User:DerbyCountyinNZ/1800-1809 in New Zealand

DerbyCountyinNZ/1800-1809 in New Zealand

Other decades in New Zealand

1790s • 1800s (1800s) • 1810s

Years in New Zealand

1800 • 1801 • 1802 • 1803 • 1804 • 1805 • 1806 • 1807 • 1808 • 1809

The decade 1800-1809 sees expansion of commercial voyages to New Zealand and a number of Māori taking advantage of this to take passage on ships to other parts of the world, particularly Botany Bay (Sydney). Some even travel as far as London, but not all survive to return to New Zealand. The visits of ships seeking timber for spars on Royal Navy ships comes to an end when it is found the timber is unsuitable. In the south of the South Island there are regular visits by sealing ships, initially to collect seal skins, later to stop for food and water on their voyages to the islands further south. These voyages lead to the discovery of what eventually becomes known as Foveaux Strait. Whaling ships become more frequent off the east coast of the North Island and the Bay of Islands become the most common stop for these vessels. Whaling ships also travel down the east coast of the south island leading to the discovery of Lyttelton Harbour and correcting James Cook's error in naming Banks Peninsula as an island. The increase in visits by Europeans also leads to occasional conflicts, notably the Boyd massacre in 1809. Another ship visit which has repercussions among Māori is the visit of the Venus, hijacked by convicts in Tasmania. Māori also use muskets in inter-tribal warfare for the first time. There are further steps towards European settlement of New Zealand when Samuel Marsden meets several Māori in Botany Bay, including Te Pahi, and then Ngāpuhi chief Ruatara on returning from London with the lay missionaries William Hall and John King.

Incumbents

Regal and vice regal

The colony of New South Wales nominally encompasses New Zealand from 1788 to 1840. Therefore the head of state is the monarch of the United Kingdom, represented by the Governor of New South Wales. However, British sovereignty is not established over New Zealand per se until 1840, at which point the Treaty of Waitangi retroactively recognised that it had been an independent territory until then. Furthermore, the Declaration of the Independence of New Zealand signed by a number of Māori chiefs in 1835 is formally recognised by the British government at the time, indicating that British sovereignty did not extend to New Zealand before then.

• Head of State – King George III
• Governors of New South Wales

1. Until 27 September 1800 - Captain John Hunter RN
2. 28 September 1800 - 12 August 1806 - Captain Philip Gidley King RN
3. 13 August 1806 - 26 January 1808 - Captain William Bligh RN
4. 27 January 1808 - 31 December 1809 - Vacant

Events

1800

• March: HMS Reliance, Captain Henry Waterhouse, discovers and charts the Antipodes Islands.

1801

• 2 March – 20 August - The El Plumier, Captain William Reid, arrives at Hauraki (the Waihou River between the Hauraki Plains and Coromandel Peninsula) to collect timber. The crew meet pākehā Māori Thomas Taylor who acts as interpreter for the local Māori who help in unsuccessful attempts to refloat the ship and also provide the crew with food. After leaving New Zealand she is later captured by the Spanish at Guam and all records of her visit to New Zealand are lost.
• 20 April – 15 June - The Royal Admiral, Captain William Wilson, arrives at Hauraki to collect timber before taking several London Missionary Society Brothers to the mission in Tahiti. They encounter Māori who help with provisioning and inform them of a ship further up river. They send a boat several days later which soon finds the El Plumier. Captain Wilson and the LMS Brothers encounter Thomas Taylor who gives them some details of Māori. The LMS Brothers are the first to raise the possibility of settling New Zealand but this comes to nothing.

1802

• 21 May – Governor King questions the Captains of 3 ships, the Britannia, Speedy and Venusⁱ, about whaling off the New Zealand coast.

