1815 in New Zealand - Events

Events

• 9 or 13 January – Reverend Samuel Marsden, with a number of Māori including Te Morenga (as interpreter), Ruatara and Tui, leaves the Bay of Islands on the Active, commanded by Thomas Hansen Snr, to prospect the coast as far as Thames.
• 16 January – The Active anchors off Whakatiwai pā on the Firth of Thames coast. Marsden meets Ngāti Paoa chief Te Haupa.
• 17 January – The Active anchors off Orere Point.
• 19 January – Returning northward the Active calls into Whangarei, apparently only the second ever European vessel to do so, after the Venus in 1806.
• 20 January – At Pataua, just north of Whangarei, the passengers and crew of the Active meet Mohanga who had gone to England in 1805.
• 22 January - The Active returns to the Bay of Islands and anchors at Rangihoua Bay.
• 28 January - The Active anchors at the mouth of the Kawakawa river to collect timber.
• 15 February – The Active completes loading of flax and timber to take back to Port Jackson
• 21 February – Thomas Holloway King is the first European born in New Zealand. (see also 1816, 1817 & 1818)
• 24 February – Having completed the purchase of 200 acres for the mission site at Rangihoua, Reverend Marsden leaves for Port Jackson accompanied by chiefs Te Morenga and Te Pehi(Tupe).
• 3 March – Ngāpuhi chief Ruatara dies. His protection of the mission at Rangihoua passes to his uncle Hongi Hika. Ruatara’s plans to trade in wheat (see 1814) die with him.
• 17 May - Te Morenga and Tupe return from Port Jackson on the Active.
• 25 December – Thomas Hansen Jnr marries Elizabeth Tollis in Sydney. (see also 1816 & 1817)

Undated

• Thomas Kendall has the first book printed in Māori, A korao no New Zealand; or, the New Zealander's first book; being an attempt to compose some lessons for the instruction of the natives, published in Sydney. (see also 1820)
• Sealers from the Governor Bligh, Captain John Grono, are the first Europeans to land in Canterbury at Banks Peninsula.
• William Tucker returns to Otago Harbour, possibly on the Governor Bligh, and takes up residence at Whareakeake where he lives with a Māori woman. (see also 1817)
• Te Rauparaha returns from his 5-year stay with Ngāti Maru in the Hauraki Gulf. During his stay he has received his first musket.
• Despite the incident of 1813 or 1814, when the Matilda under Captain Fowler returns to Otago Harbour in desperate need of fresh food and water, its crew are welcomed and assisted by local Māori without incident.
• The schooner The Brothers arrives in Port Jackson with a small cargo of Kauri gum, the first known export of minerals from New Zealand.