1810 in New Zealand - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

There is a drastic decline in the number of ships visiting New Zealand from the previous year. An economic depression starts in New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

as a result of the escalation of war in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

and the consequent reduction in the number of convicts being transported. In March news of the Boyd massacre

Boyd massacre

The Boyd Massacre took place in 1809 when Māori residents of Whangaroa Harbour in northern New Zealand killed and ate between 66 and 70 people as revenge for the whipping of a young Māori chief by the crew of the sailing ship Boyd...

reaches Port Jackson

Port Jackson

Port Jackson, containing Sydney Harbour, is the natural harbour of Sydney, Australia. It is known for its beauty, and in particular, as the location of the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge...

and a punitive expedition

Punitive expedition

A punitive expedition is a military journey undertaken to punish a state or any group of persons outside the borders of the punishing state. It is usually undertaken in response to perceived disobedient or morally wrong behavior, but may be also be a covered revenge...

is sent to New Zealand and bombards the village of the incorrectly blamed chief, Te Pahi. After this the few whaling ships (possibly only 5) that later head for New Zealand usually prefer to avoid landing, especially in the Bay of Islands

Bay of Islands

The Bay of Islands is an area in the Northland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. Located 60 km north-west of Whangarei, it is close to the northern tip of the country....

.

Sealing in Foveaux Strait

Foveaux Strait

Foveaux Strait separates Stewart Island/Rakiura, New Zealand's third largest island, from the South Island. Three large bays, Te Waewae Bay, Oreti Beach and Toetoes Bay, sweep along the strait's northern coast, which also hosts Bluff township and harbour. Across the strait lie the Solander...

declines as the rookeries are exhausted. With the discovery of Campbell Island

Campbell Island, New Zealand

Campbell Island is a remote, subantarctic island of New Zealand and the main island of the Campbell Island group. It covers of the group's , and is surrounded by numerous stacks, rocks and islets like Dent Island, Folly Island , Isle de Jeanette Marie, and Jacquemart Island, the latter being the...

at the beginning of the year, and Macquarie Island

Macquarie Island

Macquarie Island lies in the southwest corner of the Pacific Ocean, about half-way between New Zealand and Antarctica, at 54°30S, 158°57E. Politically, it has formed part of the Australian state of Tasmania since 1900 and became a Tasmanian State Reserve in 1978. In 1997 it became a world heritage...

in the middle of the year, by the same sealing ship, sealers transfer their attention there. If they stop off in New Zealand it is usually in Foveaux Strait.

Regal and Vice Regal

Head of State
Head of State
A head of state is the individual that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchy, republic, federation, commonwealth or other kind of state. His or her role generally includes legitimizing the state and exercising the political powers, functions, and duties granted to the head of...

– King George III
George III of the United Kingdom
George III was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of these two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death...

.
Governor of New South Wales – Lachlan Macquarie
Lachlan Macquarie
Major-General Lachlan Macquarie CB , was a British military officer and colonial administrator. He served as the last autocratic Governor of New South Wales, Australia from 1810 to 1821 and had a leading role in the social, economic and architectural development of the colony...

, having arrived 4 days earlier, is sworn in on New Year’s Day.

Events

1 January – Lachlan Macquarie
Lachlan Macquarie
Major-General Lachlan Macquarie CB , was a British military officer and colonial administrator. He served as the last autocratic Governor of New South Wales, Australia from 1810 to 1821 and had a leading role in the social, economic and architectural development of the colony...

is sworn in as Governor of New South Wales.
2 January – The Active
Active (ship)
For other ships of the same name, see HMS Active, USCGC Active, USRC Active, and USS Active.The Active was a ship that disappeared in the Tasman Sea in 1810....

(first ship of the name), Captain
Captain (nautical)
A sea captain is a licensed mariner in ultimate command of the vessel. The captain is responsible for its safe and efficient operation, including cargo operations, navigation, crew management and ensuring that the vessel complies with local and international laws, as well as company and flag...

John Bader, arrives at Open Bay Islands
Open Bay Islands
The Open Bay Islands are located off the south-west coast of the South Island of New Zealand. The group comprises two main islands Taumaka and Popotai plus several smaller islets and rocks. They lie approximately offshore from the Okuru River mouth, near Haast and are owned by Poutini Ngai...

off the south West Coast
West Coast, New Zealand
The West Coast is one of the administrative regions of New Zealand, located on the west coast of the South Island, and is one of the more remote and most sparsely populated areas of the country. It is made up of three districts: Buller, Grey and Westland...

.
4 January – The sealing ship Perseverance, Captain
Captain (nautical)
A sea captain is a licensed mariner in ultimate command of the vessel. The captain is responsible for its safe and efficient operation, including cargo operations, navigation, crew management and ensuring that the vessel complies with local and international laws, as well as company and flag...

