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ABSTRACT
From 1831, the New South Wales government employee James Busby began lobbying to be appointed as British representative in New Zealand. Against a backdrop of official British reluctance to intervene in the country, Busby persuaded officials that the indigenous Māori population was not as threatening as was popularly believed in the early nineteenth century, and that its leaders could be persuaded to acquiesce to a more formal British presence in the country. Busby also argued (uniquely among settlers) that Māori chiefs could potentially act in a collective capacity as a form of rudimentary legislature, give the appropriate support. Busby became instrumental in the development of British policy on New Zealand from 1831 to around 1837, and in doing so, demonstrated the extent to which influences from the periphery of the Empire could inform and alter that policy. This article explores some of those core–periphery dynamics, and illustrates aspects of the process by which Britain’s stance on New Zealand evolved during this period in response to the reporting and activities of its official appointee to the country.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Ward, A Show of Justice, 31.
2 Schilder, Australia Unveiled, 189; Blaeu, Nova et Accuratissima Terrarum Orbis Tabula; McCormick, Tasman and New Zealand, 10.
3 Stearn, “A Royal Society Appointment with Venus in 1769,” 64–90.
4 Additional Instructions to Captain Cool for his First Voyage, July 1768, in The Journals of Captain James Cook on His Voyages of Discovery. Vol 1, The Voyage of the Endeavour, 1768–1771, ed. J. C. Beaglehole (Cambridge: Hakluyt Society, 1955), cclxxiii; Cook, “Cook’s Journals, Daily Entries,” 181.
5 Lange, “Christian Beginnings in New Zealand,” 7.
6 Parkinson, The Māori Grammars and Vocabularies of Thomas Kendall and John Gare Butler, 60.
7 An Act for the more effectual Punishment of Murders and Manslaughters committed in Places not within His Majesty’s Dominions, 1817.
8 New South Wales Judicature Act 1823; Rumbles, “Spectre of Jurisdiction,” 209–225.
9 Forster, Observations Made During a Voyage Round the World, 328–9.
10 Savage, Some Account of New Zealand, 29.
11 Nicholas, Narrative of a Voyage to New Zealand 1, 29.
12 Craik, The New Zealanders, 312–3.
13 Marsden, The Letters and Journals of Samuel Marsden, 1765–1838, 532.
14 Montefiore, Report from the Select Committee of the House of Lords, Appointed to Inquire into the Present State of the Islands of New Zealand, 65.
15 The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (23 October 1808), 2.
16 Hobart Town Courier (11 July 1829), 2.
17 The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (26 August 1834), 2.
18 H. Goulburn to R. Sugden, 25 April 1821, in Historical Records of New Zealand 1, ed. R. McNab (Wellington: Government Printer, 1908), 532.
19 Goderich to R. Bourke, 31 January 1832, in Report of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Aboriginal Tribes (British Settlements) (London: House of Commons, 1837), 18–19.
20 Goderich to R. Bourke, 18 March 1832, in Historical Records of Australia 1, vol. 16, ed. F. Watson (Canberra: The Library Committee of the Commonwealth Parliament, 1917), 563.
21 J. Barrow to R. Hay, 24 March 1832, in Historical Records of Australia [HRA] 1, vol. 16, 573.
22 Ballantyne, Entanglements of Empire, 26–28.
23 Ellis, “Ki to ringa ki nga rakau a te Pakeha? Drawings and Signatures of Moko by Māori in the Early 19th Century,” , 34.
24 ‘The Petition of the New Zealand Chiefs’, in The Letters and Journals of Samuel Marsden, 504–5.
25 Goderich to the Chiefs of New Zealand, 14 June, 1832, in Historical Records of Australia 1, vol. 16, 664.
26 J. Busby to Haddington, 25 February 1833, in ‘James Busby. Official Letters of Various People, 1833–1870’, Auckland Museum, MS46.
27 Bourke, Correspondence with the Secretary of State Relative to New Zealand, 4–6.
28 Ibid., 4–5.
29 Ibid., 5–6.
30 Busby, A Brief Memoir Relative to the Islands of New Zealand, in Busby, Authentic Information Relative to New South Wales.
31 Ibid., 74.
32 Ibid., 61.
33 Ibid., 61.
34 Ibid., 62–4.
35 Ibid., 68.
36 J. Busby to Haddington, 25 February 1833, in ‘James Busby. Official Letters of Various People, 1833–1870’, Auckland Museum, MS46.
