He was the son of a poor blacksmith in Yorkshire, England, who rose to become one of the most prominent, influential and sometimes controversial figures in early colonial Australia. Just who was this multi-skilled man who was a chaplain, a magistrate, a farmer and one of the forgotten founders of the Australian sheep industry?
And not only did he make an impact on Australia, but he also became one of the most respected and honoured leaders in New Zealand in the 1800s as well. On the invitation of a prominent Maori chief, he travelled by ship to NZ to set up a mission station in the north island.
He brought Christianity and agriculture to the Maori and tried to stop the sale of muskets to them and the trade in tattooed heads.
Join me as we follow in the footsteps of Samuel Marsden, and investigate the impact of this man who played such an integral role in the history of both Australia and NZ.
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THE EARLY YEARS
Samuel Marsden was born on 25 June 1765 at Farsley, in Yorkshire. He was the eldest of seven children born to Bathsheba Brown and Thomas Marsden, a blacksmith and a farmer. The young Samuel attended the local village school and worked on the farm until his father’s death.
At the age of 15, Marsden went to work in his uncle’s blacksmith shop. Then in 1786, when he was in his early twenties, he began to work as a lay preacher. This drew the attention of the Elland Society, an evangelical charity that was designed to educate and train poor young men for ministry in the Church of England.
With a scholarship from the Elland Society, Samuel attended Hull Grammar School and then attended Magdalene College in Cambridge as a sizar – a lowly student servant, in 1790.
But before he graduated, Marsden was persuaded to abandon his degree studies and accept a call to service in an overseas mission. The British politician and reformer, William Wilberforce, recommended that Marsden be offered the position of the second chaplain working with Rev. Richard Johnson in the New South Wales colony.
Before leaving England, Marsden married Elizabeth Fristan at Holy Trinity Church in Hull on 21 April 1793. Then the following month, the Bishop of Exeter, ordained him as a priest or chaplain, even though he hadn’t completed his degree.
Marsden and his wife travelled as passengers on the convict ship, William, to Australia. His first child Anne was born on board the ship on the way to Port Jackson. Marsden arrived in the colony in March 1794, and set up house in Parramatta, about 15 miles, or 24 km, west of the main Port Jackson settlement.
A SIGNIFICANT FIGURE
On arrival in NSW, Marsden was given unprecedented privileges within the colony. He was responsible for promoting religion and morality and became a significant figure in the colonial administration.
Then in addition to his chaplain duties, Marsden became involved in public affairs. After the departure of Richard Johnson in the year 1800, Marsden became the principal clergyman and head of the church in NSW. As such, he was the third highest ranking official in the colony.
He was now responsible for most social services in the burgeoning colony, including recording births, deaths and marriages. In addition to being a chaplain, Marsden was a businessman and had strong views on how agriculture and pastoralism could help the new colony progress.
He established a successful farm in the Parramatta area and at this time, landowners were able to use the free convict labour.
Then the next year in 1795, Governor John Hunter gave Marsden the job of being a magistrate over the convicts in Parramatta. Now, this attracted some criticism that a clergyman could serve out sometimes severe corporal punishment. In some circles he was even called the ‘Flogging Parson’ due to claims that he inflicted severe punishments, notably extended floggings, even by the standards of his day.
Marsden also served as the magistrate superintendent of government affairs and took an active interest in the care and welfare of orphan children and the female convicts in the colony.
THE WOOL INDUSTRY
Now for many of the early years of British settlement in Australia, wool was the most important product to the Australian economy. The wool industry dates from 1797, when John Macarthur and Reverend Samuel Marsden imported Spanish merino sheep in an attempt to start a wool industry.
Up until then, the only sheep in the colony were the fat-tailed sheep which the First Fleet had brought with it from the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa. These sheep were used primarily for meat, and Marsden felt it was his duty to assist the colony to avert the constant threat of recurring famine.
So, he decided to concentrate on the development of a stronger heavier-framed sheep such as the Suffolk sheep breed, rather than the fine-fleeced Spanish merinos imported by John Macarthur, who is often referred to as the father of the wool industry in Australia.