Hasselberg discovers Campbell Island
Campbell Island, New Zealand
Campbell Island is a remote, subantarctic island of New Zealand and the main island of the Campbell Island group. It covers of the group's , and is surrounded by numerous stacks, rocks and islets like Dent Island, Folly Island , Isle de Jeanette Marie, and Jacquemart Island, the latter being the...

.
6 January – Boyd massacre
Boyd massacre
The Boyd Massacre took place in 1809 when Māori residents of Whangaroa Harbour in northern New Zealand killed and ate between 66 and 70 people as revenge for the whipping of a young Māori chief by the crew of the sailing ship Boyd...

: Captain
Captain (nautical)
A sea captain is a licensed mariner in ultimate command of the vessel. The captain is responsible for its safe and efficient operation, including cargo operations, navigation, crew management and ensuring that the vessel complies with local and international laws, as well as company and flag...

Berry, of the City of Edinburgh, drafts a letter to Governor Macquaruie
Lachlan Macquarie
Major-General Lachlan Macquarie CB , was a British military officer and colonial administrator. He served as the last autocratic Governor of New South Wales, Australia from 1810 to 1821 and had a leading role in the social, economic and architectural development of the colony...

, which blames the Boyd massacre
Boyd massacre
The Boyd Massacre took place in 1809 when Māori residents of Whangaroa Harbour in northern New Zealand killed and ate between 66 and 70 people as revenge for the whipping of a young Māori chief by the crew of the sailing ship Boyd...

on Te Pahi. He leaves this letter, and copies of a notice warning visiting ships of what has happened, with chief Tara. The City of Edinburgh then leaves for Valparaiso
Valparaíso
Valparaíso is a city and commune of Chile, center of its third largest conurbation and one of the country's most important seaports and an increasing cultural center in the Southwest Pacific hemisphere. The city is the capital of the Valparaíso Province and the Valparaíso Region...

with the 4 survivors of the Boyd.
10 January – The sealer Sydney Cove, Captain
Captain (nautical)
A sea captain is a licensed mariner in ultimate command of the vessel. The captain is responsible for its safe and efficient operation, including cargo operations, navigation, crew management and ensuring that the vessel complies with local and international laws, as well as company and flag...

Charles McLaren, lands a sealing gang on Stewart Island.
Late January – The Cumberland, Captain
Captain (nautical)
A sea captain is a licensed mariner in ultimate command of the vessel. The captain is responsible for its safe and efficient operation, including cargo operations, navigation, crew management and ensuring that the vessel complies with local and international laws, as well as company and flag...

William Swain, visits the Bay of Islands
Bay of Islands
The Bay of Islands is an area in the Northland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. Located 60 km north-west of Whangarei, it is close to the northern tip of the country....

and is given a copy of Captain Berry’s notice.
Mid February – The Ann, and the Albion, Captain
Captain (nautical)
A sea captain is a licensed mariner in ultimate command of the vessel. The captain is responsible for its safe and efficient operation, including cargo operations, navigation, crew management and ensuring that the vessel complies with local and international laws, as well as company and flag...

Cuthbert Richardson, visit the Bay of Islands
Bay of Islands
The Bay of Islands is an area in the Northland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. Located 60 km north-west of Whangarei, it is close to the northern tip of the country....

and are shown Captain Berry’s notice.
16 February – The Active
Active (ship)
For other ships of the same name, see HMS Active, USCGC Active, USRC Active, and USS Active.The Active was a ship that disappeared in the Tasman Sea in 1810....

leaves a sealing gang on one of the Open Bay Islands
Open Bay Islands
The Open Bay Islands are located off the south-west coast of the South Island of New Zealand. The group comprises two main islands Taumaka and Popotai plus several smaller islets and rocks. They lie approximately offshore from the Okuru River mouth, near Haast and are owned by Poutini Ngai...

and sets sail for Sydney. The ship is never seen again. The sealing gang is not rescued until 1813.
18 February – The Ann and Albion leave the Bay of Islands.
19 February – The Ann and Albion meet the King George, Captain
Captain (nautical)
A sea captain is a licensed mariner in ultimate command of the vessel. The captain is responsible for its safe and efficient operation, including cargo operations, navigation, crew management and ensuring that the vessel complies with local and international laws, as well as company and flag...

Samuel Chace and inform Captain Chace of the burning of the Boyd.
28 February – The convict ship Ann (second ship of the name), Captain
Captain (nautical)
A sea captain is a licensed mariner in ultimate command of the vessel. The captain is responsible for its safe and efficient operation, including cargo operations, navigation, crew management and ensuring that the vessel complies with local and international laws, as well as company and flag...

