Birthed in Blood

New Zealand became a Nation

In Jun 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and his wife Sophie were assassinated in the Bosnian city of Sarajevo. The fallout from this faraway event would ultimately claim the lives of 18,500 New Zealanders and wound a further 50,000. Places thousands of miles from home with exotic-sounding names such as Gallipoli, Passchendaele and the Somme were forever etched in the national memory during what became known as the Great War.

The war took more than 100,000 New Zealanders overseas, many for the first time. Some anticipated a great adventure but found the reality very different. Being so far from home made these New Zealanders very aware of who they were and where they were from. In battle they were able to compare themselves with men from other nations. Out of this came a sense of a separate identity, and many New Zealand soldiers began to refer to themselves as ‘Kiwis’.

The significance of the war on New Zealand society was summed up by a man who participated in it from Gallipoli to France. Ormond Burton went from being a stretcher-bearer at Anzac Cove to a highly decorated infantryman on the Western Front. He believed that ‘somewhere between the landing at Anzac and the end of the battle of the Somme New Zealand very definitely became a nation’.

There are plenty of slouch-hatted soldiers in town,
Doughty and debonair, stalwart and brown;
Some are from Weymouth or Salisbury plain,
Others have 'pushed' in the western campaign;

Call them 'overseas soldiers' or 'down-under men'
Declare that each is as daring as ten;
Call them cornstalks or fern leaves all out for a fight,
But don't call them ANZACS, for that isn't right.

The ANZACS, their ranks are scanty but all told,
Have a separate record illuminated in gold;
Their blood on Gallipoli's ridges they poured,
Their souls with the scars of that struggle are scored,

Not many are left, and not many are sound,
And thousands lie buried in Turkish ground,
These are the ANZACS; the others may claim,
Their zeal and their spirit, but never their name.

From One of The Anzacs

'Tho we've done a bit of fighting

We still got more to do

For they took us from Gallipoli

Before we got quite through

But let us hope we'll finish

Very soon, what we've begun

To wipe forever off the map

The Devastating Hun.

The War affected most families in New Zealand to some extent. For the Hobsons and the Coulams it resulted in the loss of life, of two sons, William Hobson and Frank Coulam both of whom were my Gr Uncles.

William Hobson 

Born in Australia in 1889

Died (KIA) on the 7th July 1916 at Armentieres, 7 days into the battle of the Somme, in France.

Buried at: Cite Bonjean Military Cemetery, II C 44 (Armentieres), Nord, France.

Serial Number:    12/3681

Member of the New Zealand Expeditionary forces.

Unit:  9th Reinforcements Auckland Infantry Battalion, A Company.

Embarkation Date:  8th January 1916.

Left Wellington on the "Maunganui", desination Suez, Egypt.

The following is an extract from the book "The New Zealand Division" pg 51 & 52", and recounts the action of the "1st Auckland" during the first week of the Battle of the Somme at Armentieres. It obviously can't be established that William was one of the casulaties mentioned here, however it is definitely describing the battle surrounding his death.

"The German raids on the Divisional sector were neither as numerous as our own (4 as against 11), nor did they achieve as substantial a success. The first was launched at the 1st Auckland in the L'Epinette Salient on 3rd / 4th July. An effort made on the same night against the Australians on the right, was replused by machine gun fire.

The assault on the L’Epinette was accompanied by a heavy bombardment from 10pm till 11.45pm and after an interval from midnight tp 12.45am. Just prior to the commencement of the bombardment the enemy fortified his nerves by a sing-song in his trenches. On the SOS call our artillery put down a barrage on the enemy parapet and in No Man’s Land, but shortly after midnight the raiders rushed through it and made for our trenches. In No Man’s Land they were broken up by a listening post of 5 private soldiers who threw no less than 80 Mills Bombs at their adversaries.

Examined later, the ground showed signs of a desperate struggle. The efforts of these, out-numbered but undaunted, men prevented all but a handful of enemy from entering our trenches. At these a machine gunner threw a bomb, and 1 of the party was wounded and fell into our hands. The rest, after a brief show of fighting fled, leaving behind them 2 mobile charges. Apart from 3 prisoners, our casualties, all inflicted by the bombardment, were 33 men killed and 3 officers and over 60 men wounded.

