The New South Wales government played an important role in New Zealand in the 1830s. An official British government presence in New Zealand was made in 1833 with the appointment of James Busby as British Resident.
Edinburgh-born James Busby was British Resident, a consular representative, in New Zealand from 1833. Based at Waitangi in the Bay of Islands, he was given little material support to achieve British policy aims, but in early 1840 he helped William Hobson draft the Treaty of Waitangi.
James Busby's arrival in the Bay of Islands represented Britain's first tentative step on a path that ended with the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi on the grounds of his house seven years later.