Charles Clarke, arrives in Port Jackson
Port Jackson
Port Jackson, containing Sydney Harbour, is the natural harbour of Sydney, Australia. It is known for its beauty, and in particular, as the location of the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge...

with Samuel Marsden
Samuel Marsden
Samuel Marsden was an English born Anglican cleric and a prominent member of the Church Missionary Society, believed to have introduced Christianity to New Zealand...

, William Hall, John King and Ruatara
Ruatara (chief)
Ruatara, was a chief of the Ngāpuhi iwi in New Zealand. He introduced European crops to New Zealand and was host to the first Christian missionary, Samuel Marsden....

. Ruatara stays with Marsden for the next 18 months. The news of the Boyd massacre
Boyd massacre
The Boyd Massacre took place in 1809 when Māori residents of Whangaroa Harbour in northern New Zealand killed and ate between 66 and 70 people as revenge for the whipping of a young Māori chief by the crew of the sailing ship Boyd...

delays Marsden’s plans for a mission in New Zealand for some time.
2 March – The Brothers leaves Port Jackson for Open Bay.
9 March – The King George arrives in Port Jackson
Port Jackson
Port Jackson, containing Sydney Harbour, is the natural harbour of Sydney, Australia. It is known for its beauty, and in particular, as the location of the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge...

and is the first to report the loss of the Boyd.
17 March – The Experiment, Captain
Captain (nautical)
A sea captain is a licensed mariner in ultimate command of the vessel. The captain is responsible for its safe and efficient operation, including cargo operations, navigation, crew management and ensuring that the vessel complies with local and international laws, as well as company and flag...

Joseph Dodds, leaves Port Jackson
Port Jackson
Port Jackson, containing Sydney Harbour, is the natural harbour of Sydney, Australia. It is known for its beauty, and in particular, as the location of the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge...

taking a party headed by William Leith to set up a flax-collecting settlement in the North Island
North Island
The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the much less populous South Island by Cook Strait. The island is in area, making it the world's 14th-largest island...

. Also on board is Lieutenant-Governor Joseph Foveaux
Joseph Foveaux
Joseph Foveaux was a soldier and convict settlement administrator in colonial New South Wales, Australia.Foveaux was baptised on 6 April 1767 at Ampthill, Bedfordshire, England, the sixth child of Joseph Foveaux and his wife Elizabeth, née Wheeler...

.
26 March – 5 ships, having heard the story of the Boyd from a local woman, attack Te Pahi’s pa on Te Puna island. Approximately 60 Māori are killed and Te Pahi is wounded (he dies a few weeks later). The ships involved are the Speke (John Hingston), Inspector (John Walker), Diana (William Parker), Atalanta (John Morris) and Perseveance (Frederick Hasselberg). Later the same day, after the attack, the Spring Grove and New Zealander arrive. Phillip Tapsell is among the crew on the latter.
27 March – The Governor Bligh, Captain Chace, leaves Port Jackson with supplies for the Experiment. When it is discovered that the Leith party has already returned to Port Jackson Captain Chace decides to return via Foveaux Strait
Foveaux Strait
Foveaux Strait separates Stewart Island/Rakiura, New Zealand's third largest island, from the South Island. Three large bays, Te Waewae Bay, Oreti Beach and Toetoes Bay, sweep along the strait's northern coast, which also hosts Bluff township and harbour. Across the strait lie the Solander...

, where it collects (around June) the sealing gang left by the Fox in October 1809.
3 May – The Brothers collects two men it had dropped in 1809 on islands on what is now the Dunedin coast at Port Daniel (Otago Harbour
Otago Harbour
Otago Harbour is the natural harbour of Dunedin, New Zealand, consisting of a long, much-indented stretch of generally navigable water separating the Otago Peninsula from the mainland. They join at its southwest end, from the harbour mouth...

), including William Tucker
William Tucker (settler)
William Tucker was a British convict, a sealer, a trader in human heads, an Otago settler, and New Zealand’s first art dealer....

. Tucker is sent to look for other sealers from the Brothers at Stewart Island. It is probably at this time, on the shores of Foveaux Strait
Foveaux Strait
Foveaux Strait separates Stewart Island/Rakiura, New Zealand's third largest island, from the South Island. Three large bays, Te Waewae Bay, Oreti Beach and Toetoes Bay, sweep along the strait's northern coast, which also hosts Bluff township and harbour. Across the strait lie the Solander...

, that he steals the Māori preserved head that he later sells in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, thus inaugurating the retail trade of such items.
11 July – The Perseverance, Captain Hasselberg, discovers Macquarie Island
Macquarie Island
Macquarie Island lies in the southwest corner of the Pacific Ocean, about half-way between New Zealand and Antarctica, at 54°30S, 158°57E. Politically, it has formed part of the Australian state of Tasmania since 1900 and became a Tasmanian State Reserve in 1978. In 1997 it became a world heritage...