The Divisional artillery fired over 4,000 rounds in direct connection with the attack. The German casualties were unknown, but “several were heard to squeal” and in the grey of dawn of the following morning, the sentries reported that many killed and wounded were being taken over the enemy parapet. Under this ordeal the Aucklanders’ behavior was stolid and resolute.  The commanding officer reported that he believed not a man had left his post without orders.

The second attempt was made on the 8th / 9th July, further south on the Mushmoom just beyond the Lille-Armentieres railway.

William had died on the 7^th July.



Francis Coulam

Born in Taranaki

Died on the 11^th Nov 1918 (Armistice Day) in Auckland.

Buried at:  Waikumete Cemetery, Auckland, Prot, Soldiers Area A, Row 1, Grave 8

Serial Number:       12/2252

Member of the New Zealand Expeditionary forces

Unit:  5^th Reinforcements Auckland Infantry Battalion

Embarkation Date:  13^th June 1915

Left Wellington on the “Maunganui”, destination Suez, Egypt (24^th July - 6th Aug)

He fought in : Gallipoli, Egypt and the Western Front

Military.Medal. :    Sergeant, Ist Bn, Auckland Regiment L.G. 17 December 1917, p13201, Rec No 1394

"For conspicuous gallantry in the field. east of St Julien on the 4th inst. during the advance this N.C.O, handled the men under his command in a most capable manner and took part in a lot of severe fighting he himself accounting for a great number of the crony with the bayonet. He was cool and level headed throughout and let nothing hinder the advance of his platoon to the objective. On arrival at the Red Line he worked without sparing himself and organised his men in a most capable manner in the work of consolidation, and it was greatly due to his own energy that such good work and progress was made in his particular sector."

It is unclear from the records at what stage Francis got to Gallipoli. The unit that he was in was used to reinforce the initial troops who went ashore on the 25th Apr. Francis's ship was due in Egypt between 24th Jul and the 6th Aug. What time it arrived and then how long it took them to get to Gallipoli I haven't yet established. he probably would have been there at some stage in Aug. The battle of Chunuk Bair began on the 6th Aug and was one of the key events of the New Zealanders action at Gallipoli.

The NZ troops initially secured the ground but lost it again to the Turks after three days of fighting.The eventual failure of Chunuk Bair and the August offensive, created doubts in London about the campaign, especially as the Western Front was assuming importance. General Sir Ian Hamilton, who was in charge of the British forces at Gallipoli, wanted more men. Opinion was against him. General Sir Charles Monro replaced him in mid-October and soon proposed evacuating the troops. Appalling weather conditions sealed the issue. A storm swept through the peninsula in late November. Water flooded the trenches and drowned men and drenched everything. The snow that followed left many dead from exposure. Survivors from both sides were miserable.

In London, the authorities reluctantly agreed to a withdrawal. In marked contrast to the shambolic landings of April, the evacuation went without a hitch. The New Zealanders left Suvla and Anzac on 19 and 20 December. Helles was emptied of its last British soldiers on the night of 8 and 9 January 1916. The Turks still held the peninsula.

Following the evacuation, the NZ forces went to Egypt for training before been transported to the Western front where they participated in many crucial Battles in both France and Belgium, including the Somme and Passchendaele.

Francis was discharged from the Army on the 11th July 1918 and returned to New Zealand where he died, of injuries incurred during the War and of the Flu, on the 11th Nov 1918 the day that peace was signed in Europe.

Source material and additional reading:

Roll of Honour - William Hobson

William's Cemetery at Cite Bonjean Armentieres France

William Hobson - Cenotaph Record
Roll of Honour - Francis Coulam

Francis Coulam - Cenotaph Record

The New Zealand Wars

The two decades following the Treaty of Waitangi were characterised nationally more by co-operation between Maori and Pakeha than by conflict. The two cultures interacted without either side being dominant. While the Maori believed that this state of affairs would continue the Europeans took for granted that the Maori population would continue to decrease and the European settlers increase, resulting in more Maori land becoming available for development.

During the second half of the 1850s the Maori were getting increasingly uneasy and fearful that they would continue to loose land, and that tribal culture and customs might be in danger of extinction as European settlement increased.