But it’s a little-known fact that in 1809, Marsden was the first farmer to ship a commercial load of wool to England from Australia. It was sent to Messrs W. & J. Thompson, at Rawdon, West Yorkshire, and made into fine cloth. This cloth so impressed the reigning King George III that he gave Marsden a gift of Merino sheep from his Windsor stud.
Four years later more than 4000 lbs, or 1814 kg, of Marsden’s wool was sold in England. Although Marsden was an important prime mover and promoter of the wool trade, his contribution to the breeding and marketing of sheep was eclipsed by that of John Macarthur.
Though he was now a successful landowner, chaplain and magistrate, Marsden still wanted to be involved in the London Missionary Society’s Pacific operations, and in particular with the Maori people in New Zealand. And Marsden didn’t have to wait long for an opportunity to make contact with Maori leaders.
MARSDEN AND THE MAORI
In 1805 Te Pahi, a well-respected Maori chief from the Bay of Islands in New Zealand, travelled by ship to NSW. He wanted to find out more about the new items the early European traders to New Zealand had shown him – like forged metal, woven cloth, farming animals, cereals and other crops.
Te Pahi met Samuel Marsden and even stayed with him at his home in Parramatta. Te Pahi was considered to be a most impressive Maori chief or rangatira. He was a man of noble character and was intrigued by the British judicial system that was so different from his own Maori ideas of justice.
On one occasion Te Pahi sat in on a court hearing in the colony of NSW and witnessed the sentencing of three men. The men had been caught stealing a few joints of pork from the colonial stores.
It was a Friday and two of the men were sentenced to imprisonment, but the third man was sentenced to be hanged on the following Monday. The chief was stunned at the sentencing. Turning to the man beside him he asked why they would execute someone for simply taking a bit of food to feed himself?
JUSTICE DEFERRED
Not being able to get a satisfactory answer, Te Pahi determined to challenge this situation.
As was the custom, the sentenced men were allowed to attend the church service on the Sunday. Many people there were saddened by the harsh sentence for the men.
After the church service Te Pahi accompanied the convicted men back to the gaol. Once at the gaol it appears that they gave Te Pahi a petition. Te Pahi assured them that he would present this petition to Governor King.
But when he met the Governor, he said that he couldn’t possibly interfere with the court decision. But Te Pahi persisted. He wanted to understand the rationale behind executing someone for what he considered such a trifling offence.
Unsatisfied with Governor King’s vague response, the Chief handed the Governor the petition and left.
Later that night Governor King was entertaining guests at a dinner. At the table were visiting government officials, sea captains, and merchants. Because of his high standing as a New Zealand Rangatira or chief, Te Pahi was also invited to the gathering. At the dinner, Te Pahi continued to question the sentencing of the three men.
He even offered to take all three of the prisoners with him when he returned
to New Zealand, and would pay their fare with sacks of potatoes – because Te Pahi knew that these were a highly valued resource, especially during long sea voyages.
But the Governor again dismissed the idea. Undaunted, Te Pahi then confidently stood before the impressive company. Once he could see that he had everyone’s attention, he plainly asked the question. “Why do you execute a man for stealing a small amount of food?”
And then he pointed to a sea captain at the table and explained that this man had come to his pā or home in New Zealand, and had stolen potatoes. And then Ta Pahi hammered home his point and highlighted the inconsistency of their judicial sentencing by asking why they executed one man for stealing food, and not another?
Over the following few days, while the prisoner’s fate was decided, Te Pahi refused to eat anything. With the duplicity of the judicial system so expertly exposed, the magistrates were left with no option. The Rangatira, or chief from New Zealand had out-skilled and out-witted the British judiciary.
Thanks to Te Pahi, the man sentenced to be hanged was granted a reprieve and a stay of execution.
MAORI FRIENDSHIPS
Marsden continued to befriend many Māori visitors and sailors from New Zealand at his home in Parramatta. He cared for them on his farm, providing accommodation, food, work and an opportunity to learn to read and write English.
Marsden even began to learn the Māori language from his guests and began an English-Māori translation sheet of common words and expressions.
Marsden’s time with the visiting Maori gradually gave him the idea that New Zealand was a promising place to establish a mission. But to start a mission in New Zealand wasn’t an easy matter.
