Last modified: 2002-10-26 by sam lockton
Keywords: maori | stripes: 9 | new south wales | proposal | canton: union jack |
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James Busby, appointed in England to be British Resident in New Zealand,
sailed from Sydney to the Bay of Islands, arriving on H.M.S. Imogene on the
9th May 1833. For several days he was extensively briefed by the missionary
Rev. Henry Williams. It must have been on the basis of these conversations
that Busby wrote to Sydney on May 13 that «From all I have been able to learn
it appears that there are in the Northern part of this Island from twenty
five to thirty Tribes of Natives who are in every respect independent of
each other and who exercise separately ... all the functions of sovereignty.»
Williams is also the likely source of Busby’s knowledge of Maori indignation
over the seizure of the ship Sir George Murray in Sydney Harbour for
sailing without a national flag. That, together with the representations made
to him in Sydney by Grose, owner and builder of the ships Sir George Murray
and The New Zealander, appear to have stimulated Busby to consider the
long-term desirability of persuading the Chiefs to act collectively, and the
shorter term goal of having them select a national flag, which would solve
for Pakeha (white New Zealanders) what was in essence a Pakeha
problem.
Stuart Park, 8 November 1996