Weller Brothers - Development of Trading

Development of Trading

Joseph Brooks Weller interested himself in flax and timber trading at the Hokianga. In 1831 he called at William Cook’s shipbuilding settlement at Stewart Island/Rakiura to commission a vessel before visiting Otago in the Sir George Murray, reaching an agreement with Tahatu and claiming territory for William IV. He returned in the Lucy Ann with goods and gear to establish a whaling station, (it is believed with Edward) in November. George and his wife came too, or arrived soon after.

The Wellers continued to trade in flax and spars, maintaining operations at the Hokianga even as they developed Otago. At that time and throughout the decade they were the only merchants regularly trading from one end of New Zealand to the other. In January 1832, Joseph Brooks Weller bought land including the sites of the modern cities of Auckland and North Shore and part of Rodney District. A fire soon destroyed the Otago station, but it was rebuilt. Edward was kidnapped by Māori in the far north and ransomed. Whale products started flowing from Otago in 1833 where Joseph Brooks based himself and European women went to settle.

Relations with Māori were often tense, the establishment being ransacked and the Wellers keeping Māori hostages in Sydney, reverberations from earlier conflicts. ("The Sealers' War".) Joseph Brooks died at Otago in 1835, his brother Edward shipping his remains to Sydney in a puncheon of rum.

At 21 Edward became the resident manager while George maintained the Sydney end of the business. At this time there were 80 Europeans at Otago which had become a trading, transshipment and ship service centre as well as a whaling station. A measles epidemic greatly reduced the Māori population.