37 J. Busby to A. Busby, 22 June 1833, in Busby Family Records [BFR] 1, (Sydney: N.P., 1994), 415–16.
38 J. Busby to Colonial Secretary NSW (Col Sec), 13 May 1833, No. 3, 31–2, in Busby Despatches, qMS [345], Alexander Turnbull Library; R. Bourke to Stanley, 29 April 1834, in Historical Records of Australia 1, vol. 17, 412.
39 O’Malley, “Manufacturing Chiefly Consent?”34–5.
40 J. Busby to Resident Traders of the Bay of Islands, 9 May 1834, in Marshall, A Personal Narrative of Two Visits to New Zealand, 350–1.
41 J. Busby to A. MacLeay, 10 September 1835, in BFR 2, 572.
42 J. Busby to T. McDonnell, 6 October 1835, in BFR 2, 577.
43 C. De Thierry to King William IV, 12 May 1835, in Historical Records of Australia 1, vol. 18, 823.
44 C. De Thierry to H. Williams, 14 September 1835, in Raeside, Sovereign Chief, 110–2
45 J. Busby, 10 October 1835, in Report from the Select Committee of the House of Lords, Appointed to Inquire into the Present State of the Islands of New Zealand, 444–5.
46 Article Two, The Declaration of Independence, He Whakaputanga, 1835, Archives New Zealand, ref. IA9-1.
47 Carpenter, Te Wiremu, Te Puhipi, He Whakaputanga me Te Tiriti: Henry Williams, James Busby, A Declaration and the Treaty, 1–8.
48 Article Two, The Declaration of Independence.
49 Ballantyne, Entanglements of Empire, 232–3.
50 J. Busby to R. Bourke, 31 October 1835, in BFR 2, 587.
51 Ibid., 88.
52 FitzRoy, Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty’s Ships Adventure and Beagle, 575–6, 590.
53 Sadler, Ko Tautoro, Te Pito o Toku Ao, conclusion.
54 Wheaton, Elements of International Law, 52–3.
55 J. Busby to E. D. Thomson, 16 June 1837, in ‘James Busby Official Letters to Various People, 1833–1870’, qMS-0353, Alexander Turnbull Library, 28–35.
56 Ibid.
57 Moon, Hobson: Governor of New Zealand, 1840–1842, 27.
58 W. Hobson to R. Bourke, 8 August 1837, in Correspondence with the Secretary of State Relative to New Zealand, (London: House of Lords, 1840), 10–11
59 Fieldhouse, “Can Humpty-Dumpty Be Put Together Again? Imperial history in the 1980s,” 21.
60 Ballantyne, Orientalism and Race, 39.
61 Busby, Authentic Information Relative to New South Wales and New Zealand, 23–42; Bayly, “James Busby: British Resident in New Zealand, 1833–40,” 27; J. Busby to W. Kelman, 19 March 1824, in Papers of the Busby and Kelman Families, 1822–1879, CY Reel 985, ref ML MSS. 1183 (Sydney, Mitchell Library), 67–8.
62 R. Darling to G. Murray, 13 April 1832, in HRA 1, vol. 16, 237–41.
63 J. Busby to E. Barnard, 12 July 1823, in BFR 1, 66; J. Busby to A. Busby, 10 August 1831, in BFR 1, 297.
64 R. Hay to R Bourke, 21 January 1832, in HRA 1, vol. 16, 505.
65 A Bill to Authorize the Governor of New South Wales, with the Advice and Consent of the Legislative Council of that Colony, to Make Provision for the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Committed by His Majesty’s Subjects, in Islands Situate in the Southern Or Pacific Ocean, and Not Being Within His Majesty’s Dominion, session 516, vol. 4 (London: House of Commons, 1832), 345–9. 37 Goderich to R. Bourke, 14 June 1832, in HRA 1, vol. 16, 663.
66 R. Bourke, Correspondence with the Secretary of State Relative to New Zealand, 4–6.
67 Ibid., 5–6.
68 J. Barrow to R. Hay, 24 November 1834, in HRA 1, vol. 17, 609; Aberdeen to R. Bourke, 21 December 1834, in HRA 1, vol. 17, 608–9; Correspondence with the Secretary of State Relative to New Zealand, 69.
69 Adams, Fatal Necessity, 52–3; Martin, “Two Cheers for Lord Glenelg,” 213.
70 R. Bourke to Glenelg, 10 March 1836, in HRA 1, vol. 18, 353.
71 Glenelg to R. Bourke, 26 August 1836, in HRA 1, vol. 18, 506.
72 Glenelg to G. Gipps, 1 December 1838, in Correspondence with the Secretary of State Relative to New Zealand, 19.
73 Report of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Aboriginal Tribes (British Settlements), (London: House of Commons, 1837), 16, 129–30.
74 Ward, A Show of Justice, 31.