The history of Wellington took a decidely turbulant turn, with the arrival of these strange new creatures called 'settlers'.Before the settlers though there were the missionaries, trying to tame the savage and spread the word. All denominations came, and had varying levels of success. For of course they were out numbered by that shadier character, the entrepreneur. Rough hard men that made their living out of selling flax for linen, trading muskets with the locals, or from whaling. Among them was the original character of pioneer Wellington, Dickie Barrett. He married a local Maori woman, and set up his own 'grog shop' where those rough whalers could find some hard liquor to dull their senses a little.
These early Europeans were far different from those to come. They had no grand plans, no ideas about 'civilizing' the country- they probably liked it rough and lawless. But when Dickie Barrett returned in 1839 it was with a ship called the
Tory full to the brimels with eager settlers.
They had purchased land through a scheme run by the New Zealand Company, set up by Edward Gibbon Wakefield whose vision was simple. He wanted to relocate the best of what he considered Britain had to offer, making a 'New England' in the south Pacific. Some immigrants came on assisted passages, and those that could afford it paid, thus preserving the class structure that Britain was so proud of. So a neat little cross section of home was sent on its way, nursing ideas of a better future. The first arrivals on the
Tory however were mostly tradesmen and laborers who were supposedly meant to set up the infrastructure of this new corner of the British Empire. They sailed into Tara's Harbor, and though the artist Charles Heaphy described it as "A noble expanse of water surrounded by a country of the most picturesque character" it was nothing at all like they expected.
The New Zealand Company was not as well organized as it might have seemed in the comfort of England. The land had only been divided on paper, so the rugged terrain meant that some poor settlers had their section on a totally unfarmable spot. The settlers had been expecting more, but when they were dropped on the shore of Petone, they were just as literally dropped in the deep end. The enthusiasm of Wakefield for his project had not extended to any decent agreement with the local Maori. The Treaty of Waitangi was about to be signed, and Wakefield knew that once it was the British government would step in and private land deals would be discouraged- so he did what any proper business man would do in the circumstances, he rushed. Throwing down a bit of money and some token trinkets he assumed that he had his land for his new settlement. It was only later of course that his actions would come back to haunt the settlers and their descendants.
