1807 in New Zealand explained

There is a new sealing rush to the Bounty and Auckland Islands. Sealing also continues at Bass Strait and the Antipodes Islands. Foveaux Strait is a frequent stop for these sealing ships. Whaling continues off the east coast of the North Island. Ships are now visiting the Bay of Islands on a reasonably regular basis. The first reports about the poor behaviour of visiting ship's crew are sent to the Church Missionary Society in London.^[1]

Incumbents

Regal and viceregal

Head of State – King George III.
Governor of New South Wales – William Bligh

^[2]

Events

10 February – Former Governor Philip Gidley King leaves New South Wales.^[3]
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.^[1]
March – The Ferret calls at the Bay of Islands returning Te Mahanga from his trip to England.^[1]
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.^[1]
17 April – The Richard and Mary, Captain Leikins arrives in England with (Maa-)Tara, son of Te Pahi, aboard. He meets Sir Joseph Banks.^[1]
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.^[1]
- – The Albion, Captain Cuthbert Robertson, visits the Bay of Islands after whaling off the coast. Ruatara is paid and leaves the ship.^[1]
- – Catherine Hagerty, who had left the Venus the previous year, dies at the Bay of Islands.^[4]
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.^[1] ^[5]
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 Bruce) are finally returned to Port Jackson in January 1810 where Mary dies shortly after.^[1]
November – The Santa Anna drops a sealing gang, including Ruatara, at the Bounty Islands.^[1]

Undated

Either this year or 1808 Charlotte Badger, from the Venus, is presumed to have left New Zealand, after at least twice refusing passage to Port Jackson. A woman fitting her description is sighted in Tonga nearly 10 years later.^[4]
Captain Abraham Bristow returns to the Auckland Islands on the Sarah and formally claims them in the name of King George III. He also releases pigs on the islands.^[6]
Either this year or early 1808, Ngāpuhi are defeated at the battle of Moremonui near Maunganui Bluff. Although armed with a few muskets the Ngā Puhi are ambushed by Murupaenga, leader of Ngāti Whātua, who successfully takes advantage of the time taken to reload the muskets. The fighting chief of Ngāpuhi, Pokaia, is killed as are two of Hongi Hika's brothers. After this Hongi becomes the war leader of Ngāpuhi.^[7]

Births

28 March (in England): Joel Samuel Polack, first Jewish settler in New Zealand, brewer, businessman^[8]
3 July (in England): Thomas Gore Browne, 4th Governor of New Zealand
7 September (in England): Henry Sewell, first Premier of New Zealand^[9]
1 November (in England): James George Deck, Brethren evangelist^[10]
30 November (in England): Felix Wakefield, colonist

undated

Dicky Barrett, trader and first European settler in Taranaki^[11]
(in England): William Martin, First Chief Justice of New Zealand

approximate

Hone Heke, Māori rangatira
Samuel Revans, newspaper entrepreneur, politician
(in England): William Barnard Rhodes, businessman, pastoralist and politician^[12]

Deaths

undated

Pokaia, Ngāpuhi chief

Notes and References

Salmond, Anne. Between Worlds. 1997. Penguin Books (NZ) Ltd. .
The colony of New South Wales 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 was 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 Maori chiefs in 1835 was formally recognised by the British government at the time, indicating that British sovereignty did not yet extend to New Zealand. (New Zealand Ministry of Culture and Heritage)
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks15/1500721h/0-dict-biogI-K.html#king2 Dictionary of Australian Biography: Philip Gidley King
Web site: Mutiny Aboard the Venus . 25 October 2007 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090705090005/http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~tonyf/venus/venus1.html . 5 July 2009 . dead .
http://www.teara.govt.nz/1966/R/Ruatara/Ruatara/en New Zealand Encyclopaedia 1966: Ruatara Biography
Wises New Zealand Guide, 7th Edition, 1979. p.18.
http://www.teara.govt.nz/1966/H/HongiHika/HongiHika/en New Zealand Encyclopaedia 1966: Hongi Hika Biography
Web site: Jones, Ronald. 'POLACK, Joel Samuel', from An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock, originally published in 1966.. Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. 18 September 2007.
http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/people/henry-sewell NZHistory.net
http://www.bruederbewegung.de/pdf/linehamdeck.pdf Lineham, P. J. 'The significance of J. G. Deck, 1807–1884'. Journal of the Christian Brethren Research Fellowship No 107 (Nov. 1986)
Angela Caughey (1998). The Interpreter: The Biography of Richard "Dicky" Barrett. David Bateman Ltd. .
George Rhodes of the Levels and his brothers by A.E. Woodhouse (1937, Whitcombe & Tombs, Auckland)