For a place of enormous national significance, the Waitangi Treaty Grounds are surprisingly unassuming.

As I arrive early evening, the clear navy blue sky is ever-deepening behind brilliant red outstretched pohutukawa branches. A chorus of bellbirds and the lazy, heavy 'whoop' of Kereru wings create a soothing, distant orchestra.

The haunting call of a conch shell swirls through the air like vapour. Soon after, sharp Maori war cries career through the darkness.

The sounds envelop us - a bustling group of visitors - as we edge timidly over the manicured green lawn, past the tastefully lit flag pole, across the Waitangi Treaty Grounds.

It was here on this very patch of land that New Zealand's founding document, The Treaty of Waitangi, was signed in 1840. A century later, the commemorative Whare Runanga (meeting house) was erected on the site. Nearby sits the contrasting white weatherboard Waitangi Treaty House, built for the first official British resident of New Zealand, James Busby.

Each year on February 6, Maori leaders, local iwi (tribes) and politicians gather at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds to commemorate the historic signing of the Treaty. However, due to the document's increasingly controversial status, the day is often marred by mud-slinging and unrest.

Tonight, though, all is calm.

Nearing the regal Waitangi marae I see intricate carved detail twisting and winding into Maori legends up and down the triangular timber facade.

Suddenly, three Maori warriors spring into view. Their smooth, strong upper bodies bear spiralling tattoos. Beneath their short, flax-like skirts, long muscular legs flick out, up and in, knees bending in a slow, measured walk. Their long dark hair is twisted up into high top knots, secured with combs carved of bone.

In their hands they hold weapons - a thin wooden taiaha (fighting stick) or a smooth, rounded greenstone patu (short, heavy club). Alone, these weapons are beautiful - intricately engraved and perfectly polished. But in the hands of these eye-widened, tongue-baring, war-crying warriors, the flailing weapons are menacing.

Some of these modern-day Maori warriors are descendents of Kupe, the first Maori chief to arrive in Aotearoa (New Zealand). In short, sharp bursts of their native tongue they invite us onto their historic marae to share Kupe's story.

Inside, the huge one-room marae is glowing with subtle red-hued stage lights. Wooden carvings, swirling paintings and woven mats of minute detail cover the walls, from the high pitched ceiling to the timber floors - smooth beneath my bare feet.

From the panels of carvings, layers of wooden faces peek out at me - large and small, round and triangular, inquisitive and affronting. I pick out looming, dark brown taniwha (mythical being) with round paua eyes and long, sharp tongues. There are tiny, writhing, serpentine ones and others standing peacefully to attention. They all watch, silently, as the lights dim and the thousand-year-old tale of Kupe, the Maori chief from Hawaiiki, bursts into life.

Characters flow onto the makeshift stage. There's Kupe and his tribesmen rowing to Aotearoa. There are the European whalers, drunk and riotous, and the missionaries, persuasive and insistent.

In a swirl of seamless costume changes and witty script, we're taken on a tumultuous ride through the history of New Zealand: the establishment of the Maori people and their culture; the introduction of weapons and religion, politics and British rule; the signing of the Treaty, the resulting land wars and unrest; the confusion and debate surrounding the Treaty, which continues today - 160 years after the document's institution.

Filing back out into the warm night, we - a group of mismatched visitors from varying generations and locations - all harbour a new-found understanding of what this place, 'the birthplace of a nation', means to New Zealand.

We pass the flagpole and towering trees that have sat quietly watching generations of Europeans and Maori come and go, live and die, argue and marry. The words of the show's lead performer ring in our ears: "People are born and then they pass away. But the land will always remain."

Amelia attended the Culture North Night Show courtesy of Fullers Bay of Islands and Tourism Holdings Ltd.

Amelia is Content Editor of the New Zealand travel and tourism website www.fourcorners.co.nz.