.
15 August – The Unity returns to Port Jackson from the south coast of New Zealand and describes the local Māori there as ‘particularly friendly’.
November/December – The Sydney Cove, Captain
Captain (nautical)
A sea captain is a licensed mariner in ultimate command of the vessel. The captain is responsible for its safe and efficient operation, including cargo operations, navigation, crew management and ensuring that the vessel complies with local and international laws, as well as company and flag...

Charles McLaren, anchors in Otago Harbour
Otago Harbour
Otago Harbour is the natural harbour of Dunedin, New Zealand, consisting of a long, much-indented stretch of generally navigable water separating the Otago Peninsula from the mainland. They join at its southwest end, from the harbour mouth...

. The theft of a red shirt and other articles by local chief Te Wahia sparks what becomes known as The Sealers' War
Sealers' War
The Sealers' War, also known as the "War of the Shirt", was a conflict in southern New Zealand started in 1810 by a Māori chief's theft of a red shirt, a knife and some other articles from the sealing vessel the Sydney Cove in Otago Harbour, and the excessive revenge of unidentified Europeans from...

or The War of the Shirt, which lasts until 1823. One of her sealers kills Te Wahia which incenses Māori. The Sydney Cove flees south and one of her crew, James Caddell, is captured by Māori at the Clutha mouth.

Undated

Te Rauparaha
Te Rauparaha
Te Rauparaha was a Māori rangatira and war leader of the Ngāti Toa tribe who took a leading part in the Musket Wars. He was influential in the original sale of conquered Rangitane land to the New Zealand Company and was a participant in the Wairau Incident in Marlborough...

begins a five-year stay with Ngāti Maru
Ngati Maru
Ngāti Maru is a Māori iwi of New Zealand. There are two iwi known as Ngati Maru, one based in Taranaki, the other based in Thames . These two iwi have a common ancestor in Hotunui who had three sons Marukopiri, Maruwharanui and Marutūāhu...

in the Hauraki Gulf
Hauraki Gulf
The Hauraki Gulf is a coastal feature of the North Island of New Zealand. It has a total area of 4000 km², and lies between the Auckland Region, the Hauraki Plains, the Coromandel Peninsula and Great Barrier Island...

. His intentions may have been to form alliances to attack his enemies in the Waikato
Waikato
The Waikato Region is a local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato, Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, the northern King Country, much of the Taupo District, and parts of Rotorua District...

and/or to find somewhere to resettle Ngāti Toa
Ngati Toa
Ngāti Toa , an iwi , traces its descent from the eponymous ancestor Toarangatira. The Ngāti Toa region extends from Miria-te-kakara at Rangitikei to Wellington, and across Cook Strait to Wairau and Nelson....

should Kawhia become too unsafe.

Births

15 August (in England): William Fitzherbert
William Fitzherbert (New Zealand)
Sir William Fitzherbert KCMG MLC was a New Zealand politician. He served as Minister of Finance, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Speaker of the Legislative Council.-Early life:...

, politician.

Undated

(in England):George Arney
George Arney
Sir George Alfred Arney was the second Chief Justice of New Zealand, from 1858 to 1875...

, Chief Justice.
Thomas Beckham
Thomas Beckham
Thomas Beckham was a 19th century New Zealand politician. He represented the City of Auckland electorate in the 2nd New Zealand Parliament from 1855 to 1859, but resigned before the end of his term and did not serve in any subsequent Parliament. He was also a member of the Auckland Provincial...

, politician
(in England):Hugh Carleton
Hugh Carleton
Hugh Francis Carleton was New Zealand's first ever Member of Parliament.-New Zealand:He was a member of New Zealand's first, second, third, and fourth Parliaments, representing the Bay of Islands electorate from 1853 to 1870...

, politician.
(in England):Thomas Henderson
Thomas Henderson (New Zealand)
Thomas Maxwell Henderson was a New Zealand politician. He was one of the earliest settlers in Auckland. He was a significant entrepreneur, and the Auckland suburb of Henderson bears his name.-Early life:...

, politician.
(in Ireland): Alfred Ludlam
Alfred Ludlam
Alfred Ludlam was a leading New Zealand politician, horticulturist and farmer who owned land at Wellington and in the Hutt Valley...

, politician.
(in England): William Mason, architect.
John Larkins Cheese Richardson
John Larkins Cheese Richardson
Sir John Larkins Cheese Richardson was a 19th century New Zealand politician, and a cabinet minister.-Military career:Richardson was born in India, where he was in the Army, and was known as Major Richardson.- Political career:...

, politician.
(in England):William Wells, politician.

Regal and Vice Regal

Events

Births

See also