New Zealand's First Convert

Truth Or Falsehood

The first "official" convert to Christianity in New Zealand that we are aware of was a chief called Rangi.  He was tuberculous and dying.  The date was 1824; the location was the Bay of Islands.  The missionaries involved were Henry Williams and Richard Davis. 

There is record that he suffered quite severe symptoms in October 1824 and again in February 1825, but by July 1825 the disease took an even more serious turn and he suffered the rapid weight loss that gave tuberculosis its common name of "consumption". 

Despite his illness, on 7 August 1825 he made, in the language of Richard Davis, "an open confession of his faith in Christ in the presence of many of his Countrymen."  So, in the final stages of his illness, when his "bones stood through his skin", having had his faith "narrowly examined" and with the full consent of the other missionaries present, Rangi was baptised by Henry Williams and took the name Christian Rangi.  He died the next day. [Malcolm Falloon, "Christian Rangi: 'A Brand Plucked from the Burning"?,  Te Rongopai 1814: 'Takoto te pai!"  Bicentenary Reflections on Christian Beginnings and Developments in Aotearoa New Zealand. (Auckland: Anglican Church in Aotearoa, 2014),   p.130.]

Historian Malcolm Falloon quickly dismisses the paternalistic condescension of secularist historians by which Rangi's faith is rationalised into a naive act by a primitive, ignorant man.  He identifies four factors that played a role in Rangi's conversion and subsequent profession of faith.

Broken Promises and a Breached Treaty

Henry Williams and the Treaty of Waitangi

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"Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy". These words heralded the good news of the arrival of the Messiah to the shepherds on the Judean hills. The same message was heard in Jerusalem, and Samaria, and then in the rest of the world. Savage Northern European tribes heard the news of the gospel and "saw the light". Finally, the same message came to the South Pacific. These very words were uttered by Samuel Marsden on New Zealand soil on Christmas Day 1814. "

Yet it was another Church of England missionary, Henry Williams, who won the respect of the Maori and was arguably foremost among the early missionaries in New Zealand. Who was this Henry Williams, and why should all New Zealanders, and especially all Christian New Zealanders, know of him?

Early Life

Henry Williams was born in Hampshire in 1792 to a lace manufacturer father and a mother who was "well educated above the normal standards of her time, [whose] deep religious convictions and strong independent spirit made a deep impression on two of her children, Henry and William, who were to share the burden of early missionary work in New Zealand" (Rogers, 1973:30).

At the age of fourteen, Williams entered the Royal Navy. At this time, Britain was involved in the Napoleonic Wars. In the course of his ten years in the Navy, he distinguished himself in battle. After Napoleon surrendered, he, along with many other military men, was discharged as an officer on half pay. Some three years later he married Marianne Coldham. Marianne had trained as a cook, nurse, midwife and teacher, and became a wonderful helper to her husband and sharer in his Gospel work in New Zealand. Influenced by his brother-in-law, Henry trained for missionary work. This training included instruction in medicine, weaving, twining, basket making, and also shipbuilding (Fisher, 593). Thus prepared, at the age of 31, he arrived in New Zealand with his wife and three eldest children in 1823.

Before discussing Williams' role in the Treaty of Waitangi, it is necessary to touch on the character of the man, the state of New Zealand society at the time of signing, and the work of the CMS mission in New Zealand.

The character of the man

Who was Henry Williams? In character he was perhaps more akin to Indiana Jones than to the popular caricature of a clergyman. William Colenso, a fellow missionary with whom it was far from easy to get on, described him as:

"imperious and distant, almost of repelling manner, and yet very kind hearted. A superb organiser, he not only led but acted. However, he was eminently fitted for his post at that early time in this then savage land" (Rogers, 1973:19)
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That Williams was no distant or elitist snob is abundantly clear when his relationship with the Maori is considered. As a Christian missionary he demonstrated the blessed life of a peacemaker. Fisher comments:

"Only rare individuals had the temperament to be successful mediators of European ideas in a Maori environment… As well as providing vigorous leadership for the missionaries, he acquired increasing mana among the Maoris. The fact that he was able to interfere in inter-tribal disputes and sometimes managed to negotiate a peace between hostile groups was both a cause and a consequence of his prestige among the Maoris. Only a person of considerable prestige would be invited to settle a conflict peacefully and it required even greater prestige to be successful" (1975:149).

Williams' courage is often noted.

A Curse Passing Down the Generations

Clinging To A Poisoned Vine

Followers of current affairs in New Zealand will be aware of the disordered state of Maori in the northern most climes of the country.  We have in mind the divisions within the tribe Ngapuhi.  The government wants to conclude a Treaty settlement with the tribe.  The tribe is said to have over 110 hapu or clans, or family groupings of people related by genealogical descent.  The tribe also has these groups roughly grouped into over half a dozen "sub-tribes".

Some of these groups are bitterly at odds with others.  Some claim that no-one and no organization can represent all of Ngapuhi.  They are demanding that their particular hapu must negotiate with the Crown on its own behalf and on its own terms.  The Government has voted an amount for settlement; Ngapuhi sub-tribes cannot agree who or what group should represent them in negotiations with the Crown.  This has gone on for decades.

Well, actually, it has gone on for centuries amongst Ngapuhi.  Literally.

Those Who Have Gone Before

We Owe A Debt of Honour

In the early years of European settlement in New Zealand, the missionaries with few exceptions proved a remarkable lot of folk.  The Williams brothers (Henry and William) who arrived in 1823 were prime examples.

Here is Victoria University Librarian, Harold Miller's account of Henry Williams:

Henry Williams was a sailor.  He had served against the French in several parts of the world and had received a wound in a fight off the coast of Mauritius that was to trouble him for the rest of his life.  But he was still young (in his thirty-third year), he had been trained in a hard school and he was possessed by a simple faith; he was the kind of man that Maori chiefs could respect even when they found him hard to understand.  He had none of the Maori gift of eloquence but he had a way that inspired fear; and chiefs who took to human slaughter as to a game found it hard to look him straight in his eye.  "He is a tangata riri (an angry man)," said a Wanganui chief to young Wakefield, "who shuts his tent-door upon us and does not sit by our side and talk kindly to us as you do; but he has the atua (god) upon his lips, and we are afraid of his anger."