The King Movement

The Kingitanga movement, inspired by Te Rauparaha's son, arose from the belief that the key to the power of the Europeans lay in their unity under the British Crown. They reasoned that if Maori could reach a similar unity they would be able to retain their land and preserve their tribal and customary laws. In 1856, at a representative gathering of tribes, the first Maori King was selected and in 1858 he established his "capitial" at Ngaruawahia. (In the photo is Wiremu Tamihana 'the Kingmaker')

In the eyes of most European colonists, this was an act of Maori disloyalty to the Crown, a blatant attempt to prevent further land sales and a challenge to British sovereignty. To the supporters of the King movement, however, it was seen as the "mana" of the two monarchs becoming complementary, one Chief stating, 'the Maori King and the Queen of England to be joined in accord, God to be over them both'.

The Crown Response

Govenor Brown, together with many settlers, began to voice the opinion that the Maori needed a 'sharp lesson' to teach them who ought to be in charge of country. When 240 acres of Maori land "apparently" came up for sale in Taranaki, but was opposed by a principal Maori Chief, Govenor Brown used it as an opportunity to enforce the sale, bringing protests from local Maori. British troops, numbering around 1,500, responded in Jun 1860 by attacking a Maori pa, but were defeated, suffering 64 casualties. The first battle in the Taranaki Wars had been fought. After much resistence from the Maori over many months, Govenor Brown opted for a truce. The resistence however was to continue.(The drawing above is of Maori fortifications)

The Waikato Wars

The continued settlement and growth of Auckland during the 20 years following its founding in 1840, bought increasing demand for land, in the prime fertile areas that were towards the south. Maori became more and more uneasy with this loss of land, together with the settlers ignoring their tribal customs and the land rights they believed they had retained under the Treaty. (The above painting is of Britomart barracks in Auckland)

Their response at the beginning of the 1860s was to engage in various acts of terrorism, stealing and killing cattle, burning properties, and in some cases murdering settlers. This activity was a real concern to the Auckland population, who responded by establishing 'fencible' townships, on it's outskirts, such as Howick, Panmure, Onehunga and Otahuhu.

The initial Maori resistance and activity however was in the area from Clevedon, across the Hunua ranges, to Papakura and then down to Meremere. The Great South Road (see painting)was built in 1862 -63 as a supply line for the British forces from Auckland into the Waikato.

In 1863, Maori terrorist activity reached such a level that Governor Grey, now in his second term, moved soldiers from the Taranaki and boosted overall troop numbers to 20,000 with the objective of 'putting down' what he saw as a threat to British authority by the Maori King movement. The Maori on the other hand could only amass around 5,000 warriors, drawn from various North Island tribes.

Many battles ensued over the next few years, the first major one being at Rangiriri in Nov 1863. This battle was lost by the Maori, who suffered many casualties, and a further 180 were taken prisoner. The prisoners were shipped off to a prison camp on Kawau Island, from where they eventually escaped and moved onto a pa site at Omaha.

The final battle was in Tauranga in Apr 1864 where the Maori were again out numbered. During the course of the two years 1,000 Maori and 700 Pakeha lost their lives. Worse than this price however, Waikato Maori were punished by the confiscation of 1.3 million hectares of prime land, that further embittered the vanquished tribes.

The action secured for the New Zealand government, what was intended, land with which it could reward the militia troops and settle new colonists.

The Taranaki Wars

The New Zealand Wars as a whole, however, were far from over. As fighting was winding down in the Waikato, a messianic movement called 'Pai Marire' was gaining popularity. Based on Old Testament Psalms mixed with Maori rituals and incantations, it promised deliverence from European domination. Although the group intended peaceful protest, Govenor Grey used the "disturbances" that were happening as an excuse to "put down" what he regarded as Maori rebellion. He sent 3,700 troops to the Wanganui area in 1866 who devastated Maori villages and destroying crops. Thus began the 2nd Taranaki Wars that spawned other campaigns in the lower and central North Island region over the next fifteen years.

Government and settler frustration continued to grow due to the ongoing land disputes and Maori resistence. At a Maori village at Parihaka in Nov 1881, 664 troops and nearly 1,000 settler volunteers attacked the pa. Instead of violence, the troops and settlers were met by singing children offering food. The pa was destroyed, none the less, and the Maori leaders arrested for sedition.

