BAY OF ISLANDS

BAY OF ISLANDS Time to revisit New Zealand’s little-known history

Discover a time 30 nautical miles made all the difference between Aotearoa becoming a French or British colony.

WORDS: John O'Hare

May 4 marked the 250th anniversary of the arrival of French explorer Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne in the Bay of Islands – and a timely opportunity to reflect on the story of the French in New Zealand, according to Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Northland Area Manager Bill Edwards. “The relationship between France and Britain has always been a complicated narrative with four major wars fought between these two European powers in the 18th century. Both countries were expanding their world empires, and at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries New Zealand was in their orbit,” says Bill. “Both countries were to have a severe impact upon tangata whenua in Aotearoa.”

When Britain succeeded in annexing New Zealand in 1840, the English version of events became the dominant narrative which continues to this day. “It’s fair to say that historians have only scratched the surface of the French side of our story. There is a way to go to fully understand the significant impact the people of Ngāti Wīwī, as they were coined, had in shaping our history,” he says. When the country commemorated Polynesian voyaging and the 250th anniversary of Cook’s arrival in Aotearoa New Zealand in 2019, for example, French explorer Jean de Surville barely rated a mention – despite the fact that both were sailing in the same waters at much the same time. At their closest point, the Endeavour and Surville’s ship St Jean Baptiste came within about 30 nautical miles of each other.

As historian James Belich put it: “There is little doubt that Cook has been emphasised to the unfair exclusion of the massive French contribution to European knowledge of New Zealand.” French-speaking historian Michael Lee writes how the explorers came within an ace of encountering each other near North Cape in his recent book Navigators and Naturalists: “...had Surville rounded the evening of the next day when Cook was bearing up on North Cape, it would have made for one of the most dramatic encounters in the annals of seafaring. The history of New Zealand would have most certainly been different.” Initial encounters between early French explorers Surville and Marion du Fresne with Māori were marred by misunderstanding and violence – as were those of Cook.

“For both Surville and Marion du Fresne, initial contact with Māori was warm, though misunderstandings inevitably came, resulting in violent episodes like the masscare of over 200 Māori by Marion du Fresne’s crew in retalitation for his death,” says Bill. “Mistrust of the French endured, and was no doubt encouraged by the British.” Francophobia fuelled, in part, the 1831 letter addressed to King William IV and signed by 13 Māori chiefs from the Bay of Islands, seeking among other things the King’s protection against the French, who had recently sent a naval vessel to New Zealand. Similarly in 1835 an attempt by French Baron and would-be ‘Sovereign Chief’ Charles de Thierry, who had announced plans to proclaim an independent state in Hokianga, spooked James Busby into hosting a hui at which 34 rangatira signed ‘He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni’ the Declaration of Independence of the United Tribes of New Zealand. The

Charles Meryon, Death of Marion du Fresne at the Bay of Islands, New Zealand, 12 June 1772. [Between 1846 and 1848]. Ref: G-824-3. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/23062761

Declaration was a statement of Māori sovereignty and selfdetermination, later to find fuller expression in Te Tiriti. It was also a first step towards British annexation. “The effects of colonisation by Britain has tended to throw shade over the significant contribution the French have made to our history,” says Bill. “The vast treasure trove of source material written in French – and therefore not easily accessed by many non-French-speaking historians – has also probably influenced how history is told.” Stories of achievement, including Duperry’s scientific voyage to New Zealand on the Coquille in 1824 and the brothers Rene and Pierre Lesson’s contribution to ornithology to name only a few, are all but unknown. Similarly Bishop Pompallier’s advocating for the inclusion of the fourth article of Te Tiriti guaranteeing religious freedom has also been overshadowed.

“There has been under-representation of the French side in the telling of our history – and indeed the Māori perspective of the French. This year represents an opportunity for us to begin to look at this little-understood part of our history.” n What does the shipwreck of HMS Buffalo off the Whitianga coast have to do with the French? The Buffalo was used as a prison ship which transported French Canadian dissidents from Ontario and Quebec to the penal colony of Australia in 1840. To find out more, Land of a Thousand Sorrows, a documentary by Canadian filmmaker Deke Richards about this little known group of patriots, will have a series of public screenings in New Zealand on 11 June at Whitianga and 12 June at Kingston House, Kerikeri (1-3pm). The ASHA (Australasian Society for Historical Archaeology) conference will be held in the Bay of Islands later this year. Part of the conference will involve a maritime field trip retracing the footsteps of Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne in the Bay using a map recreated by Heritage Northland Inc. identifying French movements in the Bay.