Monday 30 November 2015

THE PEOPLING OF NEW ZEALAND TIL WW11

HISTORY OF PEOPLING OF NEW ZEALAND

"At some point a group of Māori migrated to the Chatham Islands (which they named Rēkohu) where they developed their distinct Moriori culture. The Moriori population was all but wiped out between 1835 and 1862, largely because of Taranaki Māori invasion and enslavement in the 1830s, although European diseases also contributed. In 1862 only 101 survived and the last known full-blooded Moriori died in 1933." (source)

From FamilySearch.org

 "As nearly as can be determined, the years 900-1100 A.D. saw the arrival of the canoes bringing the first Maori settlers. Sporadic European contact occurred during the 17th and 18th centuries until ca.1800. At that time there were between 100,000 and 200,000 Maori and 50 Europeans living in the Islands. Although British missionaries arrived in 1814, the first serious attempt at British colonization was not made until 1826. Most colonists moved on to Australia, declaring that New Zealand was much too primitive. Further attempts at European settlement continued until the 1840s, during which time the Wellington, Wanganui, Akaroa, Nelson, Dunedin and New Plymouth settlements were all founded.

By 1858 there were approximately 56,000 Maori and 59,000 Europeans living in New Zealand. The Maori population had been decimated in part by diseases brought by the white settlers. By 1867, there were 217,436 Europeans in New Zealand, which meant an average annual increase of 17,500 people of European descent during that time. Not all were emigrants, but many were, and the shipping business was brisk. It is by accessing these shipping records that we can learn more of the immigrant’s background and place of origin." (source)

MAORI GENEALOGY

"Before the coming of the Pakeha [European] to New Zealand with his superior technology, all literature in Maori was oral. Its transmission to succeeding generations was also oral and a great body of literature, which includes haka [dance], waiata [song], tauparapara [chant], karanga [chant], poroporoaki [farewell], paki waitara [stories], whakapapa [genealogy], whakatauki [proverbs] and pepeha [tribal sayings], was retained and learnt by each new generation."

LIBRARY MANUSCIPTS
"Since the early colonial contact period Maori have committed their literature to PAPER and a large body of literature survives in manuscript form. Most of them remain with Maori families but there are large UNPUBLISHED collections in three of the largest LIBRARIES in New Zealand, in Auckland Public Library, in the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington, and in the Hocken Library in Dunedin. These collections are said to comprise the largest body of indigenous literature in Polynesia. They contain much tribal genealogy."

FIRST STEP
The first step for anyone researching their Maori genealogy should however be the FAMILY. In almost every Maori family there will be at least one expert who has collected all the genealogies
(source: )
 ----------------------------------------------------

THE NON-MAORI PEOPLING OF NEW ZEALAND

How did the non-Maori population develop? This informs our understanding of migration to New Zealand, which creates a context for finding non-Maori ancestors.

There are several major sources for information:
  • Wikipedia's article on Immigration, which explains the migrant settlement patterns in NZ.
  • Archives New Zealand's coverage on Migration records: 
  • New South Wales Immigration;
  • FamilySearch Wiki ;
  • Auckland Council Library Passenger Lists.

From "Wikipedia: New Zealand":

"In 1788 Captain Arthur Phillip assumed the position of Governor of the new British colony of New South Wales which according to his commission included New Zealand. The British Government appointed James Busby as British Resident to New Zealand in 1832 following a petition from northern Māori. In 1835, following an announcement of impending French settlement by Charles de Thierry, the nebulous United Tribes of New Zealand sent a Declaration of the Independence to King William IV of the United Kingdom asking for protection. Ongoing unrest, the proposed settlement of New Zealand by the New Zealand Company (which had already sent its first ship of surveyors to buy land from Māori) and the dubious legal standing of the Declaration of Independence prompted the Colonial Office to send Captain William Hobson to claim sovereignty for Great Britain and negotiate a treaty with the Māori. The Treaty of Waitangi was first signed in the Bay of Islands on 6 February 1840. In response to the New Zealand Company's attempts to establish an independent settlement in Wellington and French settlers purchasing land in Akaroa. Hobson declared British sovereignty over all of New Zealand on 21 May 1840."
It should be noted that Britain took official control over NZ in 1840. Before then, the NSW Colony administered minor settlements of whalers, sealers, missionaries, mariners, and merchants, attracted to natural resources in abundance. 

"New Zealand, still part of the colony of New South Wales, became a separate Colony of New Zealand on 1 July 1841. The colony gained a representative government in 1852 and the first Parliament met in 1854."


From "Wikipedia: New Zealand: Immigration"

The Wikipedia Immigration article is partly reproduced here (subheadings added) beginning with the 1840s; with scattered commentary by this blog.

EARLY SETTLERS
(Quote:) "European migration has resulted in a deep legacy being left on the social and political structures of New Zealand. Early visitors to New Zealand included whalers, sealers, missionaries, mariners, and merchants, attracted to natural resources in abundance. They came from the AUSTRALIAN colonies, Great Britain and Ireland, Germany (forming the next biggest immigrant group after the British and Irish),[2] France, Portugal, the Netherlands, Denmark, The United States, and Canada."

1840 TREATY
"In 1840 representatives of the British Crown signed the Treaty of Waitangi with 240 Māori chiefs throughout New Zealand, motivated by plans for a French colony at Akaroa and land purchases by the New Zealand Company in 1839. British sovereignty was then proclaimed over New Zealand in May 1840."

[The New Zealand Company was then the government body which  orchestrated immigration].

IMMIGRATION FOLLOWING FORMALISATION OF BRITISH CONTROL
"Following the formalising of sovereignty [1840] , the organised and structured flow of MIGRANTS from Great Britain and Ireland began. Government-chartered ships like the clipper Gananoque and the Glentanner carried immigrants to New Zealand."

