Today in History

1865 Ex-Governor FitzRoy commits suicide

Robert FitzRoy, the second Governor of New Zealand, took his own life at his home in Surrey on 30 April  1865. Opinion on his governorship has always been divided. The writer Steve Braunias described FitzRoy as ‘our first great wretch’. Biographer Ian Ward argued that FitzRoy's ‘achievements were considerable’ and blamed his shortcomings as Governor on Colonial Office policy.

A naval officer, Fitzroy took command of HMS Beagle in 1831. On board was the naturalist Charles Darwin. The Beagle visited the Bay of Islands in New Zealand, which Darwin described as ‘not a pleasant place’.

FitzRoy's tenure as Governor from December 1843 to November 1845 was dominated by deteriorating race relations. His failure to punish Ngati Toa over the Wairau incident, in which 22 Nelson settlers were killed, angered colonists. FitzRoy concluded that the settlers were largely to blame, but he lacked the resources to do much about it anyway. The colony was virtually bankrupt; he had  neither funds nor troops, and had to rely upon ‘moral suasion’. He further alienated New Zealand Company settlers by suggesting that the Company had not acquired its land legitimately.

In early 1845 the powerful Nga Puhi chief Hone Heke repeatedly attacked the British flagstaff at Kororareka and then sacked New Zealand's first capital. FitzRoy's effectiveness as Governor was again questioned. By years end he had been recalled and replaced by George Grey. Nelson settlers celebrated by burning an effigy of FitzRoy.

FitzRoy retired from active service in 1850. In 1854 he became chief of the new meteorological department of the UK Board of Trade. He instituted a system of storm warnings and published the first regular daily weather report on 3 September 1860.

By 1865 a physically and mentally exhausted FitzRoy was suffering from depression. On Sunday 30 April he rose from bed, bolted the door to his dressing room and slit his throat with a razor.

Image: Robert FitzRoy 

1864 Pai Marire defeated at Sentry Hill Taranaki

In what was one of their first military efforts, up to 300 Pai Marire warriors attacked the British redoubt at Sentry Hill in Taranaki. Scores were killed and wounded in the resulting defeat.

In 1862 a new religious faith grew out of the conflict over land in Taranaki. It was the first organised expression of an independent Maori Christianity. Maori leader Te Ua Haumene based the new religion on the principle of pai marire – goodness and peace. He called his church Hauhau: Te Hau (the breath of God) carried the news of deliverance to the faithful. The terms Pai Marire and Hauhau became interchangeable as labels for those who followed this religion.

Pai Marire disciples travelled around the North Island in the mid-1860s. Against a backdrop of war and land confiscations, the founding principle of Pai Marire was often subverted by violent elements. Civil wars broke out as factions within iwi opposed its spread. Some Maori opposed Pai Marire because they believed that it represented a pan-tribal movement that, in seeking to unify Maori, challenged the sovereignty of iwi.

Pai Marire continued to attract converts, especially when the government began to confiscate Maori land. From 1865 to the 1870s civil war raged on the east coast of the North Island between two factions within Ngati Porou. Pai Marire converts aimed to drive Pakeha from Maori land. They wanted the support of the Kingitanga in creating a Maori nation under the Maori king, Tawhiao.