Mediator and Settler
Barrett moved to Wellington to open a hotel and in early 1840 was appointed Agent for the Natives by Wakefield, who said the role "will make him the medium between the settlers and their dark neighbours in all disputes and in the allotment of the native reserves in lieu of the land now occupied and cultivated by them.". The position was rewarded with a ₤100 a year salary and Barrett received glowing praise from Wakefield for his loyalty and success as well as his interpreting skills.
In 1841 he returned to New Plymouth with Frederic Alonzo Carrington, a surveyor commissioned by the New Zealand Company, who began surveying the planned town. He married Rawinia the same year, describing himself on the marriage certificate as "a whaling master of full age".
Barrett remained in New Plymouth as the settlement grew, establishing a commercially unsuccessful whaling station and serving as an unofficial harbour master, helping immigrants ashore as ships arrived. He also became a gardener and farmer. He drove the first cattle and sheep to Taranaki from Wellington and introduced a wide variety of new crops and vegetables. He missed the landing of the first settlers, who arrived on the William Bryan in March 1841, because he was about 10 km inland, searching for peach trees he had earlier planted.
When the Land Claims Commission held hearings in New Plymouth into disputed land purchases in 1844, it awarded the New Zealand Company 24,000ha of "legitimately purchased" land, including 72ha for Barrett and his family.
Read more about this topic: Dicky Barrett (trader)
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