1803

• 1 June – 19 September - Teina, the first Māori recorded to have left New Zealand since Tuki and Huru in 1793, visits Port Jackson aboard the Alexander, Captain Robert Rhodes. Teina may have been related to Huru while the Sydney Gazette reports that Tuki spoke with the Alexander, possibly when it visited Doubtless Bay. He stays with Governor King while in Sydney and is given gifts to take back with him, including pigs.

1804

• December – Owen Folger Smith on board the Honduras Packet, Captain Owen Bunker, discovers Foveaux Strait which he names Smith's Strait.

Undated

• Samuel Marsden becomes the local agent for the London Missionary Society in the Pacific.

1805

• May – After complaints about some of the treatment of Pacific Islanders and New Zealanders (i.e Māori) crewing on whaling ships, Governor King issues a ‘Government and General Order’, published on the front page of the Sydney Gazette, which gives them some of the civil rights of British subjects.
• 5 July – Governor King invites all the Pacific Islanders in Sydney, including Maa-Tara, son of influential Māori chief Te Pahi, to a meeting at Government House. He offers compensation far any ill-treatment, passage home or training in European trades to any that want it.
• 29 July – The Venus, Captain William Stewart, leaves Port Jackson with Maa-Tara on board. Governor King has given Maa-Tara tools and other gifts for his father Te Pahi. After collecting animals at Norfolk Island for Te Pahi she lands Maa-Tara and the animals at the Bay of Islands.
• Mid-September – Te Pahi and four of his sons board the Venus intending to thank in person both Acting Commandant Piper at Norfolk Island and Governor King for the animals they have been sent. The Venus drops them at Norfolk Island and departs. In October they are taken aboard the HMS Buffalo which is on its way to Port Jackson.
• 20 September – The Ferret, Captain Philip Skelton, arrives in the Bay of Islands with John Savage aboard. After 1 or 2 months the Ferret departs. Te Mahanga boards the ship for its return to London. From his brief visit and conversations with Te Mahanga during the voyage Savage subsequently publishes the first book devoted entirely to New Zealand, the 100-page Some Account of New Zealand.
• October – After collecting 8 pigs from Norfolk Island for Te Pahi the Argo arrives in the Bay of Islands to find that Te Pahi has left for Norfolk Island and Port Jackson. Ruatara and 2 other Māori join the crew while it goes whaling off the coast for the next 5 months.
• 27 November – HMS Buffalo arrives at Port Jackson. Governor King is impressed by Te Pahi, whom he mentions to Joseph Banks, and makes plans to visit New Zealand. These plans are cancelled when King receives news that he is to be relieved as Governor by William Bligh. Te Pahi also visits Samuel Marsden at Parramatta and is sufficiently taken with the farm and various other aspects of European culture to want to bring them to New Zealand. Marsden in turn is also impressed by the Maori and passes this on to the Church Missionary Society.

Undated

• In approximately this year sealer and ex-convict Thomas Fink leaves a sealing ship that stops in Foveaux Strait near the future site of Bluff. He later marries into a local tribe and has many children. Fink is most likely the first European/pakeha to settle permanently in the South Island.

