Courage & Triumphs

EACH of the other four of the ‘six colonies’ proved the courage of its early settlers.

New Plymouth’s immigrants (31 March 1841) were folk of Devon and Cornwall, enlisted by ‘The Plymouth Company of New Zealand.’ They faced the handicap of a surf-beaten, open roadstead and the violent hostility of Maori tribes. Negotiations for land were difficult. The infant town was fre­quently in peril. Lives were lost on the farms. At first the settlers had but one timber-drag, two handcarts, six wheelbarrows, and neither horse nor bullock. There were anxious years. Bankruptcy was escaped only through help from the New Zea­land Company.

Nelson (1 February 1842) was that Company’s second direct venture. A separate preliminary ex­pedition from England chose a site which had, it was to prove, serious disadvantages. The immi­grants suffered from haphazard management when they arrived. Fortunately, the presence of a number of very able men among them ensured a better outcome than seemed likely.

Otago (23 March 1848) was founded by
Scottish ‘ Lay Association,’ with the ardent support of the Free Church. The New Zealand Company;  lent aid in land-purchase and other preparation in the place where now Dunedin and Port Chalmers stand. Hardships were met in the spill of an early slogan, ‘ There’s pippins and cheeses to come.’ They came after a while.           

Canterbury (16 December 1850) was of Anglican origin. Lyttelton and Christchurch were
the result of patient toil. Again the New Zealand Company assisted in the initial steps. Edwan Gibbon Wakefield wrote in 1852, ‘At Canterbury I could have fancied myself in England, except for the hardworking industry of the upper classes and the luxurious independence of the common people.’