Description |
The following photocopies and transcripts record in a remarkable breadth of detail personal impressions and knowledge of events in and the natural environment of, New South Wales and New Zealand. These papers are important not only on a British and Australasian basis but also on a Scottish one. James Busby (see GD1/1115/1-7) hailed originally from Glasgow and William Symonds (GD1/1115/15-38), although English, latterly acted as the agent for a Scottish company in New Zealand. Additionally, the papers sometimes allude to the activities of other Scots in the Pacific.
The provenance of the originals of GD1/1115/8 and 15-38 is stated to be The Mitchell Library, Sydney. GD1/1115/1-7 Letters and memoir of James Busby GD1/1115/39 Official statistics GD1/1115/8 Journal of T Shepherd
'Shepherd's Journal' concerns the attempts of the original (British) New Zealand Company to promote agricultural and commercial settlements in in NZ. The expedition, commanded by Captain Herd, consisted of the ship, 'Roseanna', and the cutter, 'Lambton', together with some 60 artisans and mechanics and Shepherd, presumably a surveyor. The journal describes the Firth of Thames area but does not deal with Hokianga, which it was later claimed was the other main targetted area of settlement. The hostile native reaction in the North Island drove away the expedition to Sydney. An attempt was later made to promote shipbuilding at Hokianga but the Company was dissolved due to financial problems and its landholdings were eventually taken over in the thirties by E G Wakefield's eponymous New Zealand Company. GD1/1115/9-14 Letters and journal of Alfred N Brown GD1/1115/15-38 Letters and journals of William C Symonds The correspondence and journals of Symonds also contain a few letters of his brother. The list of the items follows the numerical order in which the papers were previously arranged and is not a strictly chronological one. Page numbers are given at the end of each entry and it should be noted that some pages are missing. |
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history |
James Busby (1800-1871) was born at Glasgow, the son of the John Busby mentioned below who was appointed to New South Wales as colonial mineral surveyor and civil engineer. Before leaving Europe James studied viticulture with the idea that wine might supplant beer and spirits in Australia. After his return to England Busby began to lobby the Colonial Office and with the help of Lord Haddington was appointed HM Resident in New Zealand (May 1832). That year Busby was married in Australia (to Agnes Dow) and he arrived in New Zealand in May 1833. A supporter of the principle of native or confederate government (which in practice he felt meant a client British territory), his period of office was frustrated by a lack of military support and legislative and judicial backing by Britain and NSW. He was defied by both Europeans and natives (and soon gained the nickname of 'No-authority Busby'). His difficulties were compounded (though the memoir does not mention it) by the appointment in 1835 of Thomas McDonnell as additional British Resident at Hokianga, an honorific and subordinate appointment, but in practice a rival one. Despite his setbacks Busby played an important part in drafting the Treaty of Waitangi (6 Feb 1840) - which proclaimed British sovereignty over the islands - and its subsequent acceptance by the native chiefs.
Thereafter, Busby was to return to the colony as a permanent settler and continued to play an active part in public affairs. He was a member of the Auckland Provincial Council, 1853-5, 1857-63, and led the unsuccessful movement to erect Auckland province into a separate colony. He also established a newspaper in Auckland to campaign for his own and other settlers' land claims, and after 27 years of agitation was awarded £38,000 compensation by the colonial government in 1869. He died at Anerley in England on 15 July 1871. Alfred Nesbitt Brown (1803-1884) was one of the earliest English missionaries to work in New Zealand. After completing his training under the auspices of the Church Missionary Society, he was ordained in 1828. He married in 1829 and sailed for Australia shortly afterwards. Arriving in Sydney in October, Brown for a short time stayed with the NZ apostle, Samuel Marsden, before reaching his destination in the Bay of Islands in November. Brown's letters and journal are largely contemporary with the writings of Busby and provide a contrasting viewpoint, from a religious rather than a political stance.
Brown was to prove a generous benefactor of St John's College, Auckland, where he founded a scholarship in memory of his only son who died in 1845. His wife deceased in 1855 and 5 years later he married again. Brown's missionhouse at Tauranga acted as the district refuge for white women during the Maori war of the sixties, Brown endeavouring to bring about peace. He died on 7 September 1884. William Cornwallis Symonds (1810-1841) was a son of Sir William Symonds, Surveyor-General of the Royal Navy. He was commissioned into the Army in 1828 and later served in the West Indies for around 7 years, becoming a captain in 1839. His father was a prominent member of the colonising New Zealand Association but it was as the agent of a Scots company, the Manakau and Waitemata Company, that Symonds came to reside in NZ. He laid out the town of Cornwallis for the Company, assisted Governor Hobson in getting signatures to the Treaty of Waitangi and as Deputy Surveyor-General helped to found Auckland. He was appointed police magistrate for Waitemata and this enabled him to accompany the naturalist Dr Dieffenbach in 1841 during some of his explorations of the interior. Appointed a member of the legislative Council of NZ on 3 May 1841 [but see GD1/1115/34], his career was prematurely ended through drowning while on a mercy mission on 23 November. |