RETURN TO BRITAIN
Marsden had worked tirelessly for many years as the sole chaplain for the colony of New South Wales. It wasn’t until 1807 that he was able to return to London to plead with the Missionary Society to send more people to work with him.
While in London, Marsden was greatly disturbed when he heard of a seriously ill Maori chief that had been abandoned and left alone at the shipping wharf. Marsden was determined to find and help the young man.
After much searching through the busy streets of London, Marsden eventually found the Maori chief. And to his amazement, it was someone he knew! It was Ruatara, the nephew of his friend, Te Pahi.
Ruatara told Marsden how he had wanted to travel abroad and so had made the journey from New Zealand to London on the whaling ship, the Santa Anna. He had been working as a sailor on the trip to London, but on arrival [there] the ship’s captain had dismissed Ruatara and cast him off the ship.
The young chief, who was suffering from a serious case of influenza was now sick and alone and left to somehow survive in an unknown and foreign land.
Marsden was so pleased to have found Ruatara, and took him back to his rooms. And with kindness and care he nursed him back to health.
SHARING THE GOSPEL
It was while he was caring for the chief that Marsden was able to talk to Ruatara about the stories in the Gospels. The chief listened with interest. The words of the Gospel and the kindness Marsden had shown him had a profound impact on the young Maori chief.
Eventually Marsden and Ruatara made plans to return to the NSW colony. They travelled together on the convict transport Anne, which carried some 200 male convicts. While on the long voyage, the chief taught Marsden more of the Maori language.
They arrived in Sydney in February, 1810. Ruatara stayed with Marsden at Parramatta for some time until he was able to find passage on a ship to return to New Zealand.
Ruatara was extremely grateful to Marsden for saving his life, and so he again invited and then encouraged Marsden to establish a Christian settlement amongst the Ngāpuhi people in the Bay of Islands.
Marsden considered the idea and discussed the establishment of the New Zealand mission with the missionary societies. They rejected Marsden’s proposal to develop a settlement there. But Marsden still wanted to accept the Maori’s invitation.
So, Marsden bought his own ship, the Active, for £1,400 and sailed to the Bay of Islands in 1814 with two other missionaries, Thomas Kendall, a schoolteacher, and William Hall, a carpenter.
They stayed with Ruatara, and introduced the skills of carpentry, gardening, shoemaking and ropemaking to the Maori, as well as reading and writing.
The first mission station was founded at Rangihoua Bay, then later moved to Kerikeri, where the original mission house and stone store can still be seen, and finally to the farming village at Te Waimate.
On Christmas Day 1814, Chief Ruatara created a meeting place on the beach near his Rangihoua Pa, for a special service by Marsden. At the end, history records that about 300 Maori surrounded the Europeans and performed a rousing haka, a joyous chant expressing pleasure at the arrival of the visitors with their message of peace and joy.
UTU IN MAORI CULTURE
Utu was a powerful concept in Māori culture at this time. It was the way to preserve tribal harmony and maintain balance within society. It’s often defined as revenge or the right to demand satisfaction when a wrong had to be put right.
However when it came to settling intertribal conflict, particularly where tribal mana or dignity was trampled on, utu was seen as the only legitimate pathway to restoring Mana, or harmony and peace.
Utu had no real boundaries on how satisfaction should be achieved. Sometimes it demanded forced marriages between tribes, slavery, human sacrifice, or payback killings that often led to violent war.
It might be said that utu was the force that kept ‘authority’ and ‘what is sacred’ firmly entrenched in the Maori culture – but it also held them captive. Because Utu created a relentless cycle of violence and vengeance that was enforced with impunity to obtain a sense of satisfaction for injustice or wrong-doing.
DEATH OF TARORE
This white cross is the gravesite of Tarore, who was the victim of utu in 1836. Tarore was a 12-year-old girl, the daughter of a Maori chief, Ngakuku.
Tarore went to the mission school in Matamata where her teacher gave her a printed copy of the Gospel of Luke. Tarore treasured the booklet and kept it safe, wearing it in a kete; that’s a woven bag made from flax, that she kept around her neck.
