1826 in New Zealand

← 1825 1824 1823 1826 in New Zealand → 1827 1828 1829
Decades:	1800s 1810s 1820s 1830s 1840s
See also:	Other events of 1826 Timeline of New Zealand history

Incumbents

Regal and viceregal

• Head of State – King George IV
• Governor of New South Wales – General Ralph Darling

Events

• 25 March – The 1825 New Zealand Company vessels Rosanna, Captain James Herd, and Lambton, Captain Barnett, arrive at Stewart Island and undergo refitting for a month.^[1]
• April or May
  • – Thomas Shepherd, agricultural superintendent with the New Zealand Company expedition, interviews James Caddell (see 1810). The location is unknown, possibly Ruapuke Island or Bluff or Otago Harbour (see next entry).^[2]
• May
  • – Thomas Shepherd explores the future site of Dunedin and produces the oldest surviving drawings of Otago Harbour and surrounding coasts including Waikouaiti.
  • – The Rosanna and the Lambton (see above) are the first European ships enter Wellington Harbour. Captain Herd names the harbour Port Nicholson after his friend John Nicholson, harbourmaster at Port Jackson (Sydney).^[3][4]
• 23 September – The New Zealand Company agents aboard the Rosanna complete the purchase of 'Pakatu' (Pakatoa), 'Taratora' (Rotoroa), 'Ponue' (Ponui) and 'Pake' (Pakihi) Islands in the Hauraki Gulf. They then become frightened of the local Māori, change their minds almost immediately, sell up and leave for the Bay of Islands.^[5]

Undated

• William Stewart establishes a timber, flax and trading settlement at Port Pegasus on Stewart Island.^[6]
• The mission ship Herald, designed and built by Reverend Henry Williams and his lay assistant William Hall, is launched.^[7]
• Henry Williams on the schooner Herald (Captain Gilbert Mair) is the first European to visit Tauranga.^[8]
• William Williams, missionary brother of Henry Williams, arrives in the Bay of Islands on the Brampton with his wife and daughter.^[9]
• Sealers visit Cloudy Bay and set up stations in Port Underwood. Whalers visit later the same year.^[10][11]
• Jules Dumont d'Urville arrives in New Zealand on the Astrolabe during his circumnavigation. He charts much of New Zealand that Cook did not, in particular the Marlborough Sounds.^[11] (see also 1827).
• A European trading and shipbuilding enterprise is established at Horeke in the Hokianga.^[12]

Births

• 10 December (in England): James Prendergast, judge.^[13]

Undated

• (in England): Josiah Firth, farmer and businessman.^[14]
• John Patterson, one of the first four Māori MPs ^[15]

See also

• List of years in New Zealand
• Timeline of New Zealand history
• History of New Zealand
• Military history of New Zealand
• Timeline of the New Zealand environment
• Timeline of New Zealand's links with Antarctica

References

1. New Zealand Encyclopaedia 1966: 1825 New Zealand Company
2. Hall-Jones, John. "Caddell, James fl. 1810–1826". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 5 April 2011.
3. Wises New Zealand Guide, 7th Edition, 1979. p. 499.
4. New Zealand Encyclopaedia: Wellington
5. A Manukau Timeline
6. Wises New Zealand Guide, 7th Edition, 1979. p.405.
7. Wises New Zealand Guide, 7th Edition, 1979. p. 331
8. Tauranga History Timeline
9. Early European Visits to NZ
10. Wises New Zealand Guide, 7th Edition, 1979. p. 67
11. Wises New Zealand Guide, 7th Edition, 1979. p. 242
12. "Before 1840: sailors and missionaries". Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Archived from the original on 6 January 2008. Retrieved 16 January 2008.
13. Bassett, Judith & J.G.H Hannan. "Prendergast, James 1826 - 1921". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 5 April 2011.
14. Waterson, D. B. "Firth, Josiah Clifton 1826 - 1897". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 5 April 2011.
15. Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First published in 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.