Ongoing disputes and resistence continued for a number of years but this was the last major confrontation of the Wars.

The Role of the Church

The New Zealand Wars interrupted the progress of Christianity among the Māori, and caused an almost universal rejection of the Church of England. At the request of the Governor Grey, Bishop Selwyn leader of the C of E went to Taranaki in Aug 1855 to do what he could to bring peace to the contending Maori parties in a land dispute that threatened to end in fighting. He was a keen critic of the unjust and reckless procedure of the English land companies, and was misunderstood by European and Maori alike. His efforts to supply Christian ministry to the troops on both sides were heroic and indefatigable.

The aftermath of the Wars brought bitter disappointment to Selwyn in his missionary labours among the Maori people. As he witnessed their alienation from the Church and then, under the influence of the Hauhau cult, their apostasy, he felt himself to be “watching over the remnant of a decaying people and the remnant of a decaying faith”.

The Net Result

So what were the effects of the New Zealand Wars and the resistence movements that followed them. Most European New Zealanders, viewed them as a decisive demonstration of the crown's sovereignty, that after all was their view of what the Treaty of Waitangi was all about. There was little understanding at the time, amongst Pakeha, that Maori might feel that the Treaty had been dishonoured.

The general view of the Pakeha was expressed by a Judge who had just convicted a Tuhoe Maori for resisting arrest, "You have learned that the law has a long arm, and that it can reach you, however far back into the recesses of the forest you may travel, and that in every corner of the great Empire to which we belong the King's law can reach anyone who offends against him. That is the lesson your people should learn from this trial".

Nationally, the Maori population dropped from 57,000 in 1857 to 42,000 in 1896, that reinforced the belief that Maori, as a race, were heading for extinction.

Well, the Maori were not to become extinct and this generation have attempted to put right, through the work of the Waitangi tribunal, many of the injustices inflicted on Maori following the signing of the Treaty. Hopefully we can now move forward together, as New Zealanders, in harmony, enjoying this country we like to call "Gods own".

Source material and additional reading:

The History of New Zealand, Michael King 2007

New Zealand Land Wars
History of the NZ Wars
Bishop Selwyn

More Family Arrive

The Aussie Connection

In 1855 after a five year sojourn in Australia the 22 year Francis Rowe and his eldest brother John made the decision to move to New Zealand. He had, in 1850, as a 17 year old emigrated with his family to Adelaide, Australia from the village of St Agnes in Cornwall. As far as we know the rest of his family remainded in Australia.

Francis, along with his brother, began his working life in the goldmines of Australia. He was at Ballarat when some of the miners confronted Government forces at the Eureka stockade. He knew that the miners were going to protest, so on the advice of his mates he kept away. The day after the fight he went to the stockade and saw the charred bodies of the ten miners who had been killed. Many years later, in Auckland, he met one of the leaders of the miners, Peter Laelor.

Francis met Mary Trevarthen shortly after his arrival in Auckland and they were married in Mar 1857. They soon moved to Kawau Island when Francis got a job in the copper mines. For Mary it was a return to the place where she had lived 10 years earlier, as an 11 year old when her father William had worked in the same mines. There was a small chapel on the island, where the couple preached generally twice every Sunday.

Upon returning to town they purchased a property in Codrington St, Arch Hill. Francis began a forwarding agents business located at the wharf area in down town Auckland. The couple had thirteen children, although four of those died at birth or shortly there after. Mary, my Gr Grandmother, was their fourth child and born in 1863.

During the New Zealand Wars Frank, being a married man, served with the militia defending the boundaries of Auckland, from blockhouse to blockhouse on the "top belt" from Parnell to Arch Hill on the Gt North Road. It was arduous work in the dark, for if a man missed the blank he was sure to go up to his knees in the mud. There was also an element of risk (apart from being killed by a Maori), as on one occassion the rear rank man slipped into the mud and put a bayonet through the shoulder of his mate in front. The above picture is of my Gr Gr Grandparents Francis and Mary Rowe (nee Trevarthen) in their later years. It was Mary who came out on the Bolton when she was 4.