One night she was camping with a tribal group by the Wairere Falls, in the Kaimai Ranges. An enemy raiding party from the Arawa tribe attacked the camp. Sadly, Tarore received a fatal blow. Her attacker took the Gospel of Luke from around her neck, hoping it would be tradable.
Now, many of the people in Tarore’s tribe wanted vengeance; they wanted revenge. But surprisingly the chief, Ngakuku, Tarore’s father, advised against revenge and more bloodshed. He called his people to trust in the God of love, peace and justice that he’d read about in the gospel of Luke.
Over in the enemy tribe, no one could read the stolen Gospel of Luke until a literate slave arrived in the camp. He read the gospel aloud to the people. Tarore’s murderer was convicted of the message of peace. He then decided on actually going to Tarore’s father and seeking forgiveness even though it could mean his death.
Many people in Ngakuku’s tribe still wanted revenge for Tarore’s death. But when the two men met, one seeking forgiveness and one offering forgiveness, these enemies embraced and brought peace and reconciliation to their two tribes. The incident was a turning point in the relationship between these tribes and their attitude to Utu.
COLENSO’S MAORI BIBLE
Now, one of the major factors in the spread of Christian beliefs across New Zealand was the printing of the New Testament by William Colenso. William grew up in Cornwall, England. He had a nervous stutter and struggled to make friends.
He started an apprenticeship as a printer and bookbinder for the Bible Society, and due to his strong belief in God he wanted to be a missionary. When he heard that they needed a printer in NZ, William Colenso gladly offered to go.
Colenso arrived in the Bay of Islands in 1834 and faced many challenges, among them having no equipment and no paper to print on. But William somehow managed to improvise. He found paper – from private missionary supplies – and put together equipment here in Paihia.
Within seven weeks he was producing Maori language copies of the Bible book of Philippians and Ephesians. Within a year he had printed 1000 copies of the Gospel of Luke, and by December 1837, 5000 copies of the New Testament.
The printed copies of Luke and the New Testament brought literacy and the gospel message of forgiveness and equality to the Maori people.
MARSDEN’S LEGACY
This cross that stands here near the coastline is a memorial to Samuel Marsden, a man of courage, tenacity and resourcefulness, who is credited [with] being the first Christian missionary to NZ. It is also believed that Marsden was the one who first introduced sheep to New Zealand. And in 1819, Marsden also introduced vineyards to the Kerikeri district.
Samuel Marsden was a prominent figure in both NSW and New Zealand. After his time in New Zealand he returned and remained the senior Anglican minister in NSW until his death on 12 May 1838, at the age of 72 years. It’s recorded that he succumbed to a chill while visiting Rev Henry Stiles at St Matthew’s Church at Windsor, west of Sydney.
Marsden is buried in the cemetery near his old church, St Johns in Parramatta. His memory is honoured and revered by many, for the great influence he had on the spiritual and social development of the two countries, Australia and New Zealand.
As the Maori chief, Eruera Kahawai of Rotorua said,
“It was the introduction of the gospel that put an end to all our evil ways. Yes, my friends, it was Christianity alone that did it. It put an end to thieving and many other sins. We have abandoned our old ways. The rule is now kindness to the orphan, charity, peace and agricultural pursuits.”
Christianity has made a significant positive influence on our society. It has played a major role in shaping and making Australia and New Zealand the splendid countries that we live in today. The Christian community [has] established social services, hospitals, aged-care facilities, schools and charities.
Australia and NZ are countries based on Christian principles. They have a heritage of a democratic process, a prosperous lifestyle and a community relatively free of violence. The message of Jesus Christ changes societies for the better, and it changes human hearts as well.
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If you’ve enjoyed our journey to the beautiful Bay of Islands in New Zealand, and our reflections on the difference that Christianity can make in not just our individual lives, but in our communities as well, then be sure to join us again next week, when we will share another of life’s journeys together. Until then, let’s pray to the great God who can bring peace and happiness to our hearts.
Dear Heavenly Father, We thank you for our Christian heritage and the blessing it has brought to our nations. But most of all we thank you for the blessings it can bring to our own hearts and lives. We thank you for Jesus through whom we have eternal life. Please bless us and our families, we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.
