1817 in New Zealand

[edit] Incumbents

11 January – Hannah King Hansen (later Letheridge, then Clapham) is born at Oihi, Rangihoua Bay. She is the second female European child born in New Zealand.^[1] Her gravestone at Christ Church in Russell claims she was the first female child,^[2] and she is certainly the first female child to attain her majority and whose subsequent history is known. (see 1815)
January
- – Hongi Hika leads 800 Ngāpuhi in a fleet of 30 canoes to make peace with the North Cape tribes. He quarrels with tribes at Whangaroa on the way and immediately returns to the Bay of Islands in case they attack the Rangihoua mission in his absence.^[3]^[4]
11 December – William Tucker (see 1815) returns to Otago Harbour from Hobart on the Sophia, Captain Kelly, with other intending settlers. They later land at Whareakeake but Tucker and 2 others are killed and eaten, probably as part of the War of the Shirt (see 1810). In retaliation Kelly fires on the Māori, killing as many as 70, and destroys the kainga (village) at nearby Otakou. The beach is subsequently given the name Murdering Beach.^[5]

Brothers-in-law Charles Gordon and William Carlisle and their wives arrive to bolster the CMS mission at Rangihoua.^[6]
The school at Rangihoua has a roll of 70, half boys, half girls, ranging in age from 7 to 17.^[7]

31 March (in England): George Lyttelton, 4th Baron Lyttelton, British politician, co-founder of Canterbury. ^[8]
3 November (in Scotland): John Logan Campbell, father of Auckland.^[9]

December: William Tucker, early settler in Otago.

For world events and topics in 1817 not specifically related to New Zealand see: 1817