Events In History
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14 July 1853NZ's first general election beginsThe first member of New Zealand's inaugural Parliament was elected unopposed at Russell in the Bay of Islands. It would take another two and a half months to elect the remaining 36 members of the House of Representatives. Read more...
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20 November 1841Mass murder in the Bay of IslandsMaketū Wharetōtara, the 17-year-old son of the Ngāpuhi chief Ruhe, killed five people at Motuarohia in the Bay of Islands. In March 1842 he became the first person to be legally executed in this country. Read more...
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6 February 1840The Treaty of Waitangi is signedMore than 40 Māori chiefs, led by Ngāpuhi's Hōne Heke Pokai, signed the Treaty of Waitangi in the Bay of Islands. Read more...
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30 December 1835Charles Darwin leaves NZ after nine-day visitDarwin's visit to the Bay of Islands on HMS Beagle was brief and unspectacular from his point of view. The Beagle's captain, Robert FitzRoy, would later serve as the second governor of New Zealand. Read more...
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6 June 1823Wesleyan mission establishedSamuel Leigh and William White established Wesleydale, a Wesleyan (Methodist) mission station at Kaeo. Leigh was friendly with Samuel Marsden of the Church Missionary Society and the two missions worked closely together. Read more...
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25 December 1814NZ's first Christian service?At Oihi Beach in the Bay of Islands, Marsden preached in English to a largely Māori gathering, launching the Christian missionary phase of New Zealand history. Read more...
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4 May 1772Marion du Fresne arrives in Bay of IslandsThe following month the French explorer and 24 of his crew were killed in an act of utu (revenge) by local Ngāti Pou. In the reprisals that followed, the French killed up to 250 Māori. Read more...
Marion du Fresne
The early French explorer's visit to New Zealand ended in his death, and the bloodshed of hundreds more in retribution.
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Thomas Kendall
Thomas Kendall was one of New Zealand’s first Christian missionaries. He pioneered the transcription of the Māori language, and also investigated how Māori understood the universe.
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Musket Wars
Thousands of Māori died in the intertribal Musket Wars of the 1810s, 1820s and 1830s. Muskets changed the face of intertribal warfare, decimating some tribes and drastically altering the territorial boundaries of others.
- Page 3 - Beginnings The Ngāpuhi chief Hongi Hika is usually seen as responsible for beginning the Musket
Missionaries
The Christian missionaries of the pre-1840s have been described as the 'agents of virtue in a world of vice', although they were not immune to moral blemish themselves.
- Page 5 - Wesleyans and CatholicsHow Maori responded to the arrival of Wesleyan and Catholic missionaries in the Bay of
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