Robert FitzRoy was born in England in 1805, and later studied at the Royal Naval College. His first command was the Beagle. In 1831 he surveyed the coasts of Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego and the Straits of Magellan. He was accompanied by the naturalist Charles Darwin, whose later publications were largely based on discoveries and observations made during this voyage.
Also known as the ‘Wairau Affray’ and ‘Wairau Massacre’, this was the first serious clash of arms between Maori and British settlers after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. Four Maori and 22 Europeans were killed.
The news from Wairau was greeted with shock by settlers throughout the
colony. The killing of men who had surrendered was viewed as
cold-blooded murder. There were fears that these events signalled the
beginning of a widespread Maori insurrection.
On 17 June 1843, 22 European settlers and four Maori were killed when an armed party of New Zealand Company settlers clashed with Ngati Toa over the purchase of land in the Wairau valley, near modern-day Blenheim.
Faced with demands for revenge after the deaths of 22 settlers in an incident in the Wairau Valley, Governor FitzRoy decided that the Maori had been provoked by the unreasonable actions of the Europeans.
