The painting Meeting of the artist and Hongi at the Bay of Islands, November 1827 by Augustus Earle shows canoes, a storehouse and carved objects. Hongi Hika is seated in the centre with huia feathers in his hair.
Kororareka as painted by Augustus Earle; the colour print was published in 1838. A European man, probably Earle himself, is led down a steep path by a Maori with a mere on his wrist and a taiaha over his shoulder who gestures towards the beachside settlement of Kororareka (Russell).
This view of Kororareka from the sea was drawn by Captain Clayton on 10 March 1845, the morning before the assault by the forces of Hone Heke and Kawiti.
Bay of Islands Nga Puhi chief Hone Heke was an influential Maori voice in favour of the Treaty of Waitangi. However he later became a leading opponent of British rule in New Zealand.
The missionaries divided the wave of Europeans who came to New Zealand in the first half of the 19th century into two groups: missionaries were the agents of virtue, and almost everyone else qualified as the agents of vice. The impact of both groups was perhaps strongest in Kororareka in the Bay of Islands.
