FIRST yet forgotten
Hansen was the first non-missionary settler to buy land from Ma¯ ori in his own name for private use, and to retain legal title. He lived on this land for the rest of his life.
Thomas Hansen was not a missionary but on December 22, 1814, he set foot on the shore in the Bay of Islands with the first Church Missionary Society members to arrive from Britain. A man of many trades, Hansen came as a settler, to live and find work in the new land. Eric Hansen, from Ruakaka, has delved deep into the roles his ancestors played in the earliest days of settlement. Here he writes about Thomas Hansen: a forgotten man of New Zealand history.
December 22 just gone marked 204 years since the arrival of Thomas Hansen, New Zealand’s first permanent European settler. It was a significant event yet Thomas Hansen seldom, if ever, features in historical narratives.
Hansen arrived at Oihi in Rangihoua Bay with the Reverend Samuel Marsden’s missionary group. Unlike the missionaries, he came to New Zealand with the intention of remaining as a settler, as opposed to the solitary traders, sealers, whalers and escaped convicts already here, few of whom established family roots.
Within the year he had returned to Sydney, married, and brought his bride Elizabeth back to the Bay of Islands where they raised 11 children between 1817 and 1834.
Hansen was the first non-missionary settler to buy land from Ma¯ ori in his own name for private use, and to retain legal title. He lived on this land for the rest of his life.
For some years after 1814, Hansen and his family were the only non-missionary, European family residing permanently in New Zealand.
To earn his keep, he worked for the missionaries, helping with building projects, bush and cattle work, and breaking in the land. He later diversified to carpentering and bushwork.
As a carpenter, Hansen’s labour became much in demand in the community. Reverend John Butler employed him to assist in building the Kerikeri Mission Station, also known as Kemp House.
One hundred years after Hansen’s arrival in New Zealand, 37 of his grandsons and great-grandsons enlisted for service in World War I, arguably the largest contribution from any family in New Zealand. Twelve of these men lost their lives in the service of their country, 11 of whom remain buried in France or Belgium. Two were awarded the Military Medal for bravery on the Western Front.
Any historical recognition gained by Thomas Hansen in recent times has been almost entirely due to the efforts of family members who have undertaken their own historical research in order to write books that can correct or add to knowledge of early European settlement in New Zealand.
Several other projects have been