"THE OLDEST IN HABITANTESS."

Kumara Times, Issue 493, 26 April 1878, Page 2

"THE OLDEST IN HABITANTESS."

Under this title Mr E. Jerningham Wakefield supplies the following interesting information to the New Zealand Sun :—Some of the papers have been occupied with the rival claims of Mrs Jones and others to have lieen " the first white woman who landed in the colony ;" and, as you notice the subject, perhaps the following notes may not be unwelcome. The said claims are all at the Bay of islands and in 1839 : so far, they are all "much ado about nothing." In 183-t, a Sydney vessel named the "Harriet," having on

board a whaler and sealer well-known as «Jackey Guard," with his wife " Betty" and two children, was wrecked J near Cape Egmont. Some of the men ! were killed and eaten by the natives, j Betty and her children were taken pri- j soners; and she was compelled to ' cohabit with a Native chief. Jackey and some others escaped in an open boat to Queen Charlotte Sound. Thence he proceeded to Sydney and told his story. The Governor of New South Wales despatched an expedition with i him to the scene, consisting of H.M.S. ! Alligator, Captain Lambert, R.N., and ] a schooner carrying .fifty men of a regi- ' ment then quartered at Sydney, under ! Captain Johnson. The troop i were landed : the frigate fired a few shots at ' a pah called " Waimate," well-kuown ! in later times. The natives gave Mi-s Guard and the children up. The family afterwards settled in Port Underwood, Cloudy Bay. I partook of their hospitality there in October, 1839, and travelled in company with " Jackey" ! for several days about that time on an \ exploring expedition in his sailing-boat, j and under his guidance. The story has ! been told in detail in Parliamentary ; Blue Books, and repeated in other pub- j lications, over and over again during I the last forty years and more. I told it I myself in a book called " Adventures in New Zealand," published in London in 1845. This disposes of any claim dated in 1839. Ido not mean to assert that Betty Guard was the first white woman j who landed in the colony. Evidence given before select committees of the Houses of Lords and Commons in 1836 and 1838, proves that Miss Marsden ; (probably a daughter of the Rev. S. | Marsden, who founded the Church Mis- ; sion of New Zealand at the Bay of Is- j lands in 1814) was in this colony in i March, 1830 ; and that. Miss Williams I and Miss Davies came to New Zealand | with their fathers (missionaries; at much earlier dates—lß23-4. My impression is that some missionaries brought their; wives with them to Hokianga as early as 1822 ; but m that I may be wrong, j I was at Hpktanya in the latter part of ; 1839 ; and there had certainly been ' white ladies, both at that place and at i the Bay of Islands, before our visit. I