exploration

Once the early European explorers had determined the basic outline of the New Zealand islands, the few remaining coastal puzzles were solved by visiting sealers, whalers and those engaged in the early timber and flax trade. In 1804 the American sealer Owen F. Smith discovered Foveaux Strait, disproving James Cook’s idea that Stewart Island might be joined to the South Island.

The romance and sheer challenge of getting to the far-flung islands of New Zealand have made the exploration of this land a popular topic of study. There are many websites on both the Polynesian discovery and European rediscovery of New Zealand, so this feature is a carefully selected and annotated collection of website links.

Early European explorers

Spanish and the Portuguese had an active presence in the Pacific from the early 16th century, but there is no firm evidence of Europeans reaching New Zealand before Abel Tasman in 1642. Nor is there evidence that Arab or Chinese ships (trading in the Indian Ocean and South China Sea) were ever off New Zealand's coast.

There was speculation that a terra australis incognita (unknown southern land) existed, but European presence in the Pacific remained well north of New Zealand before the mid 17th century.

The multi-faceted Charles Heaphy made quite an impact on colonial New Zealand as an artist, explorer, soldier and colonial administrator. He was the first colonial soldier to win the Victoria Cross

HMS Britomart arrived at Akaroa, on Banks Peninsula, a week before a shipload of French colonists landed. The ship’s captain raised the Union Jack to confirm British sovereignty over the area.

By raising the British Colours at Mercury Bay on Coromandel Peninsula, Cook claimed the area in the name of King George III.

Towards noon the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sighted ‘a large land, uplifted high’. As his vessel was off Punakaiki, this may have been the peaks of the Paparoa Range.

In a feat of great navigational daring – and after several attempts – the French explorer Jules Sébastien César Dumont d'Urville sails the Astrolabe from Tasman Bay through French Pass into Admiralty Bay in the Marlborough Sounds.

Image: Dumont d'Urville (DNZB) 

The summit of Arthur’s Pass over the Southern Alps between the headwaters of the Ōtira and Bealey Rivers marks the boundary between Canterbury and the West Coast.

The pass was known to Māori, who used it to bring pounamu (jade) across the Southern Alps. It was crossed for the first time by Europeans in 1864 and named after the surveyor Arthur Dobson.

Canterbury Provincial Geologist Julius von Haast led an exploratory expedition in search of an overland route from the east to the west coast of the South Island. The expedition ‘discovered’ a suitable route at the headwaters of the Makarora River.