Colonial Mastermind: the story of Edward Gibbon Wakefield (Part 2)

In part two of Black Sheep's series on Edward Gibbon Wakefield we see theories of "systematic" and "humanitarian" colonisation run into bitter realities. The result is conflict, death and disaster. For Wakefield and for Māori. In the first episode of this two part series about Edward Gibbon Wakefield we talked about the origins of the man once described as a 'Founding Father of New Zealand'. In this episode we see how his plans to colonise Aotearoa ran into some bitter realities. Edward Gibbon Wakefield believed Aotearoa was the perfect place to put his theories of "Systematic Colonisation" into practise. Working with rich and influential allies he set up the New Zealand Company to promote his plans. He wrote thousands of books and pamphlets promoting colonisation. Dr Phillip Temple, author of A Sort of Conscience, said much of Wakefield's writing painted New Zealand as a "vision of paradise". Take this example: "Great valleys occupied with the most beautiful rivers, their feet washed by the ceaseless south-sea swell, their flanks clothed with the grandest of primeval forests ... The fertility of its soil, the amenity and salubrity of its climate, the peculiar adaptation of the country for the residence of a great commercial and manufacturing people." Wakefeild was a master of propaganda. The New Zealand Company even arranged to ship a Māori man called Te Waiti to London so he could promote the planned colonies with statements like this: "I like it. I do not know what my countrymen would like. I think they would like it too, because they like even the bad people now. I think they would like the gentlemen." It's hard to know if Te Waiti (also known as "Nayti") really did think colonisation would be good for Māori, or if he was just saying what the New Zealand Company wanted him to say. Wakefield himself waved away concerns about the effects of colonisation on indigenous people. He claimed "the common effect ... of mere colonisation has been to exterminate the aboriginal race. This, however, is not a plan of mere colonisation: It has for its object to civilize as well as to colonise." He said the settlers would "adopt" and "instruct" Māori. He argued the colonists would be "civilising a barbarous people," who could "scarcely cultivate the earth". Part of the reason Wakefield felt he needed to paint his colonisation plans as a positive for Māori was to combat a powerful indigenous rights lobby group in Britain… Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details