Events In History
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19 August 1853E.G. Wakefield elected to Parliament
The originator of the New Zealand Company was elected to the House of Representatives as the member for Hutt six months after arriving in the colony. He had been quick to lobby for the introduction of responsible government. Read more...
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1 February 1842New Zealand Company settlers arrive in Nelson
The Fifeshire arrived in Nelson with immigrants for the New Zealand Company's first settlement in the South Island. Read more...
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22 January 1840European settlers arrive in Wellington
The New Zealand Company's first settler ship, the Aurora, arrived at Petone to found the settlement that would become Wellington. Read more...
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17 August 1839New Zealand Company ship Tory arrives
The sailing ship Tory dropped anchor in Queen Charlotte Sound to pick up fresh water, food and wood before proceeding to Port Nicholson (Wellington Harbour). Read more...
Articles
Exploring New Zealand's interior
After charting the coastline, European surveying and exploration of the interior were a fundamental part of the settlement process, defining the boundaries of ownership and identifying resources, useable land and access routes.
- Page 1 - Exploring New Zealand's interior After charting the coastline, European surveying and exploration of the interior were a fundamental part of the settlement process, defining the boundaries of ownership and
Treaty timeline
See some of the key events between 1800 and 1849 relating to the Treaty of Waitangi.
- Page 1 - Treaty events 1800-49See some of the key events between 1800 and 1849 relating to the Treaty of Waitangi.
The Wairau incident
On 17 June 1843, 22 European settlers and four Māori died when an armed party of New Zealand Company settlers clashed with Ngāti Toa over the purchase of land in the Wairau valley, near modern-day Blenheim.
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Page 2 – Ngāti Toa and the New Zealand Company
The Wairau incident had its origins in the migration of Ngāti Toa and its allies from Kāwhia to the Kāpiti coast in the southern North Island.
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Page 3 – Violence erupts
When Te Rauparaha and Te Rangihaeata told William Wakefield to stop the survey, he told his brother Arthur to ignore them.
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Page 4 – The fallout from Wairau
The news from Wairau shocked settlers throughout the colony. The killing of men who had surrendered was viewed as cold-blooded murder. Many feared that these events signalled
British & Irish immigration, 1840-1914
Who were the ancestors of Pākehā New Zealand? Where did they come from and what sort of people were they? These are some of the questions which this feature sets out to answer.
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Page 3 – Where did they come from?
The composition of the inflow from Britain and Ireland was quite different from the composition of the United Kingdom as a whole.
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Page 4 – English immigrants
Table and graph showing which part of England immigrants to New Zealand came from.
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Page 5 – Scottish immigrants
Table and graph showing which part of Scotland immigrants to New Zealand came from.
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Page 9 – Conclusions about immigration 1840-1914
These statistics suggest some larger conclusions about the character and values of New Zealand's founding Pākehā population
Taming the frontier
In 1832 James Busby was appointed as the official British Resident to New Zealand. After arriving in the Bay of Islands in May 1833 he took steps to tame what he saw as a chaotic frontier society.
- Page 4 - Land issues on the eve of the Treaty of WaitangiIn the late 1830s the British government became concerned about how land was being obtained from Māori. Action was needed, it decided, to protect Māori from the worst ravages of
Biographies
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FitzRoy, Robert
Robert FitzRoy, who first visited New Zealand as commander of the Beagle in 1835, was Governor from 1843, succeeding the late William Hobson. He served until 1845, when he was recalled to Britain and replaced by George Grey.
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Bell, Francis Dillon
Politician Francis Bell staunchly supported the Waitara purchase in 1860, which led to the Taranaki war. In 1862 he became Minister of Native Affairs. His administration has been described as 'not particularly efficient or vigorous', although he did support the 1862 forerunner of the Native Land Court
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Spain, William
William Spain was a land commissioner who investigated the New Zealand Company's claims that it had purchased 20 million acres in 1839. The claims were not settled until several years after Spain's death
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Wakefield, Edward Gibbon
A clever theorist of mercurial character, Edward Gibbon Wakefield (1796-1862) masterminded the large-scale British settlement of New Zealand.
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Heaphy, Charles
The multi-faceted Charles Heaphy made quite an impact on colonial New Zealand as an artist, explorer, soldier and colonial administrator. He was the first colonial soldier to win the Victoria Cross.
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Featherston, Isaac Earl
A stalwart of Wellington political life, Featherston served as provincial Superintendent and later served as a member of the House of Representatives, colonial secretary and minister without portfolio.
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Wakefield, Edward Jerningham
As the only son of New Zealand Company director Edward Gibbon Wakefield, Edward Jerningham Wakefield's life was inevitably bound up in his father's colonial and political ventures.
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Wakefield, William Hayward
Colonel William Wakefield was one of the earliest European settlers at Port Nicholson (Wellington), where he served as the New Zealand Company’s Principal Agent between 1840 and 1848.
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Main image: Wakefield family grave