk

War Canoe Drawings from Waitangi Meeting Grounds, CyArk, From the collection of: CyArk

Ngātokimatawhaorua

The waka house on the site shelters the world's largest ceremonial war canoe. The name of the canoe comes from a traditional story from the Ngāpuhi tribe which resides near the treaty grounds. According to their legend, Ngātokimatawhaorua was the name of the migratory canoe that created their tribe. Work began on the canoe in 1937, in anticipation for the centennial commemoration for the Treaty of Waitangi. The canoe itself is 35 meters long, weighs six tons when dry, twelve tons when in water, and requires at least seventy-six individuals to row it.

CyArk scanning the ceremonial war canone, Ngatokimatawhaorua, CyArk, From the collection of: CyArk

Expedition Overview

The Waitangi Treaty Grounds were documented by CyArk in December 2017 using a combination of terrestrial and aerial photogrammetry and LiDAR laser scanning. Documentation was completed on the entire site extents with higher fidelity capture at the Te Whare Rūnanga (the carved meeting house), the Treaty House as well as the Ngātokimatawhaorua (the ceremonial war canoe). The data will be used by the Waitangi Treaty Grounds in ongoing management and promotion of the site. The work at Waitangi was completed through generous support from Air New Zealand.

Inside the meeting house in Waitangi, CyArk, From the collection of: CyArk

3D Rendering from inside the Meeting House

Data from this project is now freely available through Open Heritage 3D.

Download the data from the Waitangi Meeting House.

Download the data from the Waitangi War Canoe.

About Open Heritage 3D

The mission of the Open Heritage 3D project is to:

● Provide open access to 3D cultural heritage datasets for education, research and other
non-commercial uses.

● Minimize the technical, financial and legal barriers for publishers of 3D heritage data.

● Promote discovery and re-use of datasets through standardized metadata and data formats.

● Foster community collaboration and knowledge sharing in the 3D cultural heritage community.

● Share best practices and methodologies for the capture, processing and storage of 3D cultural heritage data

CyArk

Credits: Story

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This project was made possible through the generous support of Air New Zealand and the following partners:

Waitangi Treaty Grounds and Museum

Credits: All media

The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.

CyArk