1806

• 25 February – The Lady Nelson leaves Port Jackson to return Te Pahi and his sons to the Bay of Islands. Te Pahi has been given bricks and a frame for a European house, and other goods. During the journey Te Pahi becomes ill and is nursed by ex-convict George Bruce. Bruce jumps ship when the vessel stops near North Cape. He later makes his way to the Bay of Islands and before the end of the year marries Te Pahi’s youngest daughter, Te Atahoe, and is tattooed as a warrior. He later (his memoirs are dictated in England about 1818) becomes one of the earliest sources of insight into Māori culture at that time. The Lady Nelson arrives in the Bay of Islands in April and the construction of Te Pahi's house, the first such structure in New Zealand, is begun.
• 27 April – The Ferret arrives in London with Te Mahanga (Moehanga) aboard. He is the first Māori known to have visited England. While in London Te Mahanga meets King George III and Queen Charlotte. On 13 June the Ferret leaves London for Port Jackson with Te Mahanga aboard, he arrives in Port Jackson in December and returns to the Bay of Islands in March the following year.
• 17 June – The Venus, Captain Samuel Chace, is taken piratically at Port Dalrymple (Launceston) and sails for New Zealand. There are two women, Charlotte Badger and convict Catherine Hagerty, among those who take over the ship. THey are the first European women to settle in New Zealand, though Hagerty would die within the year and Badger leave for Tonga shortly after. Around the end of July or early August it arrives in the Bay of Islands where some of the crew, including both women, leave the ship. The remaining crew sail the ship down the east coast of the North Island, kidnapping several Māori women along the way and selling them to rival tribes who eventually killed them. These women include the sister and niece of Te Morenga and a relative of Hongi Hika’s, and their deaths are the cause of the retaliatory raids by these two chiefs in 1818.
• 27 June – The Alexander arrives in London. Teina and Maki come under the care of Reverend Joseph Hardcastle of the London Missionary Society who tries to arrange for their return to New South Wales. However, before he can do so Teina dies and Maki is kidnapped by a crimp, his later fate unknown.
• 18 August – The Ocean, Captain Abraham Bristow, discovers the Auckland Islands. Bristow returns the following year to formally claim the islands for Great Britain
• 8 September – (Maa-)Tara leaves Port Jackson for England on the Richard and Mary, Captain Leikins.
• September – Ruatara lands in Port Jackson and meets Samuel Marsden for the first time. He leaves on 12 October aboard the Albion and returns to the Bay of Islands the following April.

1807

• February – Samuel Marsden is at last able to return to England where he intends to recruit members of the Church Missionary Society for a proposed mission in New Zealand.
• 30 March - 11 April – The Elizabeth, Captain William Stewart, calls at the Bay of Islands. On board is medical missionary George Warner who is horrified by the behaviour of the whaling crews and reports this to the Church Missionary Society.
• 17 April – The Richard and Mary, Captain Leikins arrives in England with (Maa-)Tara, son of Te Pahi, aboard. He meets Sir Joseph Banks.
• April – Governor Bligh issues a proclamation that South Sea Islanders (including Māori) are not to be taken to England and £20 bond is to be deposited for any that are brought into Port Jackson. This is ignored by most ship’s captains.
• Late September/October – The Santa Anna, Captain William Moody, calls at the Bay of Islands. Ruatara joins the ship, still hoping to be able to travel to England to see King George III, but in November is amopng a sealing gang left at the Bounty Islands.
• October – The General Wellesley, Captain David Dalrymple, arrives in the Bay of Islands. George Bruce and his wife Te Atahoe (daughter of Te Pahi) go on board but are not returned to shore. The General Wellesley then heads for Penang via Fiji. After numerous deprivations George Bruce and Te Atahoe (aka Mary) are finally returned to Port Jackson in January 1810 where Mary dies shortly after.
• Either this year or early 1808, Ngāpuhi are defeated by Ngāti Whātua in the battle of Moremonui at Maunganui Bluff. Although the Ngāpuhi are armed with a few muskets the Ngāti Whātua take advantage of the time taken to reload the muskets. The fighting chief of Ngāpuhi, Pokaia, is killed as are 2 of Hongi Hika’s brothers. After this Hongi becomes the war leader of Ngāpuhi.