BYPASSING AUSTRALIA AFTER 1841
"Typically clipper ships left British ports such as London and travelled SOUTH through the central Atlantic to about 43 degrees south to pick up the strong westerly winds that carried the clippers WELL SOUTH of South Africa and Australia. Ships would then head north once in the VICINITY of New Zealand."

[So from this period ships bypassed Australian ports. Before then Australian ports were ports of call, and records of  harboured ships and passengers can be found, especially in the "Shipping Lists" published in newspapers of the Colonies. Until the mid to late 1820s the eastern "States", as we know them today, were administered by New South Wales. So immigration records might be found in New South Wales State Records Office. The operating dates of independent colonies are as follows:
  • NSW: 1823 (own Parliament);
  • Van Diemen's Land: 1825;
  • SA: 1842 (a British Province in 1836);
  • VIC: 1851 (the "Port Phillip District" from 1837);
  • QLD: 1824 (Colony of Redcliffe; 1859 separated from NSW);
  • NT: 1825 part of NSW Colony, then 1863 part of SA; 1911 separated from NSW.
  • WA: 1829: Swan River Colony.]

GOVERNMENT ASSISTED PASSENGERS 1857
"The Glentanner migrant ship of 610 tonnes made two runs to New Zealand and several to Australia carrying 400 tonne of passengers and cargo. Travel time was about 3 to 3 1/2 months to New Zealand. Cargo carried on the Glentanner for New Zealand included coal, slate, lead sheet, wine, beer, cart components, salt, soap and passengers' personal goods. On the 1857 passage the ship carried 163 official passengers, most of them government assisted. On the return trip the ship carried a wool cargo worth 45,000 pounds.[3] In the 1860s discovery of gold started a gold rush in Otago."

RECRUITING ASSOCIATIONS CREATE CULTURAL INFLUENCE IN NZ REGIONS
"By 1860 more than 100,000 British and Irish settlers lived throughout New Zealand. The Otago Association actively recruited settlers from Scotland, creating a definite Scottish influence in that region, while the Canterbury Association recruited settlers from the south of England, creating a definite English influence over that region. In the 1860s most migrants settled in the South Island due to gold discoveries and the availability of flat grass covered land for pastoral farming. The low number of Māori (about 2,000) and the absence of warfare gave the South Island many advantages.

1870s INVESTMENT IN NORTH ISLAND
It was only when the New Zealand wars ended that The North Island again became an attractive destination. In the 1870s the MP Julius Vogel borrowed millions of pounds from Britain to help fund capital development such as a nationwide rail system, lighthouses, ports and bridges, and encouraged mass migration from Britain."

"By 1870 the non-Māori population reached over 250,000."

NON-BRITISH IMMIGRANTS
"Other smaller groups of settlers came from Germany, Scandinavia, and other parts of Europe as well as from China and India, but British and Irish settlers made up the vast majority, and did so for the next 150 years.

NEW ZEALAND ASIATIC POLICY
"Between 1881 and the 1920s, the New Zealand Parliament passed legislation that intended to limit Asiatic migration to New Zealand, and prevented Asians from naturalising.[6] In particular, the New Zealand government levied a poll tax on Chinese immigrants up until the 1930s. New Zealand finally abolished the poll tax in 1944. Large numbers of Dalmatians fled from the Austro- Hungarian empire to settle in New Zealand around 1900. They settled mainly in West Auckland and often worked to establish vineyards and orchards or worked on gum fields in Northland."

"An influx of Jewish refugees from central Europe came in the 1930s."

"Many of the persons of Polish descent in New Zealand arrived as orphans via Siberia and Iran during World War II."
(source)

SUMMARY OF TIME PERIODS FOR IMMIGRATION

 From FamilySearch.org

"Immigration into New Zealand can be broken into the following time periods:
  • Before 1839 (no passenger lists)
  • 1839-1850 - Mainly New Zealand Company passengers and emigrants under government assistance
  • 1840-1843 - Government programs.
  • 1853-1870 - Immigrants given assisted passage by provincial governments.
  • 1870-1888 - Immigrants assisted by the national government, known as the "Vogel Scheme".
  • 1883-1973 - Lists of all passengers, not just assisted immigrants; lists of departing passengers as well.
Until recently, those emigrants coming to New Zealand from Australia (prior to 1886) were unable to be identified from inward shipping lists. A project has been undertaken by the New Zealand Society of Genealogists to extract New Zealand bound passengers from Australian outward passenger lists, thus enabling research to be continued beyond arrival in New Zealand.
For more information about the index created by this project, contact the New Zealand Society of Genealogists. Their address is found in the "New Zealand Societies" article on FamilySearch Wiki."

PASSENGER LISTS

"The Passenger Lists held by Archives New Zealand:

  • New Zealand Company: 1838-1853. These include arrivals to Wellington, Nelson, and New Plymouth. The lists contain the names of the labourers who were recruited to support the development of the settlement. They usually do not include the New Zealand Company shareholders.
  • Assisted Immigration to Canterbury: 1855-1870. During this period, assisted immigration was managed by the Provincial Governments. Only those from Canterbury have survived.
  • Assisted Immigration to the whole country: 1870-1888.
  • Commercial passenger lists and some crew lists, collected by customs: 1883-1973. These are patchy until around 1910 when they were more systematically collected."

Passenger List Searches

"In a joint project between Archives New Zealand and Family Search of Utah, ALL the passenger lists held at Archives New Zealand have been digitised and are available through the Family Search web-site. These lists are being INDEXED by volunteers from the records on the Family Search web site. The indexing is complete only for the assisted immigrant programme through to 1888. The remaining passenger lists are being progressively indexed by name with new entries being added all the time. So if you are initially unsuccessful with a search do try again periodically." (source)






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