There was some speculation about a “Scottish gentleman” who left Scotland in 1782 with 60 ‘peasants’ to found a colony in Thames. It is probable that the Gentleman was Norman MacLEOD who went to India with a company of troops.
Alternatively the story may have related to Thomas Fyshe PALMER a Scottish minister who was deported to Botany Bay for preaching universal suffrage and, in 1801, with a group of friends, bought a ship in Sydney, the Plumier and went to Thames to load spars. Eventually they went to Guam where the ship was seized.
The first non-missionary family to settle in NZ was the HANSEN family who arrived with the Missionaries in Rangihou, Bay of Islands in 1814. Captain Thomas HANSEN was the master of the Active and he brought his wife Hannah (COATES) and son Thomas jnr, aged 29, to NZ. His wife and son remained in NZ although in 1815 Thomas jnr returned to Sydney and married Elizabeth TOLLIS and then again returned to NZ in 1816 and settled there.
In 1826 two ships, the Rossana and the Lambton arrived with around 50 potential immigrants. This expedition was organised by the first NZ Company. However after spending almost a year in NZ and travelling the full length of the country with a number of stops the ships left NZ without establishing a settlement. Four of the settlers, Scottish, stopped at Hokianga and established a saw-milling operation. The main reason for not settling was said to relate to uncertainty at the time over safety due to restlessness among the Maori tribes. Reference: See “A Society of Gentleman”. For names see list.
In 1827 Jacob TEALING a sealer settled in Owenga, Chatham Islands after his ship the Glory was wrecked there January 1827. He died there in 1855.
Thomas POYNTON born circa 1810 in Ireland arrived in the Hokianga in 1828 and became a trader and merchant dealing in timber.
From the 1830s a number of shore based whaling stations had been set up and the majority of the European population would have been involved in these operations.
Others were involved in the growing trade between NZ and Australia. (flax, timber) and in the fledging boat building business.
Hokianga
Baron Charles de THIERRY organised 93 settlers in Sydney to travel to Hokianga on the Nimrod in November 1837 to settle on his land. Most deserted this project shortly after arrival.
Whangarei
- may 1823 – first visit by Europeans (missionaries) rowed up river and met 5 chiefs
- 1839 William CARRUTH settled at Ahipupu
- 1839 William COLENSO visited (and again in 1840 and 1841)
- April 1840 Sarah MATTHEWS, wife of surveyor general rowed up to Maori gardens
- September 1839 Thomas EMSLEY purchased land (with partners Henry and Charles WALTON). COOK family of four employed to caretake the land.
- late 1840 William CURRUTHS brothers Robert and John arrived along with Thomas and Agnes POLLOCK and Mr SIMMONS.
- 1843 Gilbert MAIR arrived with large family.
- 1844 Henry Charles HOLMAN and wife Elizabeth arrived.
Akaroa
The first and only organised French settlement was established by the Nanto-Bordelaise Company with 63 settlers arriving on the Comte de Paris in Akaroa in August 1840.
Mana Island
1832 Three Sydney merchants – John Bell, Archibald Mossman, and Alexander Davidson bought Mana Island from Ngati Toa and start sheep and cattle farming. In 1834 John BELL and his wife settled on the island to operate the farm. Further details of the history available on the Friends of Mana Island Website
Kaipara
Kaihu Settlement Scheme – Kaipara. A group of Irish planned to settle in the Kaipara Harbour area but their plans failed when their ship the Sophia Pate was wrecked on the Kaipara bar on the 29th August 1841 with the loss of 21 lives including most of the families hoping to establish the settlement.
Auckland
In early 1840 there were only two European settlers, John Logan CAMPBELL and William BROWN
After the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, Hobson decided to establish the Capital in the Waitemata.
The first ship with new settlers was the Platina which had arrived in Auckland from London on the 13th September 1840 (via Wellington)
The Anna Watson arrived on the 16 September from the Bay of Islands
The two most significant early immigrant ship arrivals were the Duchess of Argyll and the Jane Gifford both arriving from Scotland in September 1842.
Manakau
The Manakau and Waitemata Company sent the ship Brilliant with 27 settlers to the Manakau. They arrived in October 1841. Later the Osprey and the Louisa Campbell also arrived with settlers to the new settlement of Cornwallis. Most eventually re-located to the main Auckland settlement.
Wellington – New Plymouth – Nelson – Wanganui –
Some Early Pakeha ‘residents’ in Wellington
- David SCOTT trader 1831-34
- George YOUNG whaler 1834-35
- Alfred ROBERTS whaler 1832-33
- Jimmy LINLEY
- Tallyho JOHNSON
- Piccolo Charley
- Paddy McCAFFERTY
- Richard BARRETT
- CREED
- HEBBERLEY
Larger scale organised immigration began under the auspices of the NZ Company in late 1839 with the arrival in Wellington of the first NZ Company ships followed by organised settlements in Nelson, New Plymouth, Wanganui. The NZ Company eventually sent out 6352 emigrants in 63 ships.
A number of lists of early settlers can be found on various websites. Some of these are listed below:
1892 list of 802 Pioneer Settlers who arrived before 1843. (Jubilee Celebrations)
Early NZ Settlers (extensive lists of names mostly from Bretts Historical Series)
Comte de Paris – descendants group website.
Canterbury
Four ships, the Randolph, the Cressy, the Sir George Seymour and the Charlotte Jane brought the first organised group of settlers to the Canterbury Association’s new settlement in 1850.
Dunedin
New Zealand Company called tenders for two vessels, one to leave London and the other to leave Glasgow—the two chartered being the barque Philip Laing, 459 tons, and the ship John Wickliffe, 662 tons. The vessels sailed at the end of November 1847, the John Wickliffe from London, and the Philip Laing from Glasgow and arrived in Dunedin march 1848.
Trade
The first trade (other than whale and seal products) was timber, mainly spars for ship masts. Trade in Flax for rope making and textiles grew and by the 1830’s potatoes and wheat were being sent to Australia to feed the increasing population there. The incoming goods to New Zealand included, blankets, axes, nails, iron goods, muskets and gunpowder.
James and Daniel FARROW were the first flax traders to establish a trading base at Tauranga in 1829 and also in 1829 Phillip TAPSELL established a flax trading operation in Maketu, in the Bay of Plenty. However flax trading mostly occurred from the late 1820’s to around 1840.
Industry
Ship Building. The first ship built in New Zealand was the Providence a 65 t ship built in Dusky Sound in 1792 by the crew of the Brittania who had left men to collect seals and then had not returned for almost a year.
A schooner, the Herald was built in 1825 at the Bay of Islands but unfortunately wrecked the next year on the bar to the Hokianga harbour.
In 1826 a schooner, the Enterprise was built at Deptford, Hokianga followed in 1827 by the 200t Brig New Zealander and in 1830 the 400t Sir George Murray in 1830.
Farming. The first farming was undertaken by the Missionaries in the Bay of Islands. In 1832 John BELL started farming sheep and cattle on Mana Island mainly to provide provisions to whalers.
Printing. William COLENSO arrived 30th December 1834 and established the first printing press in NZ. This was set up by the CMS. First printing 17 February 1835. Pompallier House in Russell was established in 1842 by Bishop Pompallier as a printing house and also a tannery.
The first brewery started 1835 at Kororareka by Joel Samuel POLACK.