1808

• Late May/June – Te Pahi, with three of his sons, travels to Port Jackson on the Commerce to complain to Governor Bligh about the kidnapping of his daughter and her husband by Captain Dalrymple. When he arrives on 10 July he is too ill to see Bligh, who in any case is under house arrest at the time. Te Pahi returns to the Bay of Islands on 26 Septemmber.
• May(?) – The Parramatta, Captain John Glenn, calls at the Bay of Islands in distress. When local Māori ask for payment for the food they have supplied to the ship they are thrown overboard and fired upon. On leaving the Bay the ship is wrecked on rocks near Cape Brett. All the crew are killed and the ship plundered.
• September/October – The King George, Captain Richard Siddons, visits the Bounty Islands and finds the sealing gang left there by the Santa Anna the previous year. 3 of the gang have died from hunger and thirst. The King George leaves after providing some provisions. Several weeks later the Santa Anna returns to collect the sealing gang. Ruatara decides to stay with the ship for its return to England as he still wants to meet King George III.
• Late this year or early 1809 the Unity, Captain Daniel Cooper, is probably the first European ship to visit Otago Harbour. For a while the harbour is called 'Port Daniel' by visiting sealers. Hooper's Inlet, on the seaward side of the Otago Peninsula is named for the Unity's First Officer Charles Hooper.
• During the year Samuel Marsden raises a band of lay settlers for the Church Missionary Society mission to New Zealand. They are to prepare the way for ordained ministers. Schoolmaster Thomas Kendall, joiner William Hall and ropemaker John King are chosen to be the first to leave England.

1809

• January or February – The Speke, Captain John Hingston, arrives in the Bay of Islands where he later has chief Te Pahi flogged for not being able to produce a stolen axe.
  • – The Fox leaves a sealing gang on Solander Island. They are not picked up until 1813. Around October another gang, under Robert Murry, is left in Foveaux Strait where Murry learns the Māori language and later provides the first detailed description of Māori culture in the area.
• 1 March – The City of Edinburgh arrives in the Bay of Islands, returning chief (Maa-)Tara from Port Jackson. Tara dies of bronchitis some months later (possibly July–September).
• 12 March – The Sydney Gazette refers to Foveaux Strait, the first recorded usage of the name.
• 16 July – The sealing ship Pegasus, Captain Samuel Chace, arrives at ‘Pegasus Island’ (now known as Codfish Island). During the next two months the Pegasus circumnavigates Stewart Island/Rakiura which is named in honour of First Officer William Stewart who is responsible for its charting. In September Stewart completes the charting of the Chatham Islands and around the end of the year discovers Lyttelton Harbour thus correcting the second of the major errors on Cook's chart.
• July – Ruatara arrives in London on the Santa Anna. He is not allowed to see King George as he had hoped and the captain of the Santa Anna puts him on board the convict ship Ann which leaves for Port Jackson on 28 August. Aboard the Ann' Ruatara meets Samuel Marsden who is returning with the lay missionaries William Hall and John King and their wives
• 8 November – Boyd massacre: The Boyd, Captain John Thompson, leaves Port Jackson for New Zealand with two Māori as crew including Te Aara (‘George’). During the trip George is flogged for not working as instructed. The ship arrives in Whangaroa Harbour in December and George tells his father Piopio and other members of his tribe of his maltreatment. Several days later tribes from Whangaroa and Hokianga, apparently led by Te Puhi (not Te Pahi) attack the ship and kill, and eat, most of the passengers and crew. Several of the crew take refuge in the rigging but later, when Te Pahi (who was not involved in the massacre) tries to save them, they run off and are killed. There are five other survivors, a woman, 2 young children, a cabin boy and the second mate. The second mate is enslaved and put to work but when he proves of no use he is also killed. Towards the end of the month the City of Edinburgh, Captain Simeon Pattison, arrives in the Bay of Islands. Alexander Berry rescues the four survivors and also the ship’s papers (including some of his own). He is told that Te Pahi led the attack and leaves notes for visiting vessels to that effect. The City of Edinburgh then leaves for Peru.
• 9 November – The Brothers, Captain Robert Mason sailing for Campbell & Co of Sydney, leaves what is now the coast of Dunedin having landed eight men, including William Tucker, on "The Isle of Wight" and three more on "Ragged Rock", perhaps modern Green Island and White Island respectively, to hunt for seals. The gang leader is Robert Brown. The men stay in the area and the ship does not return until the following year.