Francis Rowe died in Sep 1921 aged 88, and his death notice read, "A genial, good natured man, he made many friends who recongised his many sterling qualities".

Mary Rowe (nee Trevarthen), whom you have already met in a previous post, died in July 1920 at her home in Newton, she was 85. It was said of her, "she was most highly esteemed by the many friends she made during her long life in Auckland. As far as the Newton Congregational Church was concerned, she was a veritable 'Mother in Israel'.

Here is a photo of my Gr Grandmother Mary Hobson (nee Rowe) who married John George Hobson, in Australia in 1889.  It appears that they moved to Australia where they were married and had their first two children, William and Elizabeth, before returning to Auckland where Mary gave birth  to Francis and then finally my Grandfather Lancelot Trevarthen Hobson in Jan 1897.

                                                    Lancelot Trevarthen Hobson,  pictured in this photo is my grandfather, on Mum's side. He's pictured here in his First WW uniform and was probably 20 at the time. Thankfully the war ended before Lance was called overseas. His eldest brother William,  however, was killed in action seven days into the battle of the Somme and is buried at Armenttieres in France. Lance had two other sibblings Elizabeth and Frank, my Gr Aunty and Uncle,  pictured here in this photo. We had a lot to do with Aunty Cissy growing up, as we were her only living family. She lived in Grey Lynn and we spent many school holiday's staying with her and taking trolly bus trips into Karangahape Road to go shopping. It was a "respectible" place to go in those days.

Lance, was a draper by trade and owned a shop in Avondale. He married Hilda May Coulam in 1923 and Mum was born in Feb 1927. He was a kind and gentle man and although I was only three when he passed away in 1954, at the age of 57, I can still member him taking me up to the dairy in his Vauxhall car to buy me, and my cousin Philip, an ice cream.

The photo on the right is of my mum, taken on christmas day 1959, when she was 32.

Well thats the Trevarthen / Rowe / Hobson connection, the family of my mothers father. Now its time to get to know Mum's mothers family. 

The Coulam Clan

The Coulam family has it's rootes in France. They are from the town of Coulommiers 60km east of Paris, and moved to England in 1066 at the time of William the Conqueror.

The Coulams, with strong Protestant family rootes, come from a village called Brinkhill in the county of Lincolnshire in England.

Samuel and Anne Coulam (nee Solden), my Gr Gr Gr Grandparents, we think, emigrated from Lincolnshire, via Liverpool on the "James Booth" to Melbourne in 1861, and then onto Auckland, however we have no passenger list to prove that. They followed a number of their children, who had come out a few years earlier.

The Williams Connection

Henry Williams the CMS missionary, and later of the Treaty of Waitangi and "land jobbing" fame, was married to Marianne Coldham. Marianne was a cousin of the Coulam family and apparently a prolific writer of letters back home to her family.

It is believed that her letters may have convinced the Coulams that New Zealand was, if not Utopia, then at least a place of opportunity. Marianne was the same age as Samuel Coulam (Snr), mentioned above.

My Gr Gr Grandmother Mary Coulam (nee Taylor) was a friend of Esther and Elisa Coulam, and the three young girls, along with Esthers new husband Joseph Phillips, came to New Zealand from London at 21 years of age on the "Whirlwind" in Apr 1859, arriving in Auckland July 1859. The picture here is of Hainton Hall, Mary's family home in Lincolnshire.

We cannot find the date or ship that my Gr Gr Grandfather George came out on, but it is thought to have been 1863 as his death certificate in 1907 states that he had been in NZ for 44 years.

His parents came here in 1861 and his sisters and future wife in 1859. George and Mary Coulam my Gr Gr Grandparents were married in Auckland in 1865. George's occupantion at the time of his marriage was given as a farmer and at the time of his death, a gardener. Mary died of bronchitis in 1875, the year after the photo above  was taken. At the time of Mary's death George was a carter. She left a young family of six children and George then remarried. The young boy sitting in this photo is of my Gr Grandfather Samuel who was born in Auckland in 1869 .   This picture to the left is of Esther and Elisa Coulam, Mary's friends and Georges sisters.

The McDonnells from Ireland

Thomas and Briget McDonnell (nee Ryan), my Gr Gr Grandparents emmigrated from Ireland, via Gravesend, in  Nov 1873 on the "Queen of the Age" with their family. They arrived in Auckland in Mar 1874. My Gr Grandmother Mary was 5 years old at the time and had a brother John and a sister Julia.

The McDonnell's are a Catholic family from Tipperary in Ireland, although Mary McDonnell, who became Samuel Coulam's wife, was born in Waterford in Ireland. Thomas's occupantion was noted as a farm labourer. They lived in the barricks at the top of Shortland St, and later opposite St Matthews church in Wellesley St. This picture is of my Gr Grandmother Mary Coulam (nee McDonnell)

Samuel and Mary Coulam (nee McDonnell) were married in 1888 and had 16 children, four dying at birth or very young. They farmed in Taranaki at the end of the NZ wars and then in Warkworth, before settling in John St in Ponsonby. Samuel then worked at Le Roy's as a Sailmaker.

Mary has passed on the story that while living in Taranaki, at a time when Samuel was away working in the bush, she was at home on the farm. She was looking after the children at the time, when she looked outside and saw a Maori with a feather in his headress, carrying a tomahawk, creeping around the house. She lived to tell the tale.  Hilda May Hobson (Nee Coulam), my Grandmother was born in Jun 1901. This photo is of Nana's family, she is standing, third from the left.

We picked up from Nana, during her later years that Samuel and Mary's Protestant / Cathloic marriage caused quite a bit of friction within the family. this may well have been linked to what was happening in New Zealand at the time, when there was a lot of religious tension, one of the negative things imported from the UK.

Following Mary's death in 1935 at, the age of 66, Samuel lived with Nana's family in Avondale and died in 1947 aged 78.

Francis Coulam (Nana's brother), fought in Galipolli, Egypt and the Western front during the 1st WW and died on Armisters Day of the Flu in Auckland in Nov 1918. The above photo is of my Gr Gandfather and Gr Grandmother Coulam, with Nana and Mum on the right,

This photo is of my Grandparents Lancelot and Hilda Hobson (nee Coulam) on their wedding day in Feb 1924.

And now you have met them all, the Trevarthen, Rowes, Hobsons, Coulams and McDonnells, the ancestors on my Mum's side of the family, and your Grandmother.

Source material and additional reading:

The Eureka Rebellion
Marianne Williams
Queen of The Age
Whirlwind

The British Kept A Coming

By the early 1840s the settlers had gained a foothold and although there was localised conflict with the Maori, particularly in Nelson and Taranaki, things were fairly safe as most Maori, who had an opinion, were of the belief that the settlers would stay on the coastal fringes and would not substantially change the way they lived or behaved.

That reality however was about to change in ways that the Native population could never have foreseen, and it happened on several levels simultaneously, resulting in a huge demographic, social and cultural shift. The European population soared to 470,000 in the forty years to 1880, whilst during the same period the Maori population reduced, from a pre 1840 high of around of 135,000, to a low of 46,000.

This shift obviously had major ramification on the whole country, it's land, it's resources and it's people, but particularly its native people. There was some thought at the time that the Maori, as a race, would die out and all the land would eventually become available to the Europeans. Maybe some of the decision making at the time was based on that belief.

Dunedin became the country's largest city in the 1860s, and between that period and 1900 the South Island exceeded the North Island, in terms of population numbers and economic growth. The South Island, during this phase in our history, could truely be called the "Main Land".

The key drivers of this phenominal growth, in no particular order, could be described in the following words, internal discovery, ongoing settlement schemes, land acquistion, farming, mining, organised government, development of infrastructure and war.

The New Zealand Wars had a double edged sword effect on population numbers, with loss of life on both sides countered, however, by thousands of British soldiers and their families arriving to defend the european population in the towns and fight the Maori in the rural areas. At one point Auckland had 30% of it's popualtion connected in some way to the military, with a number of 'fencible' townships developing on it's outskirts in Howick, Panmure, Onehunga and Otahuhu. These 'fencible settlers' received a free passage to New Zealand and the promise of land at the end of the hostilities.

We will have a look later at the impact of the New Zealand Wars, but lets first have a brief look at the dominant factors contributing to this demographic, economic, social and cultural shift, during this relatively short forty year period. 

Internal discovery

As the Maori had done before them, Pakeha colonists set out to make the unknown known and to discover for themselves the country's physical resources, renaming many of it's mountains, lakes and towns. Aoraki became Mt Cook, Taranaki became Mt Egmont and Tamaki-makau-rau became Auckland, to mention a few. The coastline had been charted, most of the country transversed by men like Colenso, Shortland, Brunner and Heaphy, and the land surveyed by the 1860s.

Ongoing Settlements

The New Zealand Company settlements began in Wellington and quickly moved on to Wanganui, Nelson and New Plymouth. As a result of the methods used to acquire land all these areas were to experience ongoing conflict and land disputes over the following forty years. By 1850 the New Zealand Company surrendered it's charter to the government and ceased operations. EGW, the "puppet master" eventually emmigrated to Canterbury and in 1854, joined his son EJW as a Member of Parliament for the area.

Auckland alone of the main centres was established (in 1840) and grew largely without organised immigration, although two shiploads of Scotish settlers arrived in 1842, six years before the Scottish settlement of Otago. It's prosperity was ensured by it's location on an isthmus between two navigable harbours and by Hobsons choice!!

Two further ventures, the establishment of Dunedin as a Scottish Free Church (Presbyterian)  settlement in 1848 and Christchurch as a Canterbury Association (Church of England) settlement in 1850, were however based on the New Zealand Company model.

The Canterbury Settlement

The Canterbury Settlement had its genesis in a blending of the ideas and enterprise of two very dissimilar men – Edward Gibbon Wakefield, the colonial theorist and organiser of somewhat tarnished reputation, and John Robert Godley (see photo of his first house), a young Irish squire of deep religious convictions and with high connections in church and state.

It has sometimes been claimed that Wakefield's colonisation principles came closer to succeeding in Canterbury, compared to what was achieved in Wellington, Nelson, and Taranaki. Certainly a more serious attempt was made to apply these principles, and Canterbury attracted a disproportionate share of talented and educated young men, many of whom were to play a leading role in provincial and national affairs during the next 30 years. Of the 3,500 immigrants who arrived on ships chartered by the Canterbury Association, one-third were fare-paying cabin class passengers.

The prosperity of Canterbury in the 1850s however, owed more to the export of merino wool and to the unexpected development of an export market, for the products of intensive agriculture, to the Victorian goldfields, than to any colonising theories. Canterbury maintained something of an English class structure and a “landed gentry”.

Colonists with capital in the 1850s chose to invest it in sheep flocks on distant pastoral leaseholds, rather than purchase the freeholds of arable farming estates near Christchurch. In the later 1850s and the 1860s it was the “small men”, including artisans and labourers, who were the purchasers of freehold land in Canterbury.

The Otago Settlement

If the Canterbury settlement could  be charaterised by the phrases "English gentry", Anglican and farming, then the Otago settlement was all about the "Scottish gentry", Presbyterian, gold and business.

Dunedin's commercial pre-eminence was reflected in the number of mercantile companies that were established in the city. There was also a building boom on a monumental scale, which included the country's first university, founded by Robert Burn's nephew, Thomas, in 1869.

Many manufacturing, distribution and retail companies that later went national - Hallenstein Bros, Cadbury's and a number of Breweries, established their New Zealand bases in Dunedin.

Dunedin became New Zealand's first real city and developed a tradition of considerable private endowment particularly in education and the arts, flowing predominently from the fruits of the "gold rush". It was the centre of business in New Zealand until the end of the 19th century when the "gold rush" turned into a "gentle stroll" and eventually died. 

Land Acquisition

When Govenor Grey's first term commenced in 1845, his administration approached the wider Maori matters and particularly as it related to land, with considerable skill and a strong sense of justice.

He went to great lenghts to ensure that the terms of the Treaty of Waitangi were observed by the Crown and he constantly assured the Maori that their land rights would be respected. With his Chief Land purchase Commissioner Donald McLean, Grey evolved a system of hui for the discussion of land sales to the Crown - a procedure that recognised the communal nature of tribal ownership and gave all interested parties in the negotiations the opportunity to participate.

Land bought in this manner was then on-sold to settlers at a profit to the Crown, the major method by which Grey generated government revenue.

In the period of Grey's first term some 30 million acres of land was acquired in the South Island and 3 million in the North.

Farming

The Government now had the land, particularly in the South Island, and the settlers were beginning to arrive in there droves. It was now a matter of putting the land to use and producing products that would generate export revenues.

The largest sheep-runs in the country were established on the South Island high country. Golden tussock grasslands were often ploughed or burnt over and sowed with English grasses. In the North Island, forest had to be cleared and burnt and grasses grown to make room and feed for sheep.

Sheep were the most favoured animal for farming, as wool was easy to transport and export, and by 1858 the country had 1.5million sheep, when the human population was just over 115,000. That  population rose to 13.1 million by 1878 and contributed substanially to the growing economy, an reality that remains true to this day.  

Mining

As far as mineral resources were concerned, every region of New Zealand hoped to find gold or coal, the one seen as the basis for genuine prosperity, as experience in the Otago region, and the other as an essential fuel.

As we have already seen copper was discovered on Kawau and Great Barrier Island in 1845 and gold on the Coromandel in 1852, that helped the Auckland region survive those early years. However those resources were not easy to access and therefore limited in their economic impact.

It was not until May 1861 when Gabriel Read first discovered gold in the Shotover River at Queenstown that the "rush" to "Gabriels gully" began. Thousands of diggers hastened to the scene of New Zealand’s first major strike. The gully became a canvas town overnight as diggers moved in to work the rich blue-spur rock where Read had uncovered gold ‘shining like the stars in Orion’. This discovery had a major impact on the region for decades to come.

Organised Government

While the New Zealand Company settlements contributed only about 15,500 settlers to New Zealand's founding population, in the decade of the 1840s, they were disproportionately influential on account of being there first and establishing the ethos of the cities, three of which, with Auckland, would become and remain the 'main centres' and provide the foundation system of provincial government introduced in 1853.

Over and above the provincial government there was to be a Parliament consisting of an elected House of Representatives of 24 to 42 in number. To be eligible to elect members to both the provincial government and the House of Representative, voters had to be male owners of property valued at 50 pounds or more. The new constitution effectively brought the 'Crown' to New Zealand and laid the foundation of government for the next 160 years. The right to vote was extended to Maori men in 1867 and women in 1893.

The first meeting of the House was in May 1854. Three members of the House formed the first 'unoffical' Executive council, they were James Edward Fitzgerald, the Canterbury Provincial Super-intendent (and your mothers Gr Gr Grandfather) see ajacent picture, Henry Sewell and Frederick Weld. After seven weeks it became evident that these first three 'ministers' had no power and resigned, leaving room for Henry Sewell to become our first Prime Minister. 

James Edward Fitzgerald, was by all accounts a good, well repected man in the community. He and Edward Gibbon Wakefield would end up being political foes in Canterbury and we have already seen earlier what he had to say  about EGW, "the only security against Wakefield was to hate him intensely". There was obviously no love lost there.

Infrastructure Development

In the 1850s provincial government schemes to expand economic activity saw many more arrive on our shores. However,  it was the Central government campaigns of free passage for emigrants, particularly under Prime Minister Vogel, to build infrastructure such as railways, roading, power and government buildings that added 100,000 to the population in the 1880s. (This painting is of the building of the Gt South Road and was built during the 1860s to aid the supply lines for the British troops during the NZ Wars)

With the introduction of refrigeration in the 1880s New Zealand was to become "Britian's farm" and we consistently earned 80% of our revenue from the export of dairy products to the home country.

Despite minor cultural variations, New Zealand acquired a distinctly 'British' character as the nineteenth century advanced and was often referred to as being 'more British' than Britian, especially in expressing loyalty to the crown and a willingness to take part in imperial wars, but more of that later on.

So this is the country then, apart from the impact of the NZ Wars (which was particularly significant for those settling in the North Island), that the remainder of our early forefathers encountered when they disembarked from their ships. So lets go and meet a few of them........ 

Source material and additional reading:

The History of New Zealand, Michael King 2007

Timeline of New Zealand history

The Canterbury Settlement

The Otago Province

The Fencibles

Gold Mining in NZ

Farming in NZ

James Edward Fitzgerald