New Zealand

This section looks at a post-contact, pre-colonial society and again reveals Earle's empathy with the local Maori inhabitants. The works included here are important as a record of traditional Maori art and culture, long since lost, and also provide information about the early European settlements in the Hokianga and the Bay of Islands area.

Earle left Sydney on 20 October 1827 en route to New Zealand where he had `hopes of finding something new for my pencil in their peculiar and picturesque style of life'. Although not the first artist to visit there, he was certainly the first to take up residence. He travelled overland

from Hokianga Harbour to the Bay of Islands and back again during the next six months and developed a great respect for the Maoris with whom he came in contact. He was also well placed to observe the impact made on their culture by European whalers, traders and missionaries. After many adventures, he reluctantly boarded the Governor Macquarie on 14 April 1828 when she was ready to sail with `her cargo of kauri planks, flax and potatoes' and returned to Sydney.

Entrance of the E.O. Ke Angha [sic] River (1827)
24.4 x 44.4 NK12/67 T105
A fortified island in the E.O. Ke Angha [sic] River (1827)
18.7 x 33.7 NK12/68 T106
Distant view of the Bay of Islands (1827)
26 x 44.1 NK12/70 T108
A tabood store house, Bay of Islands (1827)
20.3 x 34.3 NK12/69 T107
A New Zealand family (1827)
8.9 x 11.1 NK12/85 T123
Residence of Shulitea, Chief of Korroradika [Kororareka] (1827-28)
21.9 x 36.2 NK12/71 T109
Scene in Paroa Bay, Bay of Islands (1827-28)
21 x 32.7 NK12/72 T110
The residence of a New Zealand chief (1827-28)
11.4x18.4 NK12/78 T116
New Zealand warriors and their Queen Trurero (1827-28)
11.1 x 18.4 NK12/79 T117
Amoko, a New Zealand girl (1827-28)
19 x 18.1 NK12/88 T126
A New Zealander (1827-28)
21 x 18.5 NK12/89 T127

Introduction | Brief chronology | Shipboard life
Tristan da Cunha | New Zealand